1.
Religion in ancient Rome
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The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety in maintaining good relations with the gods. According to legends, most of Romes religious institutions could be traced to its founders, particularly Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome, who negotiated directly with the gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, the way of the ancestors or simply tradition, as Rome came into contact with foreign cultures, and conquered them, foreign religions increasingly attracted devotees among Romans, who increasingly had ancestry from elsewhere in the Empire. The emperors promoted the Imperial cult around the empire, and this, ultimately, Roman polytheism was brought to an end with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the empire. The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes, there was no principle analogous to separation of church and state in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic, the men who were elected public officials might also serve as augurs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives, Julius Caesar became pontifex maximus before he was elected consul. The augurs read the will of the gods and supervised the marking of boundaries as a reflection of universal order, Roman religion was thus practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, I give that you might give. Even the most skeptical among Romes intellectual elite such as Cicero, for ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a shrine at which prayers and libations to the familys domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances, women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. The Romans are known for the number of deities they honored. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature, etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of magic, conspiratorial, or subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity, one way that Rome incorporated diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage, building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the worship of local and Roman deities. Because Romans had never been obligated to one god or one cult only
2.
Latin
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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
3.
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
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The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans and this legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Western Church. For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities, for public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. For temples see the List of Ancient Roman temples, individual landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list, see Roman temple. The verb abominari was a term of augury for an action that rejects or averts an unfavourable omen indicated by a signum, the noun is abominatio, from which English abomination derives. At the taking of formally solicited auspices, the observer was required to acknowledge any potentially bad sign occurring within the templum he was observing, regardless of the interpretation. He might, however, take actions in order to ignore the signa, including avoiding the sight of them. The latter tactic required promptness, wit and skill based on discipline, thus the omen had no validity apart from the observation of it. The aedes was the place of a god. It was thus a structure that housed the image, distinguished from the templum or sacred district. Aedes is one of several Latin words that can be translated as shrine or temple, for instance, the Temple of Vesta, as it is called in English, was in Latin an aedes. See also the diminutive aedicula, a small shrine, in his work On Architecture, Vitruvius always uses the word templum in the technical sense of a space defined through augury, with aedes the usual word for the building itself. The design of an aedes, he writes, should be appropriate to the characteristics of the deity. Thus in theory, though not always in practice, architectural aesthetics had a theological dimension, the word aedilis, a public official, is related by etymology, among the duties of the aediles was the overseeing of public works, including the building and maintenance of temples. The temple of Flora, for instance, was built in 241 BC by two aediles acting on Sibylline oracles, the plebeian aediles had their headquarters at the aedes of Ceres. In religious usage, ager was terrestrial space defined for the purposes of augury in relation to auspicia, there were five kinds of ager, Romanus, Gabinus, peregrinus, hosticus and incertus. The ager Romanus originally included the space outside the pomerium. According to Varro, the ager Gabinus pertained to the circumstances of the oppidum of Gabii
4.
Vesta (mythology)
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Vesta is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in form, and was often personified by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestals, as she was considered a guardian of the Roman people, her festival, the Vestalia, was regarded as one of the most important Roman holidays. During the Vestalia matrons of the city walked barefoot to the sanctuary of the goddess, the myths depicting Vesta and her priestesses were few, and were limited to tales of miraculous impregnation by a phallus appearing in the flames of the hearth - the manifestation of the goddess. Vesta was among the Dii Consentes, twelve of the most honored gods in the Roman pantheon and she was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, and sister of, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, and Ceres. Her closest Greek equivalent is Hestia, Ovid derived Vesta from Latin vi stando - standing by power. Cicero supposed that the Latin name Vesta derives from the Greek Hestia and this etymology is offered by Servius as well. Another etymology is that Vesta derives from Latin uestio, as well as from Greek έστἰα, georges Dumézil, a French comparative philologist, surmised that the name of the goddess derives from Proto-Indo-European root *h₁eu-, via the derivative form *h₁eu-s- which alternates with *h₁w-es-. The former is found in Greek εὕειν heuein, Latin urit, ustio and Vedic osathi all conveying burning, see also Gallic Celtic visc fire. According to tradition, worship of Vesta in Italy began in Lavinium, the mother-city of Alba Longa, from Lavinium worship of Vesta was transferred to Alba Longa. Upon entering higher office, Roman magistrates would go to Lavinium to offer sacrifice to Vesta, the Penates were Trojan gods first introduced to Italy by Aeneas. Alongside those household gods was Vesta, who has referred to as Vesta Iliaca. Worship of Vesta, like the worship of gods, originated in the home. The priestesses of Vesta, known as Vestal Virgins, administered her temple and their existence in Alba Longa is connected with the early Roman traditions, for Romulus mother Silvia was a priestess. After assuming the office of pontifex maximus in 12 BC, Augustus converted part of his house into public property. The old shrine remained in the Forum Romanum, but this one linked the public hearth of the state and this strengthened the connection between the office of pontifex maximus and the cult of Vesta. Henceforth, the office of pontifex maximus was tied to the title of emperor, now the emperor was technically a priest of Vesta, and the pontifices were sometimes referred to as pontifices Vestae. In 12 BC,28 April was chosen ex senatus consultum to commemorate the new shrine of Vesta in Augustus home on the Palatine, Vestas cult would continue to dominate the ancient cults with religious observances persisting into the 4th century
5.
Sacred fire of Vesta
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The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in Ancient Rome. By analogy, they also tended the life and soul of the city and of the body politic through the fire of Vesta. The sacred fire burned in Vestas circular temple, built in the Roman Forum below the Palatine Hill in pre-republican times, among other sacred objects in the temple was the Palladium, a statue of Pallas Athena supposedly brought by Aeneas from Troy. The temple burned completely on at least four occasions and caught fire on two others and it was last rebuilt in 191 AD on the orders of Julia Domna, the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus. The rites of Vesta ended in 394 by order of the Christian emperor Theodosius I, the fire was extinguished and the College of Vestals disbanded. Religion in Greece and Rome Vesta, encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. at Internet Archive
6.
Collegium (ancient Rome)
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A collegium was any association in ancient Rome with a legal personality. The organization of a collegium was often modeled on that of governing bodies. The meeting hall was known as the curia, the same term as that applied to that of the Roman Senate. By law, only three people were required in order to create a legal collegium, the exception was the college of consuls. There were four religious colleges of Roman priests, in descending order of importance, Pontifices, headed by the Pontifex Maximus, Augures, Quindecimviri. College of Aesculapius and Hygia List of Ancient Roman Collegia Media related to Ancient Roman collegia at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
8.
Chastity
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Chastity is sexual behavior of a man or woman that is acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of their culture, civilization or religion. The term has become associated with sexual abstinence, especially before marriage. The words chaste and chastity stem from the Latin adjective castus meaning pure, the words entered the English language around the middle of the 13th century, at that time they meant slightly different things. Chaste meant virtuous or pure from unlawful sexual intercourse, while chastity meant virginity and it was not until the late 16th century that the two words came to have the same basic meaning as a related adjective and noun. For Muslims and many Christians, acts of nature are restricted to marriage. For unmarried persons, chastity is identified with sexual abstinence, sexual acts outside or apart from marriage, such as adultery, fornication and prostitution, are considered sinful. In many Christian traditions, chastity is synonymous with sexual purity, chastity means not having any sexual relations before marriage. It also means fidelity to husband or wife during marriage, in Catholic morality, chastity is placed opposite the deadly sin of lust, and is classified as one of seven virtues. The moderation of sexual desires is required to be virtuous, reason, will and desire can harmoniously work together to do what is good. In marriage, the spouses commit to a relationship which excludes sexual intimacy with other persons. After marriage, a form of chastity, often called vidual chastity, is expected of a woman while she is in mourning for her late husband. For example, Anglican Bishop Jeremy Taylor defined 5 rules in Holy Living, including abstaining from marrying so long as she is with child by her former husband, the particular ethical system may not prescribe each of these. Many Anglican communities allow for artificial contraception, seeing the restriction of family size by artificial contraception as possibly not contrary to Gods will, a stricter view is held by the Shakers, who prohibit marriage as a violation of chastity. The Catholic Church has set up various rules regarding clerical celibacy, celibacy is required of monastics—monks, nuns and friars—even in a rare system of double cloisters, in which husbands could enter the monastery while their wives entered a sister monastery. Required celibacy among the clergy is a recent practice, it became Church policy at the Second Lateran Council in 1139. It was not uniformly enforced among the clergy until 200 years later, eastern Catholic priests are permitted to be married, provided they are so before ordination and outside the monastic life. Vows of chastity can also be taken by laypersons, either as part of a religious life or on an individual basis, as a voluntary act of devotion, or as part of an ascetic lifestyle. The voluntary aspect has led it to being included among the main counsels of perfection, chastity is a central and pivotal concept in Roman Catholic praxis
9.
