Tepidarium
The tepidarium was the warm bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from the walls and floor. There is an interesting example at Pompeii; the tepidarium in the Roman thermae was the great central hall around which all the other halls were grouped, which gave the key to the plans of the thermal. It was the hall where the bathers first assembled prior to passing through the various hot baths or taking the cold bath; the tepidarium was decorated with the richest marbles and mosaics: it received its light through clerestory windows, on the sides, the front and the rear, would seem to have been the hall in which the finest treasures of art were placed. Caldarium Frigidarium This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Tepidarium". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
Basilica
The Latin word basilica has three distinct applications in modern English. The word was used to refer to an ancient Roman public building, where courts were held, as well as serving other official and public functions, it had the door at one end and a raised platform and an apse at the other, where the magistrate or other officials were seated. The basilica was centrally located in every Roman town adjacent to the main forum. Subsequently, the basilica was not built near a forum but adjacent to a palace and was known as a "palace basilica"; as the Roman Empire adopted Christianity, the major church buildings were constructed with this basic architectural plan and thus it became popular throughout Europe. It continues to be used in an architectural sense to describe rectangular buildings with a central nave and aisles, a raised platform at the opposite end from the door. In Europe and the Americas the basilica remained the most common architectural style for churches of all Christian denominations, though this building plan has become less dominant in new buildings since the latter 20th century.
Thirdly, the term refers to an official designation: a large and important Catholic church, given special ceremonial rights by the Pope, whatever its architectural plan. These are divided into four major basilicas, all of which are ancient churches located within Rome, and, as of 2017, 1,757 minor basilicas around the world; some Catholic basilicas are Catholic pilgrimage sites, receiving tens of millions of visitors per year. In December 2009 the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe set a new record with 6.1 million pilgrims during Friday and Saturday for the anniversary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Latin word basilica lit. "royal stoa" referring to the tribunal chamber of a king. In Rome the word was at first used to describe an ancient Roman public building where courts were held, as well as serving other official and public functions. To a large extent these were the town halls of ancient Roman life; the basilica was centrally located in every Roman town adjacent to the main forum. These buildings, an example of, the Basilica Ulpia, were rectangular, had a central nave and aisles with a raised platform and an apse at each of the two ends, adorned with a statue of the emperor, while the entrances were from the long sides.
By extension the name was applied to Christian churches which adopted the same basic plan and it continues to be used as an architectural term to describe such buildings, which form the majority of church buildings in Western Christianity, though the basilican building plan became less dominant in new buildings from the 20th century. The Roman basilica was a large public building; the first basilicas had no religious function at all. As early as the time of Augustus, a public basilica for transacting business had been part of any settlement that considered itself a city, used in the same way as the covered market houses of late medieval northern Europe, where the meeting room, for lack of urban space, was set above the arcades, however. Although their form was variable, basilicas contained interior colonnades that divided the space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces on one or both sides, with an apse at one end, where the magistrates sat on a raised dais; the central aisle tended to be wide and was higher than the flanking aisles, so that light could penetrate through the clerestory windows.
The oldest known basilica, the Basilica Porcia, was built in Rome in 184 BC by Cato the Elder during the time he was Censor. Other early examples include the basilica at Pompeii; the most splendid Roman basilica is the one begun for traditional purposes during the reign of the pagan emperor Maxentius and finished by Constantine I after 313 AD. Basilica Porcia: first basilica built in Rome, erected on the personal initiative and financing of the censor Marcus Porcius Cato as an official building for the tribunes of the plebs Aemilian Basilica, built by the censor Aemilius Lepidus in 179 BC Basilica Sempronia, built by the censor Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 169 BC Basilica Opimia, erected by the consul Lucius Opimius in 121 BC, at the same time that he restored the temple of Concord Julian Basilica dedicated in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and completed by Augustus 27 BC to 14 AD Basilica Argentaria, erected under Trajan, emperor from 98 AD to 117AD Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine In the Roman Imperial period, a basilica for large audiences became a feature in palaces.
