1.
Roman calendar
–
The Roman calendar is the calendar used by the Roman kingdom and republic. The original calendar consisted of 10 months beginning in spring with March and these months ran for 38 nundinal cycles, each forming a kind of eight day week ended by religious rituals and a public market. The winter period was used to create January and February. The legendary early kings Romulus and Numa were traditionally credited with establishing this early fixed calendar, in particular, the kalends, nones, and ides seem to have derived from the first sighting of the crescent moon, the first-quarter moon, and the full moon respectively. The system ran well short of the year, and it needed constant intercalation to keep religious festivals. For superstitious reasons, such intercalation occurred within the month of February even after it was no longer considered the last month. Having won his war with Pompey, Caesar used his position as Romes chief pontiff to enact a calendar reform in 46 BC, in order to bring the calendar back to its proper place, Augustus was obliged to suspend intercalation for a few decades. The original Roman calendar is believed to have been a lunar calendar whose months began from the first signs of a new crescent moon. Because a lunar cycle is about 29½ days long, such months would have varied between 29 and 30 days, Romes 8-day week, the nundinal cycle, was shared with the Etruscans, who used it as the schedule of royal audiences. It was presumably a feature of the calendar and was credited in Roman legend variously to Romulus and Servius Tullius. The Romans themselves described their first organized year as one with ten fixed months, such a decimal division fit general Roman practice. The four 31-day months were called full and the others hollow and its 304 days made up exactly 38 nundinal cycles. Later Roman writers credited this calendar to Romulus, their legendary first king and culture hero, although this was common with other practices and traditions whose origin had been lost to them. Rüpke also finds the coincidence of the length of the supposed Romulan year with the length of the first ten months of the Julian calendar to be suspicious, other traditions existed alongside this one, however. Plutarchs Parallel Lives recounts that Romuluss calendar had been solar but adhered to the principle that the year should last for 360 days. Months were employed secondarily and haphazardly, with some counted as 20 days, the attested calendar of the Roman Republic was quite different. It followed Greek calendars in assuming a lunar cycle of 29½ days and a year of 12½ synodic months. The additional two months of the year were January and February, the month was sometimes known as Mercedonius
Roman calendar
–
A fragment of the
Fasti Praenestini for the month of April (
Aprilis), showing the nundinal letters on the left edge
Roman calendar
–
Drawing of the fragmentary Fasti Antiates Maiores (ca. 60 BC), a Roman calendar from before the Julian reform, with the seventh and eighth months still named
Quintilis ("QVI") and
Sextilis ("SEX"), and the
intercalary month ("INTER") in the far righthand column (see
enlarged)
Roman calendar
–
Fragment of an imperial-age consular
fasti, Museo Epigrafico, Rome
2.
Junius (month)
–
On the ancient Roman calendar, mensis Iunius or Iunius, also Junius, was the sixth month, following Maius. In the oldest calendar attributed by the Romans to Romulus, Iunius was the month in a ten-month year that began with March. The month following June was thus called Quinctilis or Quintilis, the fifth month, Iunius had 29 days until a day was added during the Julian reform of the calendar in the mid-40s BC. The month that followed Iunius was renamed Iulius in honour of Julius Caesar, in his poem on the Roman calendar, Ovid has three goddesses present three different derivations of the name Iunius. Juno asserts that the month is named for her, juventas pairs Iunius with Maius, the former, she says, comes from junior, a younger person, in contrast to maiores or the elders for whom May was named. Junos own name may derive from the root meaning young. Ovid has Concordia claim that Iunius comes from iungo, iunctus, join, in honor of her uniting the Romans and the Sabines. Elsewhere, a less likely derivation relates the month name to Marcus Iunius Brutus. Month illustrations that draw on the Calendar of Filocalus show a male holding a torch that may be an allegory of the summer solstice. Solstitium is noted on June 24 of the calendar, the solstice marked the beginning of the harvest, which is represented by the basket of fruit and a sickle. The plant may be a bean, since June 1 was the Bean Kalends, the Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month, the Nones, the Ides, and the Kalends of the following month, the Nones of June was the 5th, and the Ides the 13th. Roman counting was inclusive, June 9 was ante diem V Idūs Iunias, the last day of June was the pridie Kalendas Quinctilis, day before the Kalends of July. The modern equivalent of this date was June 29 on the pre-Julian calendar, June 23 was thus VIII Kal. The 8th day before the Kalends of Quinctilis, during the Republican era, iul. the 9th day before the Kalends of July, in the Imperial era. On the calendar of the Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with these letters, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius. The unique Q. ST. D. F. of June 15 stands for Quando stercum delatum fas, varro specifies the act of sweeping
Junius (month)
–
June panel from a
Roman mosaic of the months (from
El Djem,
Tunisia, first half of 3rd century AD)
3.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
4.
Romulus
–
Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Romes oldest legal, political, religious, Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, were the sons of Rhea Silvia, herself the daughter of Numitor, the former king of Alba Longa. Through them, the twins are descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas and Latinus, before the twins birth, Numitor had been usurped by his brother, Amulius. After seizing the throne, Amulius murdered Numitors son, and condemned Rhea to perpetual virginity by consecrating her a Vestal, Rhea, however, became pregnant, ostensibly by the god Mars. Amulius had her imprisoned, and upon the birth, ordered that they be thrown into the rain-swollen Tiber. Instead of carrying out the orders, his servants left the twins along the riverbank at the foot of Palatine Hill. In the traditional telling of the legend, a she-wolf happened upon the twins and she suckled and tended them by a cave until they were found by the herdsman Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia. The brothers grew to manhood among the shepherds and hill-folk, after becoming involved in a conflict between the followers of Amulius and those of their grandfather Numitor, they learned the truth of their origin. They overthrew and killed Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne, the princes set out to establish a city of their own. They returned to the hills overlooking the Tiber, the site where they had exposed as infants. They could not agree on which hill should house the new city, when an omen to resolve the controversy failed to provide a clear indication, the conflict escalated and Remus was killed by his brother or by his brothers follower. In a variant of the legend, the augurs favoured Romulus, when Remus derisively leapt over the walls to show how inadequate they were against invaders, he was struck down by Romulus. In another variant, Remus died during a melée along with Faustulus, the founding of the city by Romulus was commemorated annually on April 21, with the festival of the Parilia. His first act was to fortify the Palatine, in the course of which he made a sacrifice to the gods and he then laid out the citys boundaries with a furrow that he ploughed, performed another sacrifice, and with his followers set to work building the city itself. Romulus then sought the assent of the people to become their king, with Numitors help, he addressed them and received their approval. Romulus accepted the crown after he sacrificed and prayed to Jupiter, Romulus then divided the populace into three tribes, known as the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, for taxation and military purposes. Each tribe was presided over by a known as a tribune. Romulus also allotted a portion of land to ward, for the benefit of the people
Romulus
–
Capitoline Wolf. Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC, with figures of Romulus and Remus added in the 15th century AD by
Antonio Pollaiuolo. Recent studies suggest that the wolf may be a medieval sculpture dating from the 13th century AD.