Flamen
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In ancient Roman religion, a flamen was a priest assigned to one of fifteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important three were the flamines maiores, who served the three chief Roman gods of the Archaic Triad, the remaining twelve were the flamines minores. Two of the minores cultivated deities whose names are now unknown, during the Imperial era, the cult of a deified emperor also had a flamen. The fifteen Republican flamens were part of the Pontifical College which administered state-sponsored religion, when the office of flamen was vacant, a pontifex could serve as a temporary replacement, although only the Pontifex Maximus is known to have substituted for the Flamen Dialis. The official costume of a flamen, of great antiquity, was a hat called an apex, the laena was a double-thick wool cloak with a fringed edge, and was worn over the flamens toga with a clasp holding it around his throat. The apex was a leather skull-cap with a chin-strap and a point of olive wood on its top, like a spindle, with a little fluff of wool at the base of the spindle. By the time of the reformation of Augustus, the origins and functions of many of the long-neglected gods resident in Rome was confusing even to the Romans themselves. The obscurity of some of the deities assigned a flamen suggests that the office dated back to Archaic Rome, many scholars assume that the flamines existed at least from the time of the early Roman kings, before the establishment of the Republic. The Romans themselves credited the foundation of the priesthood to Numa Pompilius, according to Livy, Numa created the offices of the three flamines maiores and assigned them each a fine robe of office and a curule chair. The flamines were circumscribed by many taboos, the origin of the word flamen is as obscure as are some of the assigned gods. Sophus Bugge suggested in 1879 that flamen is from an older *flădmen, both would be derived from a Proto-Indo-European word *bhlādmen. Indo-Europeanist Georges Dumézil attempted to link it to the Sanskrit word brahman, the three flamines maiores were required to be patricians, The Flamen Dialis oversaw the cult of Jupiter, the sky deity and ruler of the gods. The Flamen Martialis oversaw the cult of Mars, the god of war, the sacred spears of Mars were ritually shaken by the Flamen Martialis when the legions were preparing for war. The Flamen Quirinalis oversaw the cult of Quirinus, who presided over organized Roman social life and was related to the aspect of Mars. The Flamen Quirinalis led public rites on the sacred to Quirinus. A fourth flamen maior was dedicated to Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state, thereafter, any deceased emperor could be made divus by vote of the senate and consent of his successor, and as a divus he would be served by a flamen. The flamens role in relation to living emperors is uncertain, no living emperor is known to have received official divine worship, a flamen could also be represented by a proflamen, or by a member without that title who could act as a substitute for the flamen. The twelve flamines minores could be plebeians, the flamines minores seem mostly connected to agriculture or local cults
10.
College of Pontiffs
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The College of Pontiffs was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the state religion. The college consisted of the Pontifex Maximus and the pontifices, the Rex Sacrorum, the fifteen flamens. The College of Pontiffs was one of the four major priestly colleges, the others being of the augurs, the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, and the Epulones. The title pontifex comes from the Latin for bridge builder, an allusion to a very early role in placating the gods and spirits associated with the Tiber River. Also, Varro cites this position as meaning able to do, the pontifex maximus was the most important member of the college. Until 104 BC, the pontifex maximus held the power in appointing members to the other priesthoods in the college. The flamens were priests in charge of fifteen official cults of Roman religion, the three major flamens were the Flamen Dialis, the high priest of Jupiter, the Flamen Martialis, who cultivated Mars, and the Flamen Quirinalis, devoted to Quirinus. The deities cultivated by the flamines minores were Carmenta, Ceres, Falacer, Flora, Furrina, Palatua, Pomona, Portunes, Volcanus, Volturnus. The Vestal Virgins were the female members of the college. They were in charge of guarding Romes sacred hearth, keeping the flame burning inside the Temple of Vesta, around age 6 to 10, girls were chosen for this position and were obligated to perform the rites and obligations, including remaining chaste, for 30 years. Membership in the colleges of priests, including the College of Pontiffs, was usually an honor offered to members of politically powerful or wealthy families. Membership was for life, except for the Vestal Virgins whose term was 30 years, in the early Republic, only patricians could become priests. However, the Lex Ogulnia in 300 BC opened up college to plebeians, until the 3rd century BC, the college elected the pontifex maximus from their own number. The right of the college to elect their own pontifex maximus was returned and this changed again after Sulla, when in response to his reforms, the election of the pontifex maximus was once again placed in the hands of an assembly of seventeen of the twenty-five tribes. However, the college still controlled which candidates the assembly voted on, during the Empire, the office was publicly elected from the candidates of existing pontiffs, until the Emperors began to automatically assume the title, following Julius Caesar’s example. The pontifex maximus was a political position to hold and the candidates for office were often very active political members of the college. Many, such as Julius Caesar, went on to hold consulships during their time as pontifex maximus, one of their most important duties was their guardianship of the libri pontificales. Among these were the acta, indigitamenta, ritualia, commentarii, fasti and these items were under the sole possession of the college of pontiffs and only they were allowed to consult these items when necessary
11.
Augur
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The augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. This was known as taking the auspices, the ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society—public or private—including matters of war, commerce, and religion. Roman augurs were part of a college of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position, at the foundation of the Republic in 510 BC, the patricians held sole claim to this office, by 300 BC, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. Senior members of the collegium put forth nominations for any vacancies, in the Regal period tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time, by the time of Sulla, they had reached fifteen in number. Augury sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Romes pax, fortuna, political, military and civil actions were sanctioned by augury, historically performed by priests of the college of augurs and by haruspices on behalf of senior magistrates. The presiding magistrate at an augural rite thus held the “right of augury”, magistracies were therefore religious offices in their own right, and magistrates were directly responsible for the pax, fortuna and salus of Rome and everything that was Roman. The effectiveness of augury could only be judged retrospectively, the divinely ordained condition of peace was an outcome of successful augury and those whose actions had led to divine wrath could not have possessed a true right of augury. Of all the protagonists in the Civil War, only Octavian could have possessed it, lucan, writing during the Principate, described the recent Civil War as unnatural - a mirror to supernatural disturbances in the greater cosmos. His imagery is apt to the principles of augury and its broader interpretation by Stoic apologists of the Imperial cult. In the Stoic cosmology, pax deorum is the expression of natural order in human affairs, according to Cicero, the auctoritas of ius augurum included the right to adjourn and overturn the process of law, consular election could be - and was - rendered invalid by inaugural error. For Cicero, this made the augur the most powerful authority in the Republic, Cicero himself was co-opted into the college only late in his career. In the later Republic, augury came under the supervision of the college of pontifices, the office of pontifex maximus eventually became a de facto consular prerogative. In ancient Rome the auguria were considered to be in equilibrium with the sacra and were not the way by which the gods made their will known. The augures publici concerned themselves only with related to the state. The jus augurale was rigorously secret, therefore very little about the aspects of ceremonies. We have only the names of some auguria, e. g, the first one required the sacrifice of red dogs and took place before wheat grains were shelled but not before they had formed. Of the second we know only the name implies a ritual related to the harvest. Augurium and auspicium are terms used indifferently by the ancient, modern scholars have debated the issue at length but have failed to find a distinctive definition that may hold for all the known cases
12.
Epulones
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The epulones formed one of the four great religious corporations of ancient Roman priests. The two most important colleges were the College of Pontiffs and the augurs, the fourth was the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the epulones arranged feasts and public banquets at festivals and games, duties that had originally belonged to the pontiffs. Initially there were three epulones, but later their number was increased to seven, hence they were known as the septemviri epulonum. Julius Caesar temporarily expanded the college to ten, but after his death and their college was founded in 196 BC, long after reforms had opened the magistracies and most priesthoods to plebeians, who were thus eligible from the beginning. The necessity for such a college arose as the increasingly elaborate festivals required experts to oversee their organization, the patera was the sacred bowl used by the epulones. It was shallow with a raised center so that when held in the palm, the patera was the special emblem of the epulones. The paten used today by Roman Catholic priests, omits the raised center, lacus Curtius website, Epulones from William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London,1875. Roman Magistrates religio Romana, Patera Epulones
13.