In the 3rd century AD, the governing elite appeared less in the forums. They now tended to dominate their cities from opulent palaces and country villas, set a little apart from traditional centers of public life. Rather than retreats from public life, these residences were the forum made private. Seated in the tribune of his basilica, the great man would meet his dependent clientes early every morning. Constantine's basilica at Trier, the Aula Palatina, is still standing. A private basilica excavated at Bulla Regia, in the "House of the Hunt", dates from the first half of the 5th century, its reception or audience hall is a long rectangular nave-like space, flanked by dependent rooms that also open into one another, ending in a semi-circular apse, with matching transept spaces. Cluster
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, stretching from the island of Rab in the north to the Bay of Kotor in the south; the hinterland ranges in width from fifty kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south. Seventy-nine islands run parallel to the coast, the largest being Brač, Hvar; the largest city is Split, followed by Zadar, Šibenik. The name of the region stems from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity, it became a Roman province, as result a Romance culture emerged, along with the now-extinct Dalmatian language largely replaced with related Venetian. With the arrival of Croats to the area in the 8th century, who occupied most of the hinterland and Romance elements began to intermix in language and culture. During the Middle Ages, its cities were conquered by, or switched allegiance to, the kingdoms of the region.
The longest-lasting rule was the one of the Republic of Venice, which controlled most of Dalmatia between 1420 and 1797, with the exception of the small but stable Republic of Ragusa in the south. Between 1815 and 1918, it was a province of the Austrian Empire known as the Kingdom of Dalmatia. After the Austro-Hungarian defeat in the First World War, Dalmatia was split between the Kingdom of Serbs and Slovenes which controlled most of it, the Kingdom of Italy which held several smaller parts, after World War II, SFR Yugoslavia took complete control over the area; the name Dalmatia derives from the name of the Dalmatae tribe, connected with the Illyrian word delme meaning "sheep". Its Latin form Dalmatia gave rise to its current English name. In the Venetian language, once dominant in the area, it is spelled Dalmàssia, in modern Italian Dalmazia; the modern Croatian spelling is Dalmacija, pronounced. Dalmatia is referenced in the New Testament at 2 Timothy 4:10, so its name has been translated in many of the world's languages.
In antiquity the Roman province of Dalmatia was much larger than the present-day Split-Dalmatia County, stretching from Istria in the north to modern-day Albania in the south. Dalmatia signified not only a geographical unit, but was an entity based on common culture and settlement types, a common narrow eastern Adriatic coastal belt, Mediterranean climate, sclerophyllous vegetation of the Illyrian province, Adriatic carbonate platform, karst geomorphology. Dalmatia is today a historical region only, not formally instituted in Croatian law, its exact extent is therefore subject to public perception. According to Lena Mirošević and Josip Faričić of the University of Zadar: …the modern perception of Dalmatia is based on the territorial extent of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia, with the exception of Rab island, geographically related to the Kvarner area and functionally to the Littoral–Gorski Kotar area, with the exception of the Bay of Kotor, annexed to another state after World War I; the southern part of Lika and upper Pounje, which were not a part of Austrian Dalmatia, became a part of Zadar County.
From the present-day administrative and territorial point of view, Dalmatia comprises the four Croatian littoral counties with seats in Zadar, Šibenik and Dubrovnik. "Dalmatia" is therefore perceived to extend to the borders of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia. However, due to territorial and administrative changes over the past century, the perception can be seen to have altered somewhat with regard to certain areas, sources conflict as to their being part of the region in modern times: The Bay of Kotor area in Montenegro. With the subdivision of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia into oblasts in 1922, the whole of the Bay of Kotor from Sutorina to Sutomore was granted to the Zeta Oblast, so that the border of Dalmatia was formed at that point by the southern border of the former Republic of Ragusa; the Encyclopædia Britannica defines Dalmatia as extending "to the narrows of Kotor". Other sources, such as the Treccani encyclopedia and the "Rough Guide to Croatia" still include the Bay as being part of the region.
The island of Rab, along with the small islands of Sveti Grgur and Goli, were a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and are and culturally related to the region, but are today associated more with the Croatian Littoral, due to geographical vicinity and administrative expediency. Gračac municipality and northern Pag. A number of sources express the view that "from the modern-day administrative point of view", the extent of Dalmatia equates to the four southernmost counties of Croatia: Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva; this definition does not include the Bay of Kotor, nor the islands of Rab, Sveti Grgur, Goli. It excludes the northern part of the island of Pag, part of the Lika-Senj County. However, it includes the Gračac Municipality in Zadar County, not a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and is not traditionally associated with the region; the inhabitants of Dalmatia are culturally subdivided into two groups. The urban families of the coastal cities known as Fetivi, are culturally akin to the inhabitants of the Dalmatian islands.