Romulus
–
Altar from
Ostia showing the discovery of Romulus and Remus (now at the
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme).
Romulus
–
Faustulus (to the right of picture) discovers Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf and woodpecker. Their mother Rhea Silvia and the river-god Tiberinus witness the moment. Painting by
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1616 (
Capitoline Museums).
Romulus
–
Romulus, Victor over Acron, hauls the rich booty to the temple of Jupiter, by
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
5.
Martius (month)
–
Martius or mensis Martius was the first month of the ancient Roman year until possibly as late as 153 BC. After that time, it was the month, following Februarius. Martius was one of the few Roman months named for a deity, Mars, March marked a return to the active life of farming, military campaigning, and sailing. It was densely packed with religious observances dating from the earliest period of Roman history, because of its original position as the first month, a number of festivals originally associated with the new year occurred in March. In the Imperial period, March was also a time for celebration of syncretic or international deities whose cultus was spread throughout the empire, including Isis. The menologia rustica told farmers to expect 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night in March, the spring equinox was placed March 25. The tutelary deity of the month is Minerva, and the Sun was in Pisces, farmers were instructed in this month to trellis vines, to prune, and to sow spring wheat. Festivals for Mars as the namesake deity date from the time of the kings. As a god of war, Mars was a guardian of agriculture and of the state, the season of Mars was felt to close in October, when most farming and military activities ceased, and the god has a second round of festivals clustered then. Isis had official festivals on March 7 and 20, the Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month, the Nones, the Ides, and the Kalends of the following month, the Nones of March was the 7th, and the Ides of March was the 15th. Thus the last day of March was the pridie Kalendas Aprilis, Roman counting was inclusive, March 9 was ante diem VII Idūs Martias, the 7th day before the Ides of March, usually abbreviated a. d. Apr. the 10th day before the Kalends of April, on the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with these letters, days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the market week. A dies natalis was a such as a temple founding or rededication. The dies imperii was the anniversary of an emperors accession, after the mid-1st century AD, a number of dates are added to calendars for spectacles and games held in honor of various deities in the venue called a circus. Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the table are from H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic
Martius (month)
–
Panel thought to depict the Mamuralia from a mosaic of the months that places March first (from El Djem, Tunisia, first half of 3rd century AD)
6.
Mars (god)
–
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
Mars (god)
–
A 1st-century Mars found in the
Forum of Nerva (Capitoline Museums, Rome)
Mars (god)
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Mars (god)
–
Wall painting (mid-1st century AD) from which the House of Venus and Mars at
Pompeii takes its name
Mars (god)
–
She-wolf and twins from an altar to Venus and Mars
7.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
Julius Caesar
–
The
Tusculum portrait, perhaps the only surviving statue created during Caesar's lifetime.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Marius, Caesar's uncle
Julius Caesar
–
Dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla stripped Caesar of the priesthood.
Julius Caesar
–
The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests.
8.
Julian calendar
–
The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on 1 January 45 BC, by edict, the Julian calendar gains against the mean tropical year at the rate of one day in 128 years. For the Gregorian the figure is one day in 3,030 years, the difference in the average length of the year between Julian and Gregorian is 0. 002%. The Julian calendar has a year of 365 days divided into 12 months. A leap day is added to February every four years, the Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. It was intended to approximate the tropical year, as a result, the calendar year gains about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582, consequently, the Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Egypt converted on 20 December 1874/1 January 1875, turkey switched on 16 February/1 March 1917. Russia changed on 1/14 February 1918, Greece made the change for civil purposes on 16 February/1 March 1923 - the national day, which was a religious holiday, was to remain on the old calendar. Most Christian denominations in the west and areas evangelised by western churches have replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian as the basis for their liturgical calendars. However, most branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian calendar for calculating the date of Easter, some Orthodox churches have adopted the Revised Julian calendar for the observance of fixed feasts, while other Orthodox churches retain the Julian calendar for all purposes. The Julian calendar is used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar. In the form of the Alexandrian calendar, it is the basis for the Ethiopian calendar, during the changeover between calendars and for some time afterwards, dual dating was used in documents and gave the date according to both systems. In contemporary as well as texts that describe events during the period of change. The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, in addition, a 27- or 28-day intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was sometimes inserted between February and March. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, some say the mensis intercalaris always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after the Terminalia. According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with intercalary years, alternately 377 and 378 days long. In this system, the average Roman year would have had 366 1⁄4 days over four years, Macrobius describes a further refinement whereby, in one 8-year period within a 24-year cycle, there were only three intercalary years, each of 377 days
Julian calendar
–
Russian icon of the
Theophany (the baptism of
Jesus by
John the Baptist) (6 January), the highest-ranked feast which occurs on the fixed cycle of the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.
Julian calendar
–
This is a visual example of the official date change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian
Julian calendar
–
Key concepts
9.