Quindecimviri sacris faciundis
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In ancient Rome, the quindecimviri sacris faciundis were the fifteen members of a college with priestly duties. Most notably they guarded the Sibylline Books, scriptures which they consulted and interpreted at the request of the Senate and this collegium also oversaw the worship of any foreign gods which were introduced to Rome. Originally these duties had been performed by duumviri, two men of patrician status and their number was increased to ten by a Licinio-Sextian law in 367 BC, which also required for half of the priests to be plebs. During the Middle Republic, members of the college were admitted through co-option, at some point in the third century BC, several priesthoods, probably including the quindecimviri, began to be elected through the voting tribes. Decemviri Sacris Faciundis in Smiths Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities at LacusCurtius
14.
Fetial
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A fetial was a type of priest in Ancient Rome. They formed a collegium devoted to Jupiter as the patron of good faith, the duties of the fetials included advising the senate on foreign affairs and international treaties, making formal proclamations of peace and of war, and confirming treaties. They also carried out the functions of traveling heralds or ambassadors, the first mention of the fetials by Livy occurs in the context of the war between Alba Longa and Rome, during which the Roman king Tullus Hostilius appointed M. Valerius as a fetial and Sp. Fusius as pater patratus, for the purpose of binding Rome, according to Livy, the ritual by which the fetials were to declare war, the ritual of rerum repetitio, was introduced to Rome by Ancus Marcius, borrowing on the traditions of the Aequicolae. However he had described the ritual actions of the fetials when recording the wars of Tullus Hostilius. Thus some scholars think the mentions of the Aequi may be a due to a folk etymology connecting Aequi to aequus. On the other ancient sources support the tradition that the priesthood was created under the influence of Aequian king Ferter Resus. The ritual of rerum repetitio, a request of restitution or reparations, if the demands are not met, the pater patratus declares war within 33 days and returns to Rome to await the resolution of the Roman king and senate. Once they have resolved to go to war, a returns to the enemy frontier carrying a javelin with a steel or burnt tip. He declares war on the enemy, and throws the javelin into their territory, the fetial is connected to matters of law and not directly to war, hence in his formulae he never invokes Mars, but Jupiter, Juno and Quirinius. The religious relevance of the collegium or sodalitas lay in ensuring that Rome enjoyed the protection of gods in its relationships with foreign states and this collegium was probably common to other Latin cities as Livy makes reference to the fetials of Alba. According to some scholars, the name derives from the noun root *feti- and it is allied to the basic religious concept of fas, both being rooted in IE *dhs, originally meaning to set, setting. This root has given the verb facere, to do, make by a semantic shift, both fetial and fas preserve the original sense of foundation here, as in Vedic dhaman, dhatu in its religious sense. The implications of this etymology would hint to the fact that outside their own ager Romans felt the need for a religious, a need was felt to go beyond the sphere of human law or right. While juridical justification was acknowledged as necessary Romans wanted to ensure the approval of what founds right and makes it possible and we know the ceremonies and formulae of two circumstances, conclusion of a treaty and request of reparations and declaration of war. Oaths were made by Jupiter Lapis, the flintstone was believed to be a seat of Jupiters because if struck it emitted sparks, thus being analogous to lightning. The ceremony has two known variants, when Rome asked for reparations for an offense or damage, the fetials were sent as ambassadors to the foreign country concerned. The fetials were an institution of the Latins and of other Italic people
15.
Arval Brethren
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In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide evidence of their oaths, rituals and sacrifices, Roman legend held that the priestly college was originated by Romulus, who took the place of a dead son of his nurse Acca Laurentia, and formed the priesthood with the remaining eleven sons. They were also connected originally with the Sabine priesthood of Sodales Titii who were originally their counterpart among the Sabines. Their task was the worship of Dea Dia, an old fertility goddess, on the three days of her May festival, they offered sacrifices and chanted secretly inside the temple of the goddess at her lucus the Carmen Arvale. The magister of the selected the exact three days of the celebration by an unknown method. The celebration began in Rome on the first day, was transferred to a sacred grove outside the city wall on the second day, Arval Brethren formed a college of twelve priests, although archaeologists have found only up to nine names at a time in the inscriptions. They were appointed for life and did not lose their status even in exile, according to Pliny the Elder, their sign was a white band with the chaplet of sheaves of grain. The Brethren assembled in the Regia and their duties included ritual propitiations or thanksgivings as the Ambarvalia, the sacrifices done at the borders of Rome at the fifth mile of the Via Campana or Salaria. Archaic traits of the rituals included the prohibition of the use of iron, the importance of Arval Brethren apparently dwindled during the Roman Republic, but emperor Augustus revived their practices to enforce his own authority. After Augustus time emperors and senators frequented the festivities, at least two emperors, Marcus Aurelius and Elagabalus, were formally accepted as members of the Brethren. The first full descriptions of their rituals also originate from this time, the last inscriptions about the Arval Brethren date from about 325 AD. They were abolished along with Romes other traditional priesthoods by 400 AD
16.
Salii
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In ancient Roman religion, the Saliī were the leaping priests of Mars supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve patrician youths, dressed as warriors, an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak, a sword. They were charged with the twelve bronze shields called ancīlia, which, like the Mycenaean shield, each year in March the Salii made a procession round the city, dancing and singing the Carmen Saliare. Ovid, who relates the story of Numa and the heavenly ancīle in his Fasti, found the hymn, during the Principate, by decree of the Senate, Augustus name was inserted into the song. They ended the day by banqueting, saliaris cena became proverbial for a sumptuous feast. King Tullus Hostilius is said to have established another collegium of Salii in fulfilment of a vow which he made in the war with Fidenae. These Salii were also twelve in number, chosen from the patricians and they were called the Saliī collīnī, Agonales, or Agonenses. It is unclear whether the aim of the ritual was to protect Romes army. In addition to the myth of the ancile, several explanations are offered in Greek. An origin among the Etruscans is attributed to a founding by Morrius, georges Dumézil interpreted the rituals of the Salii as marking the opening and the closing of the yearly war season. The opening would coincide with the day of the Agonium Martiale on March 19, the first date was also referred to as ancilia movere, to move the ancilia, and the second as ancilia condere, to store the ancilia. Dumezil views the two groups of Salii — one representing Mars and the other Quirinus — as a dialectic relationship showing the interdependency of the military and economic functions in Roman society. Classical philologist Georg Wissowa maintained that the ritual of the Salii is a war dance or a sword dance, with their costumes clearly indicating their military origin. On the Ides of March, a man named as Mamurius Veturius was beaten with long white sticks in the sacrum Mamurii. Mamurius was the blacksmith who forged eleven replicas of the original divine shield that had dropped from the sky. According to Usener and Ludwig Preller Mars would be a god of war, Mars is himself a dancer, and the head of the Salian dancers, patrician young men whose parents were both living. Wissowa compares the Salii with the youth who dance the Lusus Troiae. The ritual dance of the Salii would thus be a coalescence of a initiation into adulthood, other 19th-century scholars have compared the rituals of the Salii with the Vedic myths of Indra and the Maruts
17.
Titii
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The Titii was a college of Roman priests. There are two versions of how the college was established, the other says that Romulus created it in honour of king Tatius, who after his death was worshipped as a god. During the Republic the Titii are no longer mentioned, as the cults of all Italic tribes became gradually united into Roman religion, the Titii were restored under the Empire, but their functions were changed to conduct the worship of an emperor, like those of Sodales Augustales
18.
Pontifex Maximus
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The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, a distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian who, however, although the most influential office within Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus was ranked the fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests, behind the rex sacrorum and the flamines maiores. It is not included in the Popes official titles, but appears on buildings, monuments and coins of popes of Renaissance, according to the usual interpretation, the term pontifex literally means bridge-builder, maximus literally means greatest. However, it was understood in its symbolic sense as well. The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it, others have held that the word was originally pompifex. The word pons originally meant way and pontifex would thus mean maker of roads, another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated Etruscan word for priest. Yet another hypothesis considers the word as a loan from the Sabine language, in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from Osco-Umbrian ponte, the pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as pomperia. The term ἀρχιερεύς is used in the Septuagint text of the Old Testament, the Collegium Pontificum was the most important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this college and the office of Pontifex Maximus is attributed to the second king of Rome. Much of what is known about the Regal period in Roman history is semi-legendary or mythical, the Collegium presumably acted as advisers to the rex in religious matters. The collegium was headed by the pontifex maximus, and all the pontifices held their office for life, Numa is said to have founded Roman religion after dedicating an altar on the Aventine Hill to Jupiter Elicius and consulting the gods by means of augury. Numa wrote down and sealed these religious instructions, and gave them to the first Pontifex Maximus, in the Roman Republic, the Pontifex Maximus was the highest office in the state religion of ancient Rome and directed the College of Pontiffs. The rex sacrorum was explicitly deprived of military and political power, the official residence of the Pontifex Maximus was the Domus Publica which stood between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra, close to the Regia, in the Roman Forum. His religious duties were carried out from the Regia, unless the pontifex maximus was also a magistrate at the same time, he was not allowed to wear the toga praetexta, i. e. toga with the purple border. The Pontifex was not simply a priest and he had both political and religious authority. It is not clear which of the two came first or had the most importance, in practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of Pontifex Maximus was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder, Julius Caesar became pontifex in 73 BC
19.
