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Fascinus
In ancient Roman religion and magic, the ''fascinus'' or ''fascinum'' was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection. Pliny called it a ''medicus invidiae'', a "doctor" or remedy for envy ('' invidia'', a "looking upon") or the evil eye. Etymology The English word " fascinate" ultimately derives from Latin '' fascinum'' and the related verb ''fascinare'', "to use the power of the ''fascinus''", that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch". Catullus uses the verb at the end of ''Carmen 7'', a hendecasyllabic poem addressing his lover Lesbia; he expresses his infinite desire for kisses that cannot be counted by voyeurs nor "fascinated" (put under a spell) by a malicious tongue; such bliss, as also in ''Carmen'' 5, potentially attracts ''invidia''. Fescennine Verses, the satiric and often lewd songs or chants performed on various social occasions, may have be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fascinum
In ancient Roman religion and magic, the ''fascinus'' or ''fascinum'' was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection. Pliny called it a ''medicus invidiae'', a "doctor" or remedy for envy (''invidia'', a "looking upon") or the evil eye. Etymology The English word " fascinate" ultimately derives from Latin '' fascinum'' and the related verb ''fascinare'', "to use the power of the ''fascinus''", that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch". Catullus uses the verb at the end of ''Carmen 7'', a hendecasyllabic poem addressing his lover Lesbia; he expresses his infinite desire for kisses that cannot be counted by voyeurs nor "fascinated" (put under a spell) by a malicious tongue; such bliss, as also in ''Carmen'' 5, potentially attracts ''invidia''. Fescennine Verses, the satiric and often lewd songs or chants performed on various social occasions, may have been s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phallus
A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely, iconically—resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic (as in "phallic symbol"). Such symbols often represent fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ, as well as the male orgasm. Etymology The term is a loanword from Latin ''phallus'', itself borrowed from Greek (''phallos''), which is ultimately a derivation from the Proto-Indo-European root *''bʰel''- "to inflate, swell". Compare with Old Norse (and modern Icelandic) ''boli'', "bull", Old English ''bulluc'', "bullock", Greek , "whale". Archaeology The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evil Eye
The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures in the Mediterranean region, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, with such cultures often believing that receiving the evil eye will cause misfortune or injury, while others believe it to be a kind of supernatural force that casts or reflects a malevolent gaze back upon those who wish harm upon others (especially innocents). The idea also appears multiple times in rabbinic literature, Jewish rabbinic literature. Different cultures have pursued measures to protect against the evil eye. Some of the most famous talismans against the evil eye include the Nazar (amulet), nazar amulet, itself a representation of an eye, and the hamsa, a hand-shaped amulet. Older iterati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invidia
In Latin, ''invidia'' is the sense of envy, a "looking upon" associated with the evil eye, from ''invidere'', "to look against, to look in a hostile manner." ''Invidia'' ("Envy") is one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian belief. ''Invidia'' and magic The material culture and literature of ancient Rome offer numerous examples of rituals and magic spells intended to avert ''invidia'' and the evil eye. When a Roman general celebrated a triumph, the Vestal Virgins suspended a '' fascinus'', or phallic effigy, under the chariot to ward off ''invidia''. Envy is the vice most associated with witches and magic. The witch's protruding tongue alludes to Ovid's Invidia who has a poisoned tongue. The witch and Invidia share a significant feature – the Evil eye. The term ''invidia'' stems from the Latin ''invidere'', "to look too closely". One type of the aggressive gaze is the "biting eye", often associated with envy, and reflects the ancient belief that envy originates from the eye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religion In Ancient Rome
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the Roman people, people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety () in maintaining Pax deorum, good relations with the gods. Their Polytheism, polytheistic religion is known for having honoured List of Roman deities, many deities. The presence of Magna Graecia, Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became fundamental, such as the of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks (), adapting Greek mythology, Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art, as the Etruscans had. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, partic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word , which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble". Anything can function as an amulet; items commonly so used include statues, coins, drawings, plant parts, animal parts, and written words. Amulets which are said to derive their extraordinary properties and powers from magic or those which impart luck are typically part of folk religion or paganism, whereas amulets or Sacramental, sacred objects of Organized religion, formalised mainstream religion as in Christianity are believed to have no power of their own without faith in Jesus and being blessing, blessed by a clergyman, and they supposedly will also not provide any preternatural benefit to the bearer who does not have an Disposition#Religion, appropriate disposition. Talisman and amulets have interchangeable meanings. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fescennine Verses
Fescennine Verses (Fescennina carmina), one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, subsequently developed into satire and Roman comic drama. History Originally sung at village harvest-home rejoicing, they made their way into the towns, and became the fashion at religious festivals and private gatherings, especially weddings, to which in later times they were practically restricted. They were usually in the Saturnine metre and took the form of a dialogue consisting of an interchange of extemporaneous raillery. Those who took part in them wore masks made of the bark of trees. At first harmless and good-humored, if somewhat coarse, these songs gradually outstripped the bounds of decency; malicious attacks were made upon both gods and men, and the matter became so serious that the law intervened and scurrilous personalities were forbidden by the Twelve Tables (Cicero, ''De re publica'', 4.10; see also Horace ''epist''. 2.1.139). Examples Specimens of the Fescennines used at weddings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Triumph
The Roman triumph (') was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or, in some historical traditions, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. On the day of his triumph, the general wore a crown of laurel and an all-purple, gold-embroidered triumphal '' toga picta'' ("painted" toga), regalia that identified him as near-divine or near-kingly. In some accounts, his face was painted red, perhaps in imitation of Rome's highest and most powerful god, Jupiter. The general rode in a four-horse chariot through the streets of Rome in unarmed procession with his army, captives, and the spoils of his war. At Jupiter's temple on the Capitoline Hill, he offered sacrifice and the tokens of his victory to Jupiter. In Republican tradition, only the Senate could grant a triumph. The origins and development of this honour are obscur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commentary (philology)
In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and the specific culture that produced it, both of which may be foreign to the reader. Such a commentary usually takes the form of footnotes, endnotes, or separate text cross-referenced by line, paragraph or page. Means of providing commentary on the language of the text include notes on textual criticism, syntax and semantics, and the analysis of rhetoric, literary tropes, and style. The aim is to remove, lessen or point out linguistic obstacles to reading and understanding the text. If a text is historical, or is produced within a culture assumed to be of limited familiarity to a reader, a broader range of issues may require elucidation. These include, but are by no means limited to, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three Western canon, canonical poets of Latin literature. The Roman Empire, Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegy, elegists.Quint. ''Inst.'' 10.1.93 Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus Exile of Ovid, exiled him to Constanța, Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars. Ovid is most famous for the ''Metamorphoses'', a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period. Roman mythology draws from the mythology of the Italic peoples and shares mythemes with Proto-Indo-European mythology. 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 individual's personal integrity relates to his or her responsibility to the community or Roman state. Heroism is an important theme. When the stories illuminate Roman religious practices, they are more concerned with ritual, augury, and institutions than with theology or cosmogony. Roman mythology also draws on Greek mythology, pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned from 578 to 535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC. The constitutional basis for his accession is unclear; he is variously described as the first Roman king to accede without election by the Senate, having gained the throne by popular and royal support; and as the first to be elected by the Senate alone, with support of the reigning queen but without recourse to a popular vote. 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 Rome's 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, who fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