Tutelary deity
–
A tutelary is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture or occupation. One type of deity is the genius, the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the spirit of European folklore. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his spirit or daimonion. This sign I have had ever since I was a child, the Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places, for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion, the tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, or that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult, an emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Each town or city had one or more deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept secret on pain of death. The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome, the Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, the tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned. The depiction of some such as the Magna Mater as tower-crowned represents their capacity to preserve the city. Tutelary deities were also attached to sites of a smaller scale, such as storerooms, crossroads. The poet Martial lists the tutelary deities who watch over various aspects of his farm, the Lares Compitales were the tutelary gods of a neighborhood, each of which had a compitum devoted to these. During the Republic, the cult of local or neighborhood tutelaries sometimes became rallying points for political and social unrest, chinese folk religion, both past and present, includes a myriad of tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals may become deified after death, guan Yu is a well-known tutelary. In Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons and they were also worshiped as deities. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which life to human bodies come from nature
Tutelary deity
–
The
mural crown of
Cybele represents the walls of the city she protects
Tutelary deity
–
Lararium depicting tutelary deities of the house: the ancestral Genius (center) flanked by two Lares, with a guardian serpent below
Tutelary deity
–
Ready-made
spirit houses for the Chao Thi in
Thailand
10.
Jupiter (mythology)
–
Jupiter, also Jove, is the god of sky and thunder and king of the gods in Ancient Roman religion and mythology. Jupiter was the deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras. In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius, the king of Rome, to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering. Jupiter is usually thought to have originated as a sky god, the two emblems were often combined to represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt, frequently seen on Greek and Roman coins. As the sky-god, he was a witness to oaths. Many of his functions were focused on the Capitoline Hill, where the citadel was located and he was the chief deity of the early Capitoline Triad with Mars and Quirinus. In the later Capitoline Triad, he was the guardian of the state with Juno. His sacred tree was the oak, the Romans regarded Jupiter as the equivalent of the Greek Zeus, and in Latin literature and Roman art, the myths and iconography of Zeus are adapted under the name Iuppiter. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Jupiter was the brother of Neptune, each presided over one of the three realms of the universe, sky, the waters, and the underworld. The Italic Diespiter was also a sky god who manifested himself in the daylight, usually, Tinia is usually regarded as his Etruscan counterpart. The Romans believed that Jupiter granted them supremacy because they had honoured him more than any other people had, Jupiter was the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested. He personified the divine authority of Romes highest offices, internal organization and his image in the Republican and Imperial Capitol bore regalia associated with Romes ancient kings and the highest consular and Imperial honours. The consuls swore their oath of office in Jupiters name, to thank him for his help, they offered him a white ox with gilded horns. A similar offering was made by generals, who surrendered the tokens of their victory at the feet of Jupiters statue in the Capitol. Some scholars have viewed the triumphator as embodying Jupiter in the triumphal procession, Jupiters association with kingship and sovereignty was reinterpreted as Romes form of government changed. Originally, Rome was ruled by kings, after the monarchy was abolished and the Republic established, religious prerogatives were transferred to the patres, nostalgia for the kingship was considered treasonous. Those suspected of harbouring monarchical ambitions were punished, regardless of their service to the state, in the 5th century BC, the triumphator Camillus was sent into exile after he drove a chariot with a team of four white horses —an honour reserved for Jupiter himself. His house on the Capitoline Hill was razed, and it was decreed that no patrician should ever be allowed to live there, during the Conflict of the Orders, Romes plebeians demanded the right to hold political and religious office
Jupiter (mythology)
–
A marble statue of Jupiter from c. 200 AD
Jupiter (mythology)
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
–
Triumphator in his four-horse chariot, from the
Arch of Titus
Jupiter (mythology)
–
Detail of
relief from the
Augustan Altar of Peace, showing flamens wearing the pointed
apex
11.
Neptune (mythology)
–
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
Neptune (mythology)
–
A
velificans of Neptune in his
seahorse -drawn
triumphal chariot from the mid-3rd century AD -
Sousse Archaeological Museum.
Neptune (mythology)
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Neptune (mythology)
–
Mosaic of Neptune (
Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas,
Palermo)
Neptune (mythology)
–
Chichester Inscription which reads (in English): "To Neptune and
Minerva, for the welfare of the Divine House, by the authority of
Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, Great King in Britain,¹ the college of artificers and those therein erected this temple from their own resources [...]ens, son of Pudentinus, donated the site."
12.
Apollo
–
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf
Apollo
–
Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE
Apollo
–
Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at
Bassae in southern Greece
Apollo
–
Temple of the Delians at
Delos, dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.
Apollo
–
Temple of Apollo Smintheus at
Çanakkale, Turkey
13.
Roman festivals
–
Festivals in ancient Rome were an important part of Roman religious life during both the Republican and Imperial eras, and one of the primary features of the Roman calendar. Feriae were either public or private, state holidays were celebrated by the Roman people and received public funding. Games, such as the Ludi Apollinares, were not technically feriae, although feriae were paid for by the state, ludi were often funded by wealthy individuals. Feriae privatae were holidays celebrated in honor of individuals or by families. Conceptivae were annual holidays that were moveable feasts, the date was announced by the magistrates or priests who were responsible for them, imperativae were holidays held on demand when special celebrations or expiations were called for. One of the most important sources for Roman holidays is Ovids Fasti, varro defined feriae as days instituted for the sake of the gods. Religious rites were performed on the feriae, and public business was suspended, even slaves were supposed to be given some form of rest. Cicero says specifically that people who were free should not engage in lawsuits and quarrels, agricultural writers recognized that some jobs on a farm might still need to be performed, and specified what these were. Some agricultural tasks not otherwise permitted could be carried out if an expiation were made in advance, within the city of Rome, the flamens and the priest known as the Rex sacrorum were not allowed even to see work done. On a practical level, those who inadvertently worked could pay a fine or offer up a piaculum, work considered vital either to the gods or preserving human life was excusable, according to some experts on religious law. Although Romans were required not to work, they were not required to take any action unless they were priests or had family rites to maintain. Following is a month-by-month list of Roman festivals and games that had a place on the calendar. For some, the date on which they were first established is recorded, a deitys festival often marked the anniversary of the founding of a temple, or a rededication after a major renovation. Festivals not named for deities are thought to be among the oldest on the calendar, the first day of the month was the Kalends. Each Kalends was sacred to Juno, and the Regina sacrorum marked the day by presiding over a sacrifice to the goddess. A pontiff and the Rex sacrorum reported the sighting of the new moon, the Ides were sacred to Jupiter. On each Ides, a lamb was led along the Via Sacra to the Capitolium for sacrifice to Jupiter. The list also includes notable public religious events such as sacrifices
Roman festivals
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Roman festivals
–
Piece of the fragmentary
Fasti Praenestini for April, showing the Vinalia (VIN) and Robigalia (ROB)
Roman festivals
–
A rare depiction of Roman men wearing the
toga praetexta and participating in what is probably the Compitalia
14.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
Roman Empire
–
The
Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)
Roman Empire
–
Aureus of
Augustus, the first
Roman Emperor.