Flamen Dialis
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In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Dialis was the high priest of Jupiter. There were 15 flamines, of three were flamines maiores, serving the three gods of the Archaic Triad. According to tradition the flamines were forbidden to touch metal, ride a horse, the Flamen Dialis enjoyed many peculiar honours. From that time forward he was emancipated from the control of his father, and became sui juris. He alone of all priests wore the apex, he had a right to a lictor, to the toga praetexta, the Sella Curulis and this last privilege, after having been suffered to fall into disuse for a long period, was asserted by C. Valerius Flaccus, the claim allowed however, says Livy, more in deference to his personal character than from a conviction of the justice of the demand. Thus, it was impossible for him to undertake the government of a province and he might not mount or even touch a horse, touch iron, or look at an army marshalled outside the pomerium, or be elected to the consulship. Indeed, it would seem that originally he was precluded from seeking or accepting any civil magistracy. The Flamen Dialis was required to wear certain unusual garments, such as the apex, a hat, and a laena. The origins of the following superstitions are not so clear, but there is speculation in Plutarch, Festus, and Pliny the Elder. He might not touch flour, nor leaven, nor leavened bread, nor a dead body, he not enter a burial place. He was forbidden either to touch or to name a dog, none but a free man might cut his hair, the clippings of which, together with the parings of his nails, were buried beneath a felix arbor. No one might sleep in his bed, the legs of which were smeared with fine clay, and it was unlawful to place a box containing sacrificial cakes in contact with the bedstead. In the view of Dumézil, these mark the Flamen Dialis as serving a heavenly god, with his attributes of absolute purity and freedom. Within his scope of action there are the domains of power and right, but not battle. His solidarity with the king is reflected in that of his earthly counterpart, such a partnership has parallels in other Indo-European cultures, such as that of the Vedic rajan and his purohita and the ancient Irish rig and the chief druid. The Flaminica Dialis was the wife of the Flamen Dialis and she was required to be a virgin at the time of their wedding, which had to be conducted according to the ceremonies of confarreatio, the traditional form of marriage for patricians. The couple were not permitted to divorce, and if the flaminica died the Dialis was obliged to resign, the assistance of the flaminica was essential in the performance of certain rituals
20.
Flamen Quirinalis
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In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Quirinalis was the flamen devoted to the cult of god Quirinus. He was one of the three flamines maiores, third in order of importance after the Flamen Dialis and the Flamen Martialis, as the other ones he had to reside in Rome and was not allowed to leave the city for any reason. The theology of Quirinus is complex and difficult to interpret, from early times, he was identified with the deified Romulus, who originally seems to have shared some common theological and mythological elements with Quirinus. The flamen Quirinalis presided over at least three festivals, the Consualia Aestiva on August 21, Robigalia on April 25, and Larentalia on December 23. These festivals were all devoted to the cult of deities of remarkable antiquity, robigus was an evil spirit that could cause mildew and thus damage growing wheat. Larenta was a figure connected to the primordial legendary times of Rome or to the founding of the city itself, during the Consualia Aestiva the flamen Quirinalis and the Vestals offered a sacrifice at Consuss underground altar in the Circus Maximus. Four days later the Vestals took part in the rites of the festival of Ops, goddess of agricultural plenty, the Opiconsivia. This occasion was related to Consus too and was performed in the Regia of the forum, where Ops had a sacred chapel, open only to the pontifex maximus. The Robigalia of April 25 required the offering of blood and entrails from a puppy. The rite took place near the fifth milestone of the Via Claudia, ovid talks of a lucus on the site and reports a long prayer he says was pronounced by the flamen Quirinalis. While the prayer may contain elements from an actual formulation, Ovids text is a poetic recreation, the Larentalia of December 23 were a parentatio, an act of funerary cult in memory of Larunda or Larentia. A sacrifice was offered at the site of her supposed tomb on the Velabrum. She was not a goddess but a sort of heroine, with two conflicting legends, in the first Larentia is a courtesan who had become rich after spending a night in the sanctuary of Heracles. Later she had bestowed her fortune on the Roman people on the condition that a named after her were held yearly. In the second she is Romulus and Remuss wet nurse, also considered the mother of the Fratres Arvales, Gellius in a detailed passage on Larentia makes a specific reference to the flamen Quirinalis. Macrobius makes reference to the presence of a flamen, per flaminem. This flamen could neither be the Dialis nor the Martialis, let alone the minores, beside these festivals that of Quirinus himself, the Quirinalia, would logically and probably require the participation of the flamen Quirinalis. The Quirinalia were held on February 17 and must be among the oldest Roman yearly festivals, the Quirinalia occurred on February 17 in the Roman calendar
21.
Rex Nemorensis
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The rex Nemorensis was a priest of the goddess Diana at Aricia in Italy, by the shores of Lake Nemi, where she was known as Diana Nemorensis. The priesthood played a role in the mythography of James George Frazer in The Golden Bough. The tale of the rex Nemorensis appears in a number of ancient sources, the Latin name of the priesthood is given by Suetonius, He caused the rex Nemorensis, who had held his priesthood for many years, to be supplanted by a stronger adversary. That same passage indicates that by the time of the early Principate, a possible allusion to the origins of the priesthood at Nemi is contained in Vergils Aeneid, as Virgil places Hippolytus at the grove of Aricia. An alternative story has the worship of Diana at Nemi instituted by Orestes, surviving lore concerning the rex Nemorensis indicates that this priest or king held a very uneasy position. Macaulays quatrain on the institution of the rex Nemorensis states, Those trees in whose dim shadow The ghastly priest doth reign The priest who slew the slayer, And shall himself be slain. However, a candidate had first to test his mettle by plucking a golden bough from one of the trees in the sacred grove. The human sacrifice conducted at Nemi was thought to be highly unusual by the ancients, Suetonius mentions it as an example of the moral failings of Caligula. Strabo calls it Scythian, implying that he found it barbaric, the violent character of this singular institution could barely be justified by reference to its great antiquity and mythological sanctity. The ancient sources appear to concur that an escaped slave who seeks refuge in this uneasy office is likely to be a desperate man. While later anthropology is sceptical of Frazers broad hypothesis, it had an extensive influence, in 1990, a radio programme entitled The Priest of Nemi was produced by Michael Bakewell and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. This programme was based on the 1990 book The Making of the Golden Bough by Robert Fraser, the novel Nemorensis, by Simon Spurrier, is based on the legend. The Making of the Golden Bough, The Origins and Growth of An Argument Macmillan,1990, ISBN 0-333-49631-0 Frazer, Sir James G. The Golden Bough Macmillan,1950, abridged edition
22.
Curio maximus
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The curio maximus was an obscure priesthood in ancient Rome that had oversight of the curiae, groups of citizens loosely affiliated within what was originally a tribe. Each curia was led by a curio, who was admitted only after the age of 50 and held his office for life. The curiones were required to be in health and without physical defect, and could not hold any other civil or military office. In the early Republic, the curio maximus was always a patrician, the earliest curio maximus identified as such is Servius Sulpicius, who held the office in 463. The first plebeian to hold the office was elected in 209 BC, when the patricians objected to the candidacy of C. Mamilius Atellus, the tribunes of the plebs, who withheld themselves from religious affairs, were called in. They followed procedure by referring the matter to the senate, who tossed it back to them. Political jockeying no longer discernible in the record was perhaps in play. Mamilius was duly elected, and held the office until he died of plague in 175 BC and his successor, also a plebeian, was C. Scribonius Curio, whose new cognomen passed to his descendants, most notably the father, the electoral procedure for the office of curio maximus probably resembled that of pontifex maximus, that is, election through the tribes. Others known to have held the office include C, calvisius Sabinus, the consul of 39 BC. The curio maximus presided over the Quirinalia, and also the agricultural festivals of the such as the Fordicidia, when pregnant cows were sacrificed. The Fornacalia had no fixed date, and though each curia might celebrate the festival separately, although the curio was a kind of priest, he had the power to convene meetings for political purposes, and each curia also had a flamen curialis whose duties were specifically religious. Another duty of the curio maximus was collecting religious contributions from the curiae
23.