The two are together distinct, in the Mediterranean aspects of their culture, fr
Dalmatia (Roman province)
Dalmatia was a Roman province. Its name is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, which lived in the central area of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, it encompassed the northern part of present-day Albania, much of Croatia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, thus covering an area larger than the current Croatian region of Dalmatia. This region was called Illyria or Illyricum; the province of Illyricum was dissolved and replaced by two separate provinces: Dalmatia and Pannonia. The region which run along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and extended inland on the Dinaric Alps was called Illyria by the Greeks; the Romans called it Illyria. They called it Illyricum; the Romans fought three Illyrian Wars against the kingdom of the Ardiaei in the south of the region. In 168 BC they abolished this kingdom, divided it into three republics; the area became a Roman protectorate. The central and northern area of the region raided north-eastern Italy. In response to this, Octavian conducted a series of campaigns in Illyricum.
The area became the Roman province of Illyricum in 27 BC. It was a senatorial provinces. Due to troubles in the northern part of the region in 16-10 BC, it became an imperial province; the administrative organisation of Illyricum was carried out late in the reign of Augustus and early in the reign of Tiberius. Due to Octavian having subdued the more inland region of Pannonia, the Romans changed the name of the coastal area to Dalmatia. Illyricum was composed of Pannonia; the earliest writing which indicates that the province of Illyricum comprised Dalmatia and Pannonia is the mention by Velleius Paterculus of Gaius Vibius Postumus as the military commander of Dalmatia under Germanicus in 9 AD, towards the end of the Batonian War. In 6-9 AD there was a large scale rebellion in the province of the Bellum Batonianum; the province of Illyricum was dissolved and replaced by two smaller provinces: Dalmatia and Pannonia. It is unclear. Kovác noted that an inscription on the base of a statue of Nero erected between 54 and 68 AD attests that it was erected by the veteran of a legion stationed in Pannonia and argues that this is the first epigraphic evidence that a separate Pannonia existed at least since the reign of Nero.
However, Šašel-Kos notes that an inscription attests a governor of Illyricum under the reign of Claudius and in a military diploma published in the late 1990s, dated July 61 AD, units of auxiliaries from the Pannonian part of the province were mentioned as being stationed in Illyricum. Some other diplomas attest the same; this was during the reign of Nero. Therefore, Šašel-Kos supports the notion that the province was dissolved during the reign of Vespasian. In 337, when Constantine the Great died, the Roman Empire was partitioned among his sons; the empire was divided into three praetorian prefectures: the Galliae, Africa et Illyricum and Oriens. The size of the provinces had been decreased and their number doubled by Diocletian; the provinces were grouped in dioceses. Dalmatia became one of the seven provinces of the diocese of Pannonia, it was under the praetorian preacture of Italy and Illyricum. It seems that the three dioceses of Macedonia and Pannonia were first grouped together in a separate praetorian prefecture in 347 by Constans by removing them from the praetorian prefecture of Italy and Illyricum or that this praetorian prefecture was formed in 343 when Constans appointed a prefect for Italy.
Sirmium, the future capital of the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum, was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. After he abdicated, he built Diocletian's Palace in Salona. German historian Theodore Mommsen wrote that coastal Dalmatia and its islands were romanized and Latin-speaking by the 4th century; the Croatian historian Aleksandar Stipčević writes that analysis of archaeological material from that period has shown that the process of romanization was rather selective. While urban centers, both coastal and inland, were completely romanized, the situation in the countryside was different. Despite the Illyrians being subject to a strong process of acculturation, they continued to speak their native language, worship their own gods and traditions, follow their own social-political tribal organization, adapted to Roman administration and political structure only in some necessities. In 454 Marcellinus, a military commander in Dalmatia, rebelled against Valentinian III, the emperor of the west.