Roman Empire
–
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England
Roman Empire
–
A 5th-century
papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by
Cicero
15.
Ludi
–
Ludi were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people. Ludi were held in conjunction with, or sometimes as the feature of, Roman religious festivals. The earliest ludi were horse races in the circus, animal exhibitions with mock hunts and theatrical performances also became part of the festivals. The singular form ludus, game, sport or play has several meanings in Latin, the plural is used for games in a sense analogous to the Greek festivals of games, such as the Panhellenic Games. The late-antique scholar Isidore of Seville, however, classifies the forms of ludus as gymnicus, circensis, the relation of gladiatorial games to the ludi is complex, see Gladiator. Originally, all seem to have been votive offerings, staged as the fulfillment of a vow to a deity whose favor had been sought. In 366 BC, the Ludi Romani became the first games to be placed on the calendar as an annual event sponsored by the state as a whole. Games in the circus were preceded by a parade featuring the competitors, mounted youths of the Roman nobility, armed dancers, musicians, a satyr chorus, as the product of military victory, ludi were often connected to triumphs. The first recorded venatio was presented in 186 BC by M. Fulvius Nobilior as part of his ludi votivi, for which he paid with booty displayed at his triumph. Although public money was allocated for the staging of ludi, the presiding official increasingly came to augment the splendor of his games from personal funds as a form of public relations. The sponsor was able to advertise his wealth, while declaring that he intended to share it for public benefit, the religious festivals to which the ludi were attached also occasioned public banquets, and often public works such as the refurbishing or building of temples. It was during these ludi, which served as funeral games. In the late Republic, performances were held at the intersections of neighborhoods throughout the city on the same day. During the civil wars of the 80s, these gave rise to often unruly plebeian political expression by the neighborhood organizations. Freedmen played a role, and even slaves participated in the festivities. In 67 BC, the Compitalia had been disrupted by a riot at the ludi, along with some forms of occupational guilds and neighborhood associations, the ludi compitalicii were consequently banned by the senate in 64 BC. An unnamed tribune of the plebs supported efforts to stage the ludi for 61 BC, the consul Calpurnius Piso, father-in-law of Caesar, permitted the games, even though the organizations that ran them were still outlawed. Caesar banned the collegia and ludi again in 46 BC, in 7 BC, Augustus reorganized Rome for administrative purposes into 265 districts which replaced but which were still called vici
Ludi
–
Chariot races, as depicted on this 2nd-century
relief, were among the ludi presented at Roman religious festivals
Ludi
–
Terracotta plaque (1st century) depicting a
venatio, or human-animal
blood sport
Ludi
–
Octavian crowned as Augustus
16.
July
–
July is the seventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and the fourth month to have the length of 31 days. It was named by the Roman Senate in honor of the Roman general, Julius Caesar, prior to that, it was called Quintilis. It is on average the warmest month in most of the Northern hemisphere, the second half of the year commences in July. In the Southern hemisphere, July is the equivalent of January in the Northern hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, Dog days are considered to begin in early July, spring lambs, born in late winter or early spring, are usually sold before July 1. In Ancient Rome the festival of Poplifugia was celebrated on July 5, Ludi Apollinares on July 13 and for days afterwards. This list does not necessarily imply either official status nor general observance, season of Emancipation April 14 to August 23 Honor America Days, June 14 to July 4 In Catholic tradition, July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. Group B Strep Awareness Month National Hot Dog Month National Ice Cream Month July 23, Amavasya Phi Ta Khon Dates are selected by village mediums and can take place anywhere between March and July. July 2 Flag Day Palio di Provenzano Police Day World UFO Day July 3 The start of the Dog Days according to the Old Farmers Almanac, Emancipation Day Independence Day Womens Day July 4 Birthday of Queen Sonja Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7. Its birth flowers are the Larkspur or the Water Lily, the zodiac signs for the month of July are Cancer and Leo
July
–
July, from the
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
July
–
Fireworks in
Washington, DC, to celebrate
Independence Day on
July 4
17.
Nones (calendar)
–
The Roman calendar is the calendar used by the Roman kingdom and republic. The original calendar consisted of 10 months beginning in spring with March and these months ran for 38 nundinal cycles, each forming a kind of eight day week ended by religious rituals and a public market. The winter period was used to create January and February. The legendary early kings Romulus and Numa were traditionally credited with establishing this early fixed calendar, in particular, the kalends, nones, and ides seem to have derived from the first sighting of the crescent moon, the first-quarter moon, and the full moon respectively. The system ran well short of the year, and it needed constant intercalation to keep religious festivals. For superstitious reasons, such intercalation occurred within the month of February even after it was no longer considered the last month. Having won his war with Pompey, Caesar used his position as Romes chief pontiff to enact a calendar reform in 46 BC, in order to bring the calendar back to its proper place, Augustus was obliged to suspend intercalation for a few decades. The original Roman calendar is believed to have been a lunar calendar whose months began from the first signs of a new crescent moon. Because a lunar cycle is about 29½ days long, such months would have varied between 29 and 30 days, Romes 8-day week, the nundinal cycle, was shared with the Etruscans, who used it as the schedule of royal audiences. It was presumably a feature of the calendar and was credited in Roman legend variously to Romulus and Servius Tullius. The Romans themselves described their first organized year as one with ten fixed months, such a decimal division fit general Roman practice. The four 31-day months were called full and the others hollow and its 304 days made up exactly 38 nundinal cycles. Later Roman writers credited this calendar to Romulus, their legendary first king and culture hero, although this was common with other practices and traditions whose origin had been lost to them. Rüpke also finds the coincidence of the length of the supposed Romulan year with the length of the first ten months of the Julian calendar to be suspicious, other traditions existed alongside this one, however. Plutarchs Parallel Lives recounts that Romuluss calendar had been solar but adhered to the principle that the year should last for 360 days. Months were employed secondarily and haphazardly, with some counted as 20 days, the attested calendar of the Roman Republic was quite different. It followed Greek calendars in assuming a lunar cycle of 29½ days and a year of 12½ synodic months. The additional two months of the year were January and February, the month was sometimes known as Mercedonius
Nones (calendar)
–
A fragment of the
Fasti Praenestini for the month of April (
Aprilis), showing the nundinal letters on the left edge
Nones (calendar)
–
Drawing of the fragmentary Fasti Antiates Maiores (ca. 60 BC), a Roman calendar from before the Julian reform, with the seventh and eighth months still named
Quintilis ("QVI") and
Sextilis ("SEX"), and the
intercalary month ("INTER") in the far righthand column (see
enlarged)
Nones (calendar)
–
Fragment of an imperial-age consular
fasti, Museo Epigrafico, Rome
18.