Vestal Virgin
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In ancient Rome, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being were regarded as fundamental to the continuance and they cultivated the sacred fire that was not allowed to go out. Livy, Plutarch, and Aulus Gellius attribute the creation of the Vestals as a state-supported priestesshood to king Numa Pompilius, according to Livy, Numa introduced the Vestals and assigned them salaries from the public treasury. Livy also says that the priestesshood of Vesta had its origins at Alba Longa, the 2nd century antiquarian Aulus Gellius writes that the first Vestal taken from her parents was led away in hand by Numa. Plutarch attributes the founding of the Temple of Vesta to Numa, ambrose alludes to a seventh in late antiquity. Numa also appointed the pontifex maximus to watch over the Vestals, the first Vestals, according to Varro, were named Gegania, Veneneia, Canuleia, and Tarpeia. In myth, Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, was portrayed as traitorous, the Vestals became a powerful and influential force in the Roman state. When Sulla included the young Julius Caesar in his proscriptions, the Vestals interceded on Caesars behalf, augustus included the Vestals in all major dedications and ceremonies. They were held in awe, and attributed certain magical powers and this gift was preserved inviolate till the time of the degenerate moneychangers, who diverted the maintenance of sacred chastity into a fund for the payment of base porters. A public famine ensued on this act, and a bad harvest disappointed the hopes of all the provinces and it was sacrilege which rendered the year barren, for it was necessary that all should lose that which they had denied to religion. The College of the Vestals was disbanded and the fire extinguished in 394. Zosimus records how the Christian noblewoman Serena, niece of Theodosius, entered the temple and took from the statue of the goddess a necklace and placed it on her own neck. An old woman appeared, the last of the Vestals, who proceeded to rebuke Serena, according to Zosimus, Serena was then subject to dreadful dreams predicting her own untimely death. The chief Vestal oversaw the efforts of the Vestals, and was present in the College of Pontiffs, the Vestalis Maxima Occia presided over the Vestals for 57 years, according to Tacitus. The last known chief vestal was Coelia Concordia, who stepped down in 394 with the disbanding of the College of the Vestals, the Vestalium Maxima was the most important of Romes high priestesses. The Flaminica Dialis and the regina sacrorum each held unique responsibility for religious rites. According to Plutarch, there were only two Vestal Virgins when Numa began the College of the Vestals and this number later increased to four, and then to six. It has been suggested by some authorities that a seventh was added later, the Vestals were committed to the priestesshood before puberty and sworn to celibacy for a period of 30 years
24.
Regina sacrorum
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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
25.
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
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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
26.
Gallo-Roman religion
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It was the result of selective acculturation. In some cases, Gaulish deity names were used as epithets for Roman deities, in other cases, Roman gods were given Gaulish female partners – for example, Mercury was paired with Rosmerta and Sirona was partnered with Apollo. In at least one case – that of the equine goddess Epona – a native Celtic goddess was also adopted by Romans. The Jupiter Column was a type of religious monument from Roman Gaul and Germania. Eastern mystery religions penetrated Gaul early on and these included the cults of Orpheus, Mithras, Cybele, and Isis. The imperial cult, centred primarily on the numen of Augustus, came to play a prominent role in the religion of Gaul. This gave rise to a characteristic Gallo-Roman fanum, identifiable in archaeology from its concentric shape, Roman Gaul Gallo-Roman culture Interpretatio romana Celtic mythology Burnand, Y. Notes sur le vocabulaire épigraphique de la de la divinité en Gaule romaine in Signa deorum. Debal, J. Vienne-en-Val, divinités et sanctuaires, bulletin de la Société Archéologique et Historique de lOrléanais,42 Deyts, S. A la rencontre des Dieux gaulois, un défi à César, faudet, I. Les temples de tradition celtique en Gaule Romaine. ISBN 2-87772-074-8 Green, M. Gods of the Celts, jufer, N. Luginbühl, T. Répertoire des dieux gaulois. ISBN 2-87772-200-7 Weisgerber, G. Das Pilgerheiligtum des Apollo und der Sirona von Hochscheid im Hunsruck, woolf, G. Becoming Roman, the origins of provincial civilization in Gaul
27.
Livy
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Livy and Augustuss wife, Livia, were from the same clan in different locations, although not related by blood. Livy was born as Titus Livius in Patavium in northern Italy, there is a debate about the year of Titus Livius birth,64 BC or more likely 59 BC. At the time of his birth, his city of Patavium was the second wealthiest on the Italian peninsula. Patavium was a part of the province of Cisalpine Gaul at the time, in his works, Livy often expressed his deep affection and pride for Patavium, and the city was well known for its conservative values in morality and politics. Livy’s teen years were during the 40s BC, a time that coincided with the wars that were occurring throughout the Roman world. The governor of Cisalpine Gaul at the time, a man called Asinius Pollio, had tried to bring Patavium into the camp of Marcus Antonius, the wealthier citizens of Patavium refused to contribute money and arms to Asinius Pollio, and went into hiding. Therefore, Livy and the residents of Patavium did not end up supporting Marcus Antonius in his campaign for control over Rome. Later on, Asinius Pollio made a jibe at Livys patavinity and his jibe at Livy and his patavinity, however, may have been said because the city of Patavium had rejected Asinius Pollio, and he still harboured harsh feelings toward the city as a whole. Titus Livius probably went to Rome in the 30s BC, and it is likely that he spent an amount of time in the city after this. During his time in Rome, he was never a senator nor held any other governmental position and his elementary mistakes in military matters show that he was never a soldier. However, he was educated in philosophy and rhetoric and it seems that Livy had the financial resources and means to live an independent life. He devoted a part of his life to his writings. Livy was known to give recitations to small audiences, but he was not heard of to engage in declamation and he was familiar with the emperor Augustus, formerly Octavian, and the imperial family. Octavian was one of the three men fighting for the control of Rome during the Civil Wars in the 40s BC, Octavian gained power after defeating Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra, and was later given the honorary name of Augustus. Considering that Augustus came to be known as the greatest Roman emperor in the eyes of the Romans and it is said that Livy was the one who encouraged the future emperor Claudius, who was born in 10 BC, to explore the writing of history during his childhood. Livy himself was married and had at least one daughter and one son, Livy’s most famous work was his history of Rome. In it he explains the history of the city of Rome. Because he was writing under the emperor Augustus, Livy’s history emphasizes the great triumphs of Rome and he wrote his history with embellished accounts of Roman heroism in order to promote the new type of government implemented by Augustus when he became emperor
28.
Plutarch
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Plutarch was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist, Plutarchs surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the town of Chaeronea, about 80 km east of Delphi. The name of Plutarchs father has not been preserved, but based on the common Greek custom of repeating a name in alternate generations, the name of Plutarchs grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony. His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are mentioned in his essays and dialogues. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarchs wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation. The exact number of his sons is not certain, although two of them, Autobulus and the second Plutarch, are often mentioned. Plutarchs treatise De animae procreatione in Timaeo is dedicated to them, another person, Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which seem to imply that he was Plutarchs son, but this is nowhere definitely stated. Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy at the Academy of Athens under Ammonius from 66 to 67, at some point, Plutarch took Roman citizenship. He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the famous Delphic Oracle, twenty miles from his home. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside where he was born, at his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays, Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality, probably only an annual one which he likely served more than once. He busied himself with all the matters of the town. The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Emperor Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria, however, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province, and Plutarch probably did not speak Illyrian. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving
29.