He seized control of Dalmatia and governed it independently until his death in 468. Julius Nepos became the governor of Dalmatia though he was a relative of the emperor of the east, Leo I the Thracian, Dalmatia was under the western part of the Roman empire. Dalmatia remained an autonomous area. In 474 Leo I elevated Nepos as emperor of the western part of the empire in order to depose Glycerius, a usurper emperor. Nepos deposed the usurper, but was in turn deposed in 475 by Orestes, who made his son Romulus Augustus emperor in the west. Leo I still held Julius Nepos as the emperor of the west. Romulus Augustus was deposed in 476 by Odoacer. Nepos remained in Dalmatia and continued to govern it until he was assassinate
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar, known by his nomen and cognomen Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, military general, historian who played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. He wrote Latin prose. In 60 BC, Caesar and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate, a political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years, their attempts to amass power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a number of his accomplishments, notably his victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC. During this time, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the English Channel and the Rhine River, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. Caesar's wars extended Rome's territory to past Gaul; these achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC.
With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Leaving his command in Gaul meant losing his immunity from being charged as a criminal for waging unsanctioned wars; as a result, Caesar found himself with no other options but to cross the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms. This began Caesar's civil war, his victory in the war put him in an unrivaled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a program of social and governmental reforms, including the creation of the Julian calendar, he gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Empire. He initiated land support for veterans, he centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic and was proclaimed "dictator for life", giving him additional authority. His populist and authoritarian reforms angered the elites. On the Ides of March, 44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators led by Gaius Cassius Longinus, Marcus Junius Brutus and Decimus Junius Brutus, who stabbed him to death.
A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never restored. Caesar's adopted heir Octavian known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, the era of the Roman Empire began. Much of Caesar's life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns and from other contemporary sources the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust; the biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are major sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history, his cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for "Emperor". He has appeared in literary and artistic works, his political philosophy, known as Caesarism, inspired politicians into the modern era. Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas the son of the goddess Venus.
The Julii were of Alban origin, mentioned as one of the leading Alban houses, which settled in Rome around the mid-7th century BC, after the destruction of Alba Longa. They were granted patrician status, along with other noble Alban families; the Julii existed at an early period at Bovillae, evidenced by a ancient inscription on an altar in the theatre of that town, which speaks of their offering sacrifices according to the lege Albana, or Alban rites. The cognomen "Caesar" originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor, born by Caesarean section; the Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations: that the first Caesar had a thick head of hair. 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 politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesar's father called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia, his sister Julia, Caesar's aunt, married Gaius Marius, one of the most prominent figures in the Republic.
His mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesar's childhood. In 85 BC, Caesar's father died so Caesar was the head of the family at 16, his coming of age coincided with a civil war between his uncle Gaius Marius and his rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Both sides carried out bloody purges of their political opponents whenever they were in the ascendancy. Marius and his ally Lucius Cornelius Cinna were in control of the city when Caesar was nominated as the new Flamen Dialis, he was married to Cinna's daughter Cornelia. Following Sulla's final victory, Caesar's connections to the old regime made him a target for the new one, he was stripped of his inheritance, his wife's dowry, his priesthood, but he refused to divorce Cornelia and was forced to go into hiding. The threat against hi
Forum (Roman)
A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved for the vending of goods. Many fora were constructed at remote locations along a road by the magistrate responsible for the road, in which case the forum was the only settlement at the site and had its own name, such as Forum Popili or Forum Livi. In addition to its standard function as a marketplace, a forum was a gathering place of great social significance, the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions and debates, meetings, et cetera. In that case it supplemented the function of a conciliabulum; every municipium had a forum. Fora were the first of any civitas synoecized whether Latin, Etruscan, Celtic or some other; the first forums were sited between independent villages in the period, known only through archaeology. After the rise of the Roman Republic, the most noted forum of the Roman world, the Roman Forum in Rome itself, served as a model of new construction. By the time of the late Republic expansions refurbishing of the forums of the city had inspired Pompey Magnus to create the Theatre of Pompey in 55 BC.
The Theatre included a massive forum behind the theatre arcades known as the Porticus Pompei. The structure was the forebearer to the rest to follow. Other major fora are found in Italy. While similar in use and function to fora, most were created in the Middle Ages and are not a part of the original city footprint. Fora were a regular part of every Roman province in the Republic and the Empire, with archaeological examples at: Forum of Philippi, Greece Forum and Provincial Forum of Mérida, Spain Colonial forum and Provincial forum of Tarragona, Spain Forum of Pompeii, Italy Forum of Thessaloniki, GreeceIn new Roman towns the forum was located at, or just off, the intersection of the main north-south and east-west streets. All fora would have a Temple of Jupiter at the north end, would contain other temples, as well as the Basilica. At election times, candidates would use the steps of the temples in the forum to make their election speeches, would expect their clients to come to support them.