Ides (calendar)
–
The Roman calendar is the calendar used by the Roman kingdom and republic. The original calendar consisted of 10 months beginning in spring with March and these months ran for 38 nundinal cycles, each forming a kind of eight day week ended by religious rituals and a public market. The winter period was used to create January and February. The legendary early kings Romulus and Numa were traditionally credited with establishing this early fixed calendar, in particular, the kalends, nones, and ides seem to have derived from the first sighting of the crescent moon, the first-quarter moon, and the full moon respectively. The system ran well short of the year, and it needed constant intercalation to keep religious festivals. For superstitious reasons, such intercalation occurred within the month of February even after it was no longer considered the last month. Having won his war with Pompey, Caesar used his position as Romes chief pontiff to enact a calendar reform in 46 BC, in order to bring the calendar back to its proper place, Augustus was obliged to suspend intercalation for a few decades. The original Roman calendar is believed to have been a lunar calendar whose months began from the first signs of a new crescent moon. Because a lunar cycle is about 29½ days long, such months would have varied between 29 and 30 days, Romes 8-day week, the nundinal cycle, was shared with the Etruscans, who used it as the schedule of royal audiences. It was presumably a feature of the calendar and was credited in Roman legend variously to Romulus and Servius Tullius. The Romans themselves described their first organized year as one with ten fixed months, such a decimal division fit general Roman practice. The four 31-day months were called full and the others hollow and its 304 days made up exactly 38 nundinal cycles. Later Roman writers credited this calendar to Romulus, their legendary first king and culture hero, although this was common with other practices and traditions whose origin had been lost to them. Rüpke also finds the coincidence of the length of the supposed Romulan year with the length of the first ten months of the Julian calendar to be suspicious, other traditions existed alongside this one, however. Plutarchs Parallel Lives recounts that Romuluss calendar had been solar but adhered to the principle that the year should last for 360 days. Months were employed secondarily and haphazardly, with some counted as 20 days, the attested calendar of the Roman Republic was quite different. It followed Greek calendars in assuming a lunar cycle of 29½ days and a year of 12½ synodic months. The additional two months of the year were January and February, the month was sometimes known as Mercedonius
Ides (calendar)
–
A fragment of the
Fasti Praenestini for the month of April (
Aprilis), showing the nundinal letters on the left edge
Ides (calendar)
–
Drawing of the fragmentary Fasti Antiates Maiores (ca. 60 BC), a Roman calendar from before the Julian reform, with the seventh and eighth months still named
Quintilis ("QVI") and
Sextilis ("SEX"), and the
intercalary month ("INTER") in the far righthand column (see
enlarged)
Ides (calendar)
–
Fragment of an imperial-age consular
fasti, Museo Epigrafico, Rome
19.
Inclusive counting
–
Counting is the action of finding the number of elements of a finite set of objects. The related term refers to uniquely identifying the elements of a finite set or infinite set by assigning a number to each element. Counting sometimes involves numbers other than one, for example, when counting money, counting out change, counting by twos, there is archeological evidence suggesting that humans have been counting for at least 50,000 years. Counting was primarily used by ancient cultures to keep track of social and economic data such as number of members, prey animals, property. The development of counting led to the development of mathematical notation, numeral systems, counting can occur in a variety of forms. Counting can be verbal, that is, speaking every number out loud to keep track of progress and this is often used to count objects that are present already, instead of counting a variety of things over time. Counting can also be in the form of tally marks, making a mark for each number and this is useful when counting objects over time, such as the number of times something occurs during the course of a day. Tallying is base 1 counting, normal counting is done in base 10, counting can also be in the form of finger counting, especially when counting small numbers. This is often used by children to facilitate counting and simple mathematical operations, finger-counting uses unary notation, and is thus limited to counting 10. Older finger counting used the four fingers and the three bones in each finger to count to the number twelve, other hand-gesture systems are also in use, for example the Chinese system by which one can count 10 using only gestures of one hand. By using finger binary, it is possible to keep a count up to 1023 =210 −1. Various devices can also be used to facilitate counting, such as tally counters. Inclusive counting is usually encountered when dealing with time in the Romance languages, in exclusive counting languages such as English, when counting 8 days from Sunday, Monday will be day 1, Tuesday day 2, and the following Monday will be the eighth day. When counting inclusively, the Sunday will be day 1 and therefore the following Sunday will be the eighth day, for example, the French phrase for fortnight is quinzaine, and similar words are present in Greek, Spanish and Portuguese. In contrast, the English word fortnight itself derives from a fourteen-night, as the archaic sennight does from a seven-night, learning to count is an important educational/developmental milestone in most cultures of the world. Learning to count is a very first step into mathematics. However, some cultures in Amazonia and the Australian Outback do not count, many children at just 2 years of age have some skill in reciting the count list. They can also answer questions of ordinality for small numbers, e. g and they can even be skilled at pointing to each object in a set and reciting the words one after another
Inclusive counting
–
Counting using
tally marks at
Hanakapiai Beach
20.
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
–
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
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
–
Ruins of the
aedes of Vesta
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
–
Altar (ara) from
Roman Spain
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
–
Augustus, capite velato
21.