Aulus Gellius
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Aulus Gellius was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, the only source for the life of Aulus Gellius is the details recorded in his writings. He was of good family and connections, possibly of African origin and he traveled much, especially in Greece, and resided for a considerable period in Athens. He returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office and he was appointed by the praetor to act as an umpire in civil causes, and much of the time which he would gladly have devoted to literary pursuits was consequently occupied by judicial duties. The precise date of his birth, as of his death, is unknown, but from the names of his teachers and companions, he must have lived under Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. His only known work, the Attic Nights, takes its name from having been begun during the nights of a winter which he spent in Attica. He afterwards continued it in Rome, one story is the fable of Androcles, which is often included in compilations of Aesops fables, but was not originally from that source. The work, deliberately devoid of sequence or arrangement, is divided into twenty books, all these have come down to us except the eighth, of which nothing remains but the index. The Attic Nights are valuable for the insight they afford into the nature of the society and pursuits of those times, the Attic Nights found many readers in Antiquity. The editio princeps appeared at Rome in 1469, the earliest critical edition is that of Jakob Gronovius. A later edition is that of M. Hertz, revised by C, a volume of selections, with notes and vocabulary, was published by Nall. There is an English translation by W. Beloe, and a French translation, a more recent English translation is by John Carew Rolfe for the Loeb Classical Library. Gellia Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, george Herbert Nall, ed. Stories from Aulus Gellius. John Carew Rolfe, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, ISBN0674992156, ISBN0674992202, ISBN0674992342 G. Anderson, Aulus Gellius, a Miscellanist and His World, in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, vol. Marie-Luise Lakmann, Der Platoniker Tauros in der Darstellung des Aulus Gellius Leofranc Holford-Strevens, an Antonine Scholar and his Achievement Leofranc Holford-Strevens and Amiel Vardi, eds. The Worlds of Aulus Gellius Wytse Keulen, Gellius the Satirist, Works by Aulus Gellius at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Aulus Gellius at Internet Archive The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius,1795 translation, Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III
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Numa Pompilius
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Numa Pompilius was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Romes most important religious, according to Plutarch, Numa was the youngest of Pomponiuss four sons, born on the day of Romes founding. He lived a life of discipline and banished all luxury from his home. Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines and a colleague of Romulus, gave in marriage his daughter, Tatia. After 13 years of marriage, Tatia died, precipitating Numas retirement to the countryside, according to Livy, Numa resided at Cures immediately before being elected king. Livy and Plutarch refer to the story that Numa was instructed in philosophy by Pythagoras, Plutarch reports that some authors credited him with only a single daughter, Pompilia. Pompilias mother is identified as Numas first wife Tatia or his second wife Lucretia. She is said to have married the future first pontifex maximus Numa Marcius, still other writers, writes Plutarch, believed these were fictional genealogies to enhance the status of these families. After the death of Romulus, there was an interregnum of one year in which the power was exercised by members of the Senate in rotation for five days in a row. In 715 BC, after much bickering between the factions of Romulus and Tatius, a compromise was reached, and the Sabine Numa was elected by the senate as the next king, according to Plutarch, Numa was a cunning and calculating person. At first he refused the offer and his father and Sabine kinsmen, including his teacher and the father of Numas son-in law, Marcus, along with an embassy of two senators from Rome, banded together to persuade him to accept. In the account of Plutarch and Livy, Numa, after being summoned by the Senate from Cures, was offered the tokens of power amid an enthusiastic reception by the people of Rome. He requested, however, that an augur should divine the opinion of the gods on the prospect of his kingship before he accepted, Jupiter was consulted and the omens were favourable. Thus approved by the Roman and Sabine people as well as the heavens, according to Plutarch, Numas first act was to disband the personal guard of 300 so-called Celeres with which Romulus permanently surrounded himself. The gesture is variously interpreted as self-protection in the face of their questionable loyalty, based on Roman chronology, Numa died of old age in 673 BC. He was succeeded by Tullus Hostilius, Numa was traditionally celebrated by the Romans for his wisdom and piety. According to Livy, Numa claimed that he held consultations with Egeria on the proper manner of instituting sacred rites for the city. Numa was said to have authored several sacred books in which he had written down divine teachings, mostly from Egeria, the other books dealt with philosophy
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Alba Longa
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Alba Longa was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy,19 kilometres southeast of Rome, in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgils Aeneid had been the bloodline of Aeneas. Livy said of Alba Longa that it was founded by Ascanius to relieve crowding at Lavinium and he placed it at the foot of the Alban Mount and said that it took its name from being extended along a ridge. Dionysius of Halicarnassus repeated the story, but added that Ascanius, following a given to his father. Noting that alba means white he translated the name into Greek as long white town, Dionysius placed the town between the Alban Mount and the Alban Lake, thus beginning a long controversy about its location. Since the 16th century, the site has been at times identified as that of the Convent of St. Paul at Palazzola near Albano, Coste Caselle near Marino. The last named of these places in fact occupies the site of Domitians villa which, archaeological data show the existence of a string of villages in the Iron Age, each with its own necropolis, along the south-western shore of Lake Albano. In the later period the territory of Alba was settled once again with many residential villas. According to Roman legend, after the fall of Troy in 1184 BC, Aeneas led a group of surviving Trojans through the Mediterranean to Sicily, Carthage, upon landing in Italy he was welcomed by Latinus, king of the early Latins. Soon, Aeneas married king Latinus daughter, Lavinia, and would found the city Lavinium in her name, Latinus later fell in war making Aeneas king and his son, Ascanius, his successor. A few years later Aeneas was killed in battle like Latinus, Ascanius reportedly built Alba Longa at the slope of Mount Alba with six hundred families as a colony of Lavinium. The city was founded thirty years after Lavinium and his descendants would rule the Latins for another five hundred years. Alba Longa was the city of the roughly thirty cities that made up the Latin League. The leagues conferences were held by the Ferentine spring, in the part of the valley between Albano and Marino, Italy. The sacrifices of the league were offered on the Alban mountain from which all the country of Latium might be seen, after the rise of its colony, Rome, Alba Longa appeared as Romes rival and was destroyed in the mid-seventh century BC by Rome. The colonies of Alba Longa were distinct from the Alban townships which must have consisted of Albani plebs, among the Alban colonies some become part of the plebs, others become Latin cities. The others were ceded to the Latins to maintain a consistent thirty townships, accordingly, the Latin kingdom of Latinus, and the Rutulian kingdom of Turnus must have had thirty cities each with Laurentum as the Latin capital prior to the arrival of Aeneas
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Antiquarian
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An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives. Today the term is used in a pejorative sense, to refer to an excessively narrow focus on factual historical trivia. The Kaogutu or Illustrated Catalogue of Examined Antiquity compiled by Lü Dalin is one of the oldest known catalogues to systematically describe and classify ancient artifacts which were unearthed. Interests in antiquarian studies of ancient inscriptions and artifacts waned after the Song Dynasty, Books on antiquarian topics covered such subjects as the origin of customs, religious rituals, and political institutions, genealogy, topography and landmarks, and etymology. By contrast, antiquarian works as a form are organized by topic. Major antiquarian Latin writers with surviving works include Varro, Pliny the Elder, Aulus Gellius, the Roman emperor Claudius published antiquarian works, none of which is extant. Some of Ciceros treatises, particularly his work on divination, show strong antiquarian interests, roman-era Greek writers also dealt with antiquarian material, such as Plutarch in his Roman Questions and the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus. The aim of Latin antiquarian works is to collect a number of possible explanations. The antiquarians are often used as sources by the ancient historians, despite the importance of antiquarian writing in the literature of ancient Rome, some scholars view antiquarianism as emerging only in the Middle Ages. Antiquarianisms wider flowering is more associated with the Renaissance, and with the critical assessment. The development of genealogy as a scientific discipline went hand-in-hand with the development of antiquarianism, genealogical antiquaries recognised the evidential value for their researches of non-textual sources, including seals and church monuments. Many early modern antiquaries were also chorographers, that is to say, they recorded landscapes, in England, some of the most important of these took the form of county histories. They increasingly argued that empirical evidence could be used to refine. Antiquaries had always attracted a degree of ridicule, and since the century the term has tended to be used most commonly in negative or derogatory contexts. Nevertheless, many practising antiquaries continue to claim the title with pride, Antiquary was the usual term in English from the 16th to the mid-18th centuries to describe a person interested in antiquities. From the second half of the 18th century, however, antiquarian began to be used widely as a noun. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, a distinction was perceived to exist between the interests and activities of the antiquary and the historian
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Temple of Vesta