Basilica Roman temple Roman baths Roman amphitheater Agora Civic center Internet forum Piazza Plateia Plaza Town square Amphitheatre Greek Hippodrome Roman circus Roman theatre A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Media related to Ancient Roman forums at Wikimedia Commons
Roman aqueduct
The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines and private households. Aqueducts moved water through gravity alone, along a slight overall downward gradient within conduits of stone, brick, or concrete. Most conduits were followed the contours of the terrain. Where valleys or lowlands intervened, the conduit was carried on bridgework, or its contents fed into high-pressure lead, ceramic, or stone pipes and siphoned across. Most aqueduct systems included sedimentation tanks. Sluices and castella aquae regulated the supply to individual destinations. In cities and towns, the run-off water from aqueducts scoured sewers. Rome's first aqueduct was built in 312 BC, supplied a water fountain at the city's cattle market. By the 3rd century AD, the city had eleven aqueducts, sustaining a population of over a million in a water-extravagant economy. Cities and towns throughout the Roman Empire emulated this model, funded aqueducts as objects of public interest and civic pride, "an expensive yet necessary luxury to which all could, did, aspire".
Most Roman aqueducts proved durable. Methods of aqueduct surveying and construction are noted by Vitruvius in his work De Architectura; the general Frontinus gives more detail in his official report on the problems and abuses of Imperial Rome's public water supply. Notable examples of aqueduct architecture include the supporting piers of the Aqueduct of Segovia, the aqueduct-fed cisterns of Constantinople. Before the development of aqueduct technology, like most of their contemporaries in the ancient world, relied on local water sources such as springs and streams, supplemented by groundwater from or publicly owned wells, by seasonal rain-water drained from rooftops into storage jars and cisterns; the reliance of ancient communities upon such water resources restricted their potential growth. Rome's aqueducts were not Roman inventions – their engineers would have been familiar with the water-management technologies of Rome's Etruscan and Greek allies – but they proved conspicuously successful.
By the early Imperial era, the city's aqueducts supported a population of over a million, an extravagant water supply for public amenities had become a fundamental part of Roman life. The run-off of aqueduct water scoured the sewers of towns. Water from aqueducts was used to supply villas, ornamental urban and suburban gardens, market gardens and agricultural estates, the latter being the core of Rome's economy and wealth. Rome had several springs within its perimeter walls but its groundwater was notoriously unpalatable; the city's demand for water had long exceeded its local supplies by 312 BC, when the city's first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, was commissioned by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus. The Aqua Appia was one of two major public projects of the time. Both projects had significant strategic value, as the Third Samnite War had been under way for some thirty years by that point; the road allowed rapid troop movements. It was fed by a spring 16.4 km from Rome, dropped 10 metres over its length to discharge 75,500 cubic metres of water each day into a fountain at Rome's cattle market, the Forum Boarium, one of the city's lowest-lying public spaces.
A second aqueduct, the Aqua Anio Vetus, was commissioned some forty years funded by treasures seized from Pyrrhus of Epirus. Its flow was more than twice that of the Aqua Appia, it entered the city on raised arches, supplying water to higher elevations of the city. By 145 BC, the city had again outgrown its combined supplies. An official commission found the aqueduct conduits decayed, their water depleted by leakage and illegal tapping; the praetor Quintus Marcius Rex restored them, introduced a third, "more wholesome" supply, the Aqua Marcia, Rome's longest aqueduct and high enough to supply the Capitoline Hill. The works cost 180,000,000 sesterces, took two years to complete; as demand grew still further, more aqueducts were built, including the Aqua Tepula in 127 BC and the Aqua Julia in 33 BC. Aqueduct-building programmes reached a peak in the Imperial Era. Augustus' reign saw the building of the Aqua Virgo, the short Aqua Alsietina that supplied Trastevere with large quantities of non-potable water for its gardens and to create an artificial lake for staged sea-fights to entertain the populace.
Another short Augustan aqueduct supplemented the Aqua Marcia with water of "excellent quality". The emperor Caligula began two aqueducts completed by his successor Claudius. Most of Rome's aqueducts drew on various springs in the valley and highlands of the Anio, the modern river Aniene, east of the Tiber. A complex s