Roman law
–
The historical importance of Roman law is reflected by the continued use of Latin legal terminology in many legal systems influenced by it. After the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman law remained in effect in the Eastern Roman Empire, from the 7th century onward, the legal language in the East was Greek. Roman law also denotes the legal system applied in most of Western Europe until the end of the 18th century, in Germany, Roman law practice remained in place longer under the Holy Roman Empire. Roman law thus served as a basis for legal practice throughout Western continental Europe, as well as in most former colonies of these European nations, including Latin America, English and North American common law were influenced also by Roman law, notably in their Latinate legal glossary. Eastern Europe was also influenced by the jurisprudence of the Corpus Juris Civilis, especially in such as medieval Romania which created a new system. Also, Eastern European law was influenced by the Farmers Law of the medieval Byzantine legal system. g and it is believed that Roman Law is rooted in the Etruscan religion, emphasising ritual. The first legal text is the Law of the Twelve Tables, terentilius Arsa, proposed that the law should be written, in order to prevent magistrates from applying the law arbitrarily. In 451 BC, according to the story, ten Roman citizens were chosen to record the laws. While they were performing this task, they were given political power. In 450 BC, the decemviri produced the laws on ten tablets, a second decemvirate is said to have added two further tablets in 449 BC. The new Law of the Twelve Tables was approved by the peoples assembly, modern scholars tend to challenge the accuracy of Roman historians. They generally do not believe that a second decemvirate ever took place, the decemvirate of 451 is believed to have included the most controversial points of customary law, and to have assumed the leading functions in Rome. Furthermore, the question on the Greek influence found in the early Roman Law is still much discussed, many scholars consider it unlikely that the patricians sent an official delegation to Greece, as the Roman historians believed. Instead, those scholars suggest, the Romans acquired Greek legislations from the Greek cities of Magna Graecia, the original text of the Twelve Tables has not been preserved. The tablets were probably destroyed when Rome was conquered and burned by the Gauls in 387 BC, the fragments which did survive show that it was not a law code in the modern sense. It did not provide a complete and coherent system of all applicable rules or give legal solutions for all possible cases, rather, the tables contained specific provisions designed to change the then-existing customary law. Although the provisions pertain to all areas of law, the largest part is dedicated to private law, many laws include Lex Canuleia, Leges Licinae Sextiae, Lex Ogulnia, and Lex Hortensia. Another important statute from the Republican era is the Lex Aquilia of 286 BC, however, Romes most important contribution to European legal culture was not the enactment of well-drafted statutes, but the emergence of a class of professional jurists and of a legal science
Roman law
–
Cicero, author of the classic book The Laws, attacks
Catiline for attempting a coup in the
Roman Senate.
Roman law
–
Ancient Rome
Roman law
–
Title page of a late 16th-century edition of the Digesta, part of Emperor
Justinian 's
Corpus Juris Civilis
22.
Comitia
–
The legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. Under the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the people held the source of sovereignty. Since the Romans used a form of democracy, citizens. As such, the citizen-electors had no power, other than the power to cast a vote, each assembly was presided over by a single Roman Magistrate, and as such, it was the presiding magistrate who made all decisions on matters of procedure and legality. Ultimately, the magistrates power over the assembly was nearly absolute. The only check on that power came in the form of vetoes handed down by other magistrates, in the Roman system of direct democracy, two primary types of gatherings were used to vote on legislative, electoral, and judicial matters. The second was the Council, which was a gathering of citizens of a specific class, in contrast, the Convention was an unofficial forum for communication. Conventions were simply forums where Romans met for specific purposes, such as, for example. Voters always assembled first into Conventions to hear debates and conduct other business before voting, there were no set dates to hold assemblies, but notice had to be given beforehand if the assembly was to be considered formal. Elections had to be announced 17 days before the election took place, likewise,17 days had to pass between the proposal of legislation and its enactment by an assembly. In addition to the magistrate, several additional magistrates were often present to act as assistants. There were also officials known as augurs either in attendance or on-call. On several known occasions, presiding magistrates used the claim of unfavorable omens as an excuse to suspend a session that was not going the way they wanted, any decision made by a presiding magistrate could be vetoed by a magistrate known as a Plebeian Tribune. In addition, decisions made by presiding magistrates could also be vetoed by higher-ranking magistrates, on the day of the vote, the electors first assembled into their conventions for debate and campaigning. In the Conventions, the electors were not sorted into their respective units, speeches from private citizens were only heard if the issue to be voted upon was a legislative or judicial matter. If the purpose of the vote was for an election, no speeches from private citizens were heard, and instead. During the Convention, the bill to be voted upon was read to the assembly by a known as a Herald. Then, if the assembly was composed of Tribes, the order of the vote had to be determined, a Plebeian Tribune could use his veto against pending legislation until the point when the order of the vote was determined
Comitia
–
Growth of the city region during the kingdom
Comitia
–
Ancient Rome
Comitia
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Roman Dictator Sulla, who attempted to increase the power of the Century Assembly at the expense of the Tribal Assembly
23.
Dies religiosus
–
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
Dies religiosus
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Dies religiosus
–
Ruins of the
aedes of Vesta
Dies religiosus
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Altar (ara) from
Roman Spain
Dies religiosus
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Augustus, capite velato
24.