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The Temple of Vesta is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy, located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The temples most recognizable feature is its circular footprint, since the worship of Vesta began in private homes, the architecture seems to be a reminder of its history. The extant temple used Greek architecture with Corinthian columns, marble, the remaining structure indicates that there were twenty Corinthian columns built on a podium fifteen meters in diameter. The roof probably had a vent at the apex to allow smoke release, all temples to Vesta were round, and had entrances facing east to symbolize connection between Vesta’s fire and the sun as sources of life. The Temple of Vesta represents the site of ancient cult activity as far back as 7th century BCE, numa Pompilius is believed to have built this temple along with the original Regia and House of the Vestal Virgins in its original form. Around the Temple stood The Sacred Grove, in which there was a graveyard for the priests. It was one of the earliest structures located in the Roman Forum although its present reincarnation is the result of subsequent rebuilding, instead of a cult statue in the cella there was a hearth which held the sacred flame. The temple was the storehouse for the legal wills and documents of Roman Senators and cult objects such as the Palladium. The Palladium was a statue of Athena believed to have been brought by Aeneas from Troy, the statue was felt to be one of the Pignora Imperii, or pledges of imperium, of Ancient Rome. That the Romans believed that the Sacred fire of Vesta was closely tied to the fortunes of the city, the temple was rebuilt many times, for it was destroyed many times. The first destruction of the temple was by the Gauls in 390, such fires occurred again in 210 BC and again in the early first century BC, however, the building was safe. It was rebuilt again during the reigns of Augustus and Nero, finally, it burnt down in 191 AD and was later built for the last time during the reign of Septimius Severus. The Temple of Vesta remained reasonably intact until the Renaissance, however, in 1549, the building was completely demolished and its marble reused in churches and papal palaces. The section standing today was reconstructed in the 1930s during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, the round Temple of Hercules Victor in the Forum Boarium was initially thought to be a temple of Vesta. Brockman, Norbert, Encyclopedia of Sacred Places,1, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-1-59884-654-6 Gorski, Gilbert J. Packer, the Roman Forum, A Reconstruction and Architectural Guide, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-19244-6 Howatson, M. C. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954855-2 Middleton, the Temple and Atrium of Vesta and the Regia. Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity,395, Middleton, John Henry, The Remains of Ancient Rome,1 Stamper, John W
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Servius Tullius
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Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 575–535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Romes first Etruscan king. Several traditions describe Servius father as divine, Livy depicts Servius mother as a captured Latin princess enslaved by the Romans, her child is chosen as Romes future king after a ring of fire is seen around his head. The Emperor Claudius discounted such origins and described him as an originally Etruscan mercenary, named Mastarna, Servius was a popular king, and one of Romes most significant benefactors. He had military successes against Veii and the Etruscans, and expanded the city to include the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills. He is traditionally credited with the institution of the Compitalia festivals, the building of temples to Fortuna and Diana and, less plausibly, despite the opposition of Romes patricians, he expanded the Roman franchise and improved the lot and fortune of Romes lowest classes of citizens and non-citizens. According to Livy, he reigned for 44 years, until murdered by his daughter Tullia, in consequence of this tragic crime and his hubristic arrogance as king, Tarquinius was eventually removed. This cleared the way for the abolition of Romes monarchy and the founding of the Roman Republic, before its establishment as a Republic, Rome was ruled by kings. In Roman tradition, Romes founder Romulus was the first, Servius Tullius was the sixth, and his successor Tarquinius Superbus was the last. The nature of Roman kingship is unclear, most Roman kings were elected by the senate, as to a lifetime magistracy, some were native Romans, others were foreign. Later Romans had a complex relationship with this distant past. In Republican mores and institutions kingship was abhorrent, and remained so, in name at least, Servius Tullius has been described as Romes second founder, the most complex and enigmatic of all its kings, and a kind of proto-Republican magistrate. The oldest surviving source for the political developments of the Roman kingdom and Republic is Ciceros De republica. Livys sources probably included at least some official state records, he excluded what seemed implausible or contradictory traditions, and arranged his material within an overarching chronology. Dionysius and Plutarch offer various alternatives not found in Livy, and Livys own pupil and she was given to Tanaquil, wife of king Tarquinius, and though slave, was treated with the respect due her former status. In one variant, she became wife to a client of Tarquinius. According to Tanaquil, this was a manifestation, either of the household Lar or Vulcan himself. Thus Servius was divinely fathered and already destined for greatness, despite his mothers status, for the time being, Tanaquil
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Ambrose
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Aurelius Ambrosius, better known in English as Saint Ambrose, was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was the Roman governor of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered in Milan, Ambrose was a staunch opponent of Arianism, and has been accused of fostering persecutions of Arians, Jews, and pagans. Ambrose was one of the four original Doctors of the Church and he is notable for his influence on Augustine of Hippo. Ambrose was born into a Roman Christian family about 340 and was raised in Gallia Belgica and his mother was a woman of intellect and piety. Ambroses siblings, Satyrus and Marcellina, are venerated as saints. There is a legend that as an infant, a swarm of bees settled on his face while he lay in his cradle and his father considered this a sign of his future eloquence and honeyed tongue. For this reason, bees and beehives often appear in the saints symbology, after the early death of his father, Ambrose followed his fathers career. He was educated in Rome, studying literature, law, Ambrose was the Governor of Aemilia-Liguria in northern Italy until 374, when he became the Bishop of Milan. He was a popular political figure, and since he was the Governor in the effective capital in the Roman West. In the late 4th century there was a conflict in the diocese of Milan between the Nicene Church and Arians. In 374 the bishop of Milan, Auxentius, an Arian, died, Ambrose went to the church where the election was to take place, to prevent an uproar, which was probable in this crisis. His address was interrupted by a call Ambrose, bishop, which was taken up by the whole assembly. Ambrose was known to be Nicene Christian in belief, but also acceptable to Arians due to the charity shown in matters in this regard. At first he refused the office, for which he was in no way prepared. Upon his appointment, Ambrose fled to a colleagues home seeking to hide, upon receiving a letter from the Emperor Gratian praising the appropriateness of Rome appointing individuals evidently worthy of holy positions, Ambroses host gave him up. Within a week, he was baptized, ordained and duly consecrated bishop of Milan and this raised his popularity even further, giving him considerable political leverage over even the emperor. Ambrose also wrote a treatise by the name of The Goodness of Death, according to legend, Ambrose immediately and forcefully stopped Arianism in Milan. He studied theology with Simplician, a presbyter of Rome, in the confrontation with Arians, Ambrose sought to theologically refute their propositions, which were contrary to the Nicene creed and thus to the officially defined orthodoxy
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Late antiquity
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Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century to, in the East, the early Islamic period, following the Muslim conquests in the mid–7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Medieval period typically placed in the 6th century, beginning with Constantine the Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded at Constantinople. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe, the term Spätantike, literally late antiquity, has been used by German-speaking historians since its popularization by Alois Riegl in the early 20th century. Concurrently, some migrating Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths and Visigoths saw themselves as perpetuating the Roman tradition, Constantine confirmed the legalization of the religion through the so-called Edict of Milan in 313, jointly issued with his rival in the East, Licinius. Monasticism was not the only new Christian movement to appear in Late Antiquity, notable in this regard is the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine. Within the recently legitimized Christian community of the 4th century, a division could be distinctly seen between the laity and an increasingly celibate male leadership. Celibate and detached, the clergy became an elite equal in prestige to urban notables. The Late Antique period also saw a transformation of the political and social basis of life in. The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities, archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by collapse of cities in the Mediterranean basin. Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines, in Roman Britain, the typical 4th- and 5th-century layer of black earth within cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces. A similar though less marked decline in population occurred later in Constantinople. In Europe there was also a decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all Europe. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce. The degree and extent of discontinuity in the cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians. In the western Mediterranean, the new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries were the four or five Visigothic victory cities
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Marcus Terentius Varro
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Marcus Terentius Varro was an ancient Roman scholar and writer. He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus, politically, he supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, quaestor and curule aedile. He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua. During the civil war he commanded one of Pompeys armies in the Ilerda campaign and he escaped the penalties of being on the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar, before and after the Battle of Pharsalus. As the Republic gave way to Empire, Varro gained the favour of Augustus, under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study, Varro studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo, and later at Athens under the Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon. Varro proved to be a productive writer and turned out more than 74 Latin works on a variety of topics. Among his many works, two stand out for historians, Nine Books of Disciplines and his compilation of the Varronian chronology and his Nine Books of Disciplines became a model for later encyclopedists, especially Pliny the Elder. The most noteworthy portion of the Nine Books of Disciplines is its use of the arts as organizing principles. Varro decided to focus on identifying nine of these arts, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, musical theory, medicine, using Varros list, subsequent writers defined the seven classical liberal arts of the medieval schools. The compilation of the Varronian chronology was an attempt to determine an exact timeline of Roman history up to his time. It is based on the sequence of the consuls of the Roman Republic — supplemented. His only complete work extant, Rerum rusticarum libri tres, has described as the well digested system of an experienced and successful farmer who has seen. One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation of microbiology and epidemiology, Varro warned his contemporaries to avoid swamps and marshland, since in such areas. There are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases. 199–242, in the collection of Wilmanns, pp. 170–223, and in that of Funaioli, pp. 179–371. G. Kent Livius. org, Varronian chronology thelatinlibrary. com, Latin works of Varro