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
–
The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority of the Roman State. Augustuss reforms transformed Romes Republican system of government to a de facto monarchy, couched in traditional Roman practices, the princeps was expected to balance the interests of the Roman military, Senate and people, and to maintain peace, security and prosperity throughout an ethnically diverse empire. A deceased emperor held worthy of the honor could be voted a state divinity by the Senate, in the development of Imperial rule from Principate to Dominate, the role of the Senate was increasingly marginalised and military loyalty became the key to Imperial authority. The Imperial cult was inseparable from that of Romes official deities, whose cult was essential to Romes survival, Traditional cult was a focus of Imperial revivalist legislation under Decius and Diocletian. Christian apologists and martyrologists saw the cult of the Emperor as a particularly offensive instrument of pagan impiety and it therefore became a focus of theological and political debate during the ascendancy of Christianity under Constantine I. The emperor Julian failed to reverse the declining support for Romes official religious practices, Romes traditional gods and Imperial cult were officially abandoned. However, many of the rites, practices and status distinctions that characterized the cult to emperors were perpetuated in the theology, for five centuries, the Roman Republic did not give worship to any historic figure, or any living man, although surrounded by divine and semi-divine monarchies. Romes legendary kings had been its masters, with their removal, Republican Romans could identify Romulus, similarly, Aeneas was worshipped as Jupiter Indiges. The aristocrats who held almost all Roman magistracies, and thereby occupied almost all of the Senate, among the highest of honors was the triumph. The triumphator rode in a chariot, bearing divine emblems, in a supposed to be inherited from the ancient kings of Rome. Whatever his personal ambitions, his victory and his triumph alike served the Roman Senate, people, in private life, however, tradition required that some human beings be treated as more or less divine, cult was due from familial inferiors to their superiors. A client could call his patron Jupiter on earth, the dead, collectively and individually, were gods of the underworld or afterlife. A prominent clan might claim divine influence and quasi-divine honors for its leader, death masks were made for all notable Romans and were displayed in the atria of their houses, they were used to represent their ghostly presence at family funerals. The mask of Scipio Africanus, Cornelias father and victor over Hannibal, was stored in the temple of Jupiter, a tradition arose in the centuries after his death that Africanus had been inspired by prophetic dreams, and was himself the son of Jupiter. There are several cases of unofficial cult directed at men viewed as saviors and this celebration, in Spain, featured a lavish banquet with local and imported delicacies, and a mechanical statue of Victory to crown Metellus, who wore a triumphators toga picta for the occasion. These festivities were organized by the quaestor Gaius Urbinus, but were not acts of the state, Metellus liked all this, but his older and pious contemporaries thought it arrogant and intolerable. After Gaius Marius defeated the Teutones, private citizens would offer food and drink to him alongside their household gods, when the Romans began to dominate large parts of the Greek world, Romes senior representatives there were given the same divine honours as were Hellenistic rulers. There were similar instances of divine cult to humans in the century, although some rulers, like Agesilaus
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
–
Venus and Mars sculpture group reworked to portray an Imperial couple (created 120–140 AD, reworked 170–175)
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
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Repoussé pendant of Alexander the Great, horned and diademed like
Zeus Ammon: images of Alexander were worn as magic charms (4th-century Roman).
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
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Augustus as Jove, holding scepter and orb (first half of 1st century AD)
25.
Circus (building)
–
The Roman circus was a large open-air venue used for public events in the ancient Roman Empire. The circuses were similar to the ancient Greek hippodromes, although circuses served varying purposes and differed in design, along with theatres and amphitheatres, Circuses were one of the main entertainment sites of the time. Circuses were venues for chariot races, horse races, and performances that commemorated important events of the empire were performed there, for events that involved re-enactments of naval battles, the circus was flooded with water. The Circus of Maxentius epitomises the design, the median strip was called the spina and usually featured ornate columns, statues and commemorative obelisks. The turning points on either end of the spina were usually marked by conical poles, one circus, that at Antinopolis, displays a distinct gap of some 50m between the carceres and the start of the ascending seating where there is apparently no structure. This appears to be an exception, the great majority of circuses fit the description above. These latter circuses are normally small, and should probably be considered stadiums, there are similar buildings, called stadia, which were used for Greek style athletics. These buildings were similar in design but typically smaller than circuses, however, an example of this type is the Stadium of Domitian. Although circuses such as the Circus Maximus may have existed in form from as early as around 500BC. The comparative dimensions of a circus may be measured in 2 basic ways, by the length of the track, other dimensions, such as the external dimensions of the structure may vary considerably depending on the location, the site, and on specific architectural characteristics. The simplest comparative measurement of a circus is its track length and this is the most easily measured dimension, as it only requires small excavations at either end of the centreline. It is very probable that this can be even when the circus is buried under subsequent constructions. Track lengths may vary from the 245m of the circus at Gerasa, the alternative comparative dimension is that of seating capacity. This is much more complex to measure as it requires that the dimensions of the vertical and horizontal extent of the inclined seating be re-established. Seating capacity may vary from around 15,000 people at Gerasa, Circuses do not appear to have been constructed with any special compass orientation. Those that are well identified can be found with their round ends oriented around the compass. Circuses can be found at 3 distinct locations relative to the towns to which belong, outside the city walls at anything up to 1.5 km distant, as at, Gerasa. Simply within the walls, as at, Thessalonica
Circus (building)
–
The site of the former
Circus Maximus in modern-day
Rome
Circus (building)
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Floorplan of Circus Maximus. This design is typical of Roman circuses.
Circus (building)
–
Trimontium Plovdiv Roman Stadium
Circus (building)
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further images (may not be oriented to north)
26.
Marcus Aurelius
–
Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus death in 169, Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, during his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East, Aurelius general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately, the major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. For Marcus life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, a body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.138 to 166. Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his life, but are largely undateable. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources, Marcus family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. Verus elder son—Marcus Aurelius father—Marcus Annius Verus married Domitia Lucilla, Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a fortune from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption. Lucilla and Verus had two children, a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121 AD, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, Verus probably died in 124 AD, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old. Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father, Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of nurses, even so, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him religious piety, simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich. In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her, he was grateful that, although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me. After his fathers death, Aurelius was raised by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus who, technically this was not an adoption, since an adoption would be the legal creation of a new and different patria potestas. Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing, Severus is described as Marcus maternal great-grandfather, he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla. Marcus was raised in his parents home on the Caelian Hill and it was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas
Marcus Aurelius
–
Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the
Musée Saint-Raymond,
Toulouse.
Marcus Aurelius
–
The
Statue of Marcus Aurelius (detail) in the
Musei Capitolini in Rome.
Marcus Aurelius
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Denarius, struck 140 AD with portrait of
Antoninus Pius (obverse) and his adoptive son Marcus Aurelius (reverse).
Marcus Aurelius
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Statue of young Marcus Aurelius from a private collection housed in the San Antonio Museum of Art
27.
Juno (mythology)
–
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
Juno (mythology)
–
Juno Sospita, a
plaster cast based on an original in the
Vatican Museums
Juno (mythology)
–
A woman, perhaps Lucina, goddess of childbirth, presents the goddess of love, Aphrodite (Roman Venus) with the beautiful infant Adonis.
Juno (mythology)
–
IVNO REGINA ("Queen Juno") on a coin celebrating
Julia Soaemias.
Juno (mythology)
–
Juno. Silver statuette, 1st–2nd century.
28.
Regina sacrorum
–
In ancient Roman religion, the rex sacrorum was a senatorial priesthood reserved for patricians. The rex was based in the Regia, during the Roman Republic, the rex sacrorum was chosen by the pontifex maximus from a list of patricians submitted by the College of Pontiffs. A further requirement was that he be born from parents married through the ritual of confarreatio and his wife, the regina sacrorum, also performed religious duties specific to her role. Marriage was thus such a part of the priesthood that if the regina died. The rex sacrorum wore a toga, the undecorated soft shoeboot, the rex held a sacrifice on the Kalends of each month. On the Nones, he announced the dates of festivals for the month, on March 24 and May 24, he held a sacrifice in the Comitium. The rex sacrorum was a feature of Italic religion and possibly also Etruscan, the title is found in Latin cities such as Lanuvium, Tusculum, and Velitrae. At Rome the priesthood was deliberately depoliticized, the rex sacrorum was not elected, and his inauguration was witnessed by a comitia calata. Like the flamen Dialis but in contrast to the pontiffs and augurs and it is a matter of scholarly debate as to whether the rex sacrorum was created during the formation of the Republic, as Arnaldo Momigliano argued, or had existed in the Regal period. Another Roman priest given the king was the rex Nemorensis. As the wife of the rex sacrorum, the regina sacrorum was a priestess who carried out ritual duties only she could perform. On the Kalends of every month, the regina presided at the sacrifice of a sow or female lamb to Juno, unlike the Vestals, however, the regina sacrorum and the flaminica Dialis were complements to a male partner, these two priesthoods were gender-balanced and had shared duties. While performing her rituals, the regina wore a headdress called the arculum, inscriptions record the names of a few reginae sacrorum, including Sergia Paullina, the wife of Cn. Pinarius Cornelius Severus, shortly before 112 AD, and Manlia Fadilla around the 2nd/3rd century AD, the office of rex sacrorum was not a highly coveted position among the patricians for although the rex sacrorum was technically superior to the pontiffs the rank conferred no real political gain. Because of this there would be some years without a rex sacrorum at all, the King of Sacrifices by John Maddox Roberts appears in The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, edited by Michael Ashley
Regina sacrorum
–
Flamen (250–260 AD)
29.
Felicitas
–
In ancient Roman culture, felicitas is a condition of divinely inspired productivity, blessedness, or happiness. Felicitas could encompass both a womans fertility, and a generals luck or good fortune, the divine personification of Felicitas was cultivated as a goddess. Although felicitas may be translated as good luck, and the goddess Felicitas shares some characteristics and attributes with Fortuna, Fortuna was unpredictable and her effects could be negative, as the existence of an altar to Mala Fortuna acknowledges. Felicitas, however, always had a positive significance and she appears with several epithets that focus on aspects of her divine power. Felicitas continued to play an important role in Imperial cult, and was portrayed on coins as a symbol of the wealth. Her primary attributes are the caduceus and cornucopia, the English word felicity derives from felicitas. In its religious sense, felix means blessed, under the protection or favour of the gods and that which is felix has achieved the pax divom, a state of harmony or peace with the divine world. The word derives from Indo-European *dhel, meaning happy, fruitful, productive, full of nourishment. Related Latin words include femina, woman, felo, to suckle in regard to an infant, filius, son, in archaic Roman culture, felicitas was a quality expressing the close bonds between religion and agriculture. Felicitas was at issue when the suovetaurilia sacrifice conducted by Cato the Elder as censor in 184 BC was challenged as having been unproductive, perhaps for vitium, ritual error. In the following three years Rome had been plagued by a number of ill omens and prodigies, such as storms, pestilence, and showers of blood. The speech Cato gave to justify himself is known as the Oratio de lustri sui felicitate, Speech on the Felicitas of his Lustrum, the efficacy of a ritual might be thus expressed as its felicitas. The ability to promote felicitas became proof of ones excellence and divine favor, cicero lists felicitas as one of the four virtues of the exemplary general, along with knowledge of military science, virtus, and auctoritas, authority. Virtus was a complement to felicitas, which was not thought to attach to those who were unworthy. The sayings of Publilius Syrus are often attached to divine qualities, including Felicitas, epithets of Felicitas include, Augusta, the goddess in her association with the emperor and Imperial cult. Fausta, a state divinity cultivated on October 9 in conjunction with Venus Victrix, Publica, the public Felicitas, that is, the aspect of the divine force that was concerned with the res publica or commonwealth, or with the Roman People. Temporum, the Felicitas of the times, a title which emphasize the felicitas being experienced in current circumstances, the temple was destroyed by a fire during the reign of Claudius, though the Muses were rescued. It was not rebuilt at this site, Sulla identified himself so closely with the quality of felicitcas that he adopted the agnomen Felix
Felicitas
–
Phallic relief with the inscription "Felicitas dwells here"
Felicitas
–
Felicitas Augusta holding a
caduceus and a
cornucopia, two symbols of health and wealth, on the
reverse of an
aureus issued under the emperor
Valerian
Felicitas
–
AR
Denarius of
Macrinus, reverse side with 'FELICITAS TEMPORVM'.
Felicitas
–
Felicitas Temporum represented by a pair of cornucopiae on a
denarius (193-194 AD) issued under
Pescennius Niger
30.
Pales
–
In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. Regarded as male by some sources and female by others, Pales can be singular or plural in Latin. Pales festival, called the Parilia, was celebrated on April 21, cattle were driven through bonfires on this day. Pales and the Parilia were strictly connected to the foundation of Rome which took place on the day of their festival, marcus Atilius Regulus built a temple to Pales in Rome following his victory over the Salentini in 267 BC. According to the Fasti Antiates Maiores, there was a festival for the two Pales on July 7, probably to mark the dedication of this temple, a New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic
Pales