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Tarpeia
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She was instead crushed to death and her body cast from the southern cliff of Romes Capitoline Hill, thereafter called Tarpeian Rock. Greedy for gold, she had meant their bracelets, but instead the Sabines threw their shields—carried on the left arm—upon her and her body was then hurled from a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill. The Sabines were however unable to conquer the Forum, its gates miraculously protected by boiling jets of water created by Janus, the legend was depicted in 89 BC by Sabinus following the Civil Wars as well as on a silver denarius of the Emperor Augustus in approximately 20 BC. Tarpeia would later become a symbol of betrayal and greed in Rome, the cliff from which she was thrown was named the Tarpeian Rock, and would become the place of execution for Romes most notorious traitors. The Rape of the Sabine Women Lucretia Livy, translated from the Original with Notes and Illustrations by George Baker, A. M. First American ed. from the Last London Edition, in Six Volumes
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Roman mythology
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Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Romes legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. Roman mythology may also refer to the study of these representations. The Romans usually treated their traditional narratives as historical, even when these have miraculous or supernatural elements, the stories are often concerned with politics and morality, and how an individuals personal integrity relates to his or her responsibility to the community or Roman state. When the stories illuminate Roman religious practices, they are concerned with ritual, augury. Romes early myths and legends also have a relationship with Etruscan religion. In particular, the versions of Greek myths in Ovids Metamorphoses, written during the reign of Augustus, because ritual played the central role in Roman religion that myth did for the Greeks, it is sometimes doubted that the Romans had much of a native mythology. This perception is a product of Romanticism and the scholarship of the 19th century. From the Renaissance to the 18th century, however, Roman myths were an inspiration particularly for European painting, the Roman tradition is rich in historical myths, or legends, concerning the foundation and rise of the city. These narratives focus on human actors, with only occasional intervention from deities, in Romes earliest period, history and myth have a mutual and complementary relationship. As T. P. Wiseman notes, The Roman stories still matter, as they mattered to Dante in 1300 and Shakespeare in 1600, what does it take to be a free citizen. Can a superpower still be a republic, how does well-meaning authority turn into murderous tyranny. Major sources for Roman myth include the Aeneid of Vergil and the first few books of Livys history as well as Dionysius s Roman Antiquities. Other important sources are the Fasti of Ovid, a six-book poem structured by the Roman religious calendar, scenes from Roman myth also appear in Roman wall painting, coins, and sculpture, particularly reliefs. The Aeneid and Livys early history are the best extant sources for Romes founding myths, material from Greek heroic legend was grafted onto this native stock at an early date. By extension, the Trojans were adopted as the ancestors of the Roman people. Rape of the Sabine women, explaining the importance of the Sabines in the formation of Roman culture, numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome who consorted with the nymph Egeria and established many of Romes legal and religious institutions. Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, whose mysterious origins were freely mythologized. The Tarpeian Rock, and why it was used for the execution of traitors, lucretia, whose self-sacrifice prompted the overthrow of the early Roman monarchy and led to the establishment of the Republic
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Sulla
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Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the distinction of holding the office of consul twice, Sulla was a skillful general, achieving numerous successes in wars against different opponents, both foreign and Roman. He was awarded a crown, the most prestigious Roman military honor. Sullas dictatorship came during a point in the struggle between optimates and populares, the former seeking to maintain the Senates oligarchy, and the latter espousing populism. In a dispute over the army command Sulla unconstitutionally marched his armies into Rome. Sullas ascension was also marked by purges in proscriptions. After seeking election to and holding a second consulship, he retired to private life, later leaders like Julius Caesar would follow his precedent in attaining political power through force. In Plutarchs Parallel Lives Sulla is paired with the Spartan general, in older sources, his name may be found as Sylla. This is a Hellenism, like sylva for classical Latin silva, lacking ready money, Sulla spent his youth amongst Rome’s comics, actors, lute-players, and dancers. It seems certain that Sulla received a good education, sallust declares him well-read and intelligent, and he was fluent in Greek, which was a sign of education in Rome. Rome declared war on Jugurtha in 111 BC, but for five years Roman legions under Quintus Caecilius Metellus were unsuccessful, Gaius Marius, a lieutenant of Metellus, saw an opportunity to usurp his commander and fed rumors of incompetence and delay to the publicani in the region. These machinations caused calls for Metelluss removal, despite delaying tactics by Metellus, Marius was elected consul and took over the campaign while Sulla was nominated quaestor to him. He had persuaded Jugurthas father-in-law, King Bocchus I of Mauretania and it was a dangerous operation from the first, with King Bocchus weighing up the advantages of handing Jugurtha over to Sulla or Sulla over to Jugurtha. The publicity attracted by this feat boosted Sullas political career, a gilded equestrian statue of Sulla donated by King Bocchus was erected in the Forum to commemorate his accomplishment. Although Sulla had engineered this move, as Sulla was serving under Marius at the time, in 104 BC, the migrating Germanic-Celtic alliance headed by the Cimbri and the Teutones seemed to be heading for Italy. As Marius was the best general Rome had, the Senate allowed him to lead the campaign against them, Sulla served on Marius staff as tribunus militum during the first half of this campaign. Finally, with those of his colleague, proconsul Quintus Lutatius Catulus, Marius forces faced the enemy tribes at the Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC. Sulla had by this time transferred to the army of Catulus to serve as his legatus, victorious at Vercellae, Marius and Catulus were both granted triumphs as the co-commanding generals
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Julius Caesar
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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
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Proscription
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Proscription is, in current usage, a decree of condemnation to death or banishment and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated in Ancient Rome, where it included public identification, during the dictatorial reign of Sulla, the word took on a more sinister meaning. In 82 or 81 BC, Sulla instituted the process of proscription in order to avenge the massacres of Gaius Marius and Gaius Marius’ son. He instituted a notice for the sale of confiscated property belonging to those declared public enemies of the state, there were multiple reasons why the ancient Roman government may have desired to proscribe or attribute multiple other forms of pain. One of the most prevalent reasons for punishment are treason crimes, treason crimes consisted of a very broad and large number of regulations, and such crimes had a negative effect on the government. Overall, crimes in which the state, emperor, the tranquility, or offenses against the good of the people would be considered treason. Punishments for treason were quite harsh for today’s standards and were meant to highlight the seriousness and shamefulness of the crimes committed. There were a variety of punishments for crimes, including death, loss of a freedman’s status, loss of citizenship with a loss of family rights. Death was a common punishment and was referred to as summum supplicium. The death sentence was often the punishment for all but the mildest forms of treason, Julius Caesar was an influential framer on the law on treason. The Interdiction from Water and Fire was a civil excommunication resulting in ultimate exile and those who were condemned would be deported to an island. Emperor Augustus frequently utilized this method of exile, as he desired to keep banished men from banding together in large groups, such punishment was only given for the mildest forms of treason, in comparison to the death penalty served for most other treason crimes. Augustus also created the prefect, whose powers included the ability to banish, deport, an early instance of mass proscription took place in 82 BC, when Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed dictator rei publicae constituendae. Sulla proceeded to have the Senate draw up a list of those he considered enemies of the state, no person could inherit money or property from proscribed men, nor could any woman married to a proscribed man remarry after his death. Many victims of proscription were decapitated and their heads were displayed on spears in the Forum and this gave rise to a general fear of being taken from ones home at night as a consequence of any outwardly seditious behaviour. Sullas proscription was bureaucratically overseen, and the names of informers, because Roman law could criminalise acts ex post facto, many informers and profiteers were later prosecuted. The proscription of 82 BC was overseen by Sullas freedman steward Lucius Cornelius Chrysogonus, the proscription lists created by Sulla led to mass terror in Rome. During this time, the cities of Italy became theaters of execution, citizens were terrified to find their names on the lists
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Augustus
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Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
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Rex sacrorum
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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
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Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vesta". Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1055.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
