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Pompa Circensis
In ancient Rome, the ''pompa circensis'' ("circus parade") was the procession that preceded the official games ''(ludi)'' held in the circus as part of religious festivals and other occasions. Description The most detailed description of the ''pompa circensis'' during the Republican era is given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, based on eyewitness observation and the historian Fabius Pictor, who says he is describing the original ''Ludi Romani''; Fabius may, however, have been more influenced by what he saw in the ''pompa'' of the Saecular Games in 249 BC. The procession was led by boys of the nobility ''(nobiles)'' riding on horseback, followed by boys on foot who were future infantrymen. Next came the charioteers and athletes who would compete in the games. Troops of dancers followed to musical accompaniment performed on '' auloi'', a type of woodwind instrument, and the lyre. The dancers were divided into age classes, men, youths, and children. Wearing purple tunics, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyre
The lyre () is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke that lies in the same plane as the sound table, and consists of two arms and a crossbar. The lyre has its origins in ancient history. Lyres were used in several ancient cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The earliest known examples of the lyre have been recovered at archeological sites that date to c. 2700 BCE in Mesopotamia. The oldest lyres from the Fertile Crescent are known as the eastern lyres and are distinguished from other ancient lyres by their flat base. They have been found at archaeological sites in Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and the Levant. The round lyre or the Western lyre also originated in Syria and Anatolia, but was not as widely used and eventually died out ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Via Sacra
The Via Sacra (, "''Sacred Street''") was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum. The road was part of the traditional route of the Roman Triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and proceeded through the Roman Forum. Later it was paved and during the reign of Nero it was lined with colonnades. The road provided the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's history, the solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat, throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice. Many prostitutes lined the street as well, looking for potential customers. From the reign of Augustus, the Via Sacra played a role in the Apotheosis ceremony by which deceased Roman Emperors were formally deified. The body of the Emperor, concealed under a wax dea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum ( plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the ', or simply the '. For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million or more sightseers yearly. Many of the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clivus Capitolinus
The main road to the Roman Capitol, the Clivus Capitolinus ("Capitoline Rise") starts at the head of the Roman Forum beside the Arch of Tiberius as a continuation of the Via Sacra; proceeding around the Temple of Saturn and turning to the south in front of the Portico Dii Consentes, it then climbs up the slope of the Capitoline Hill to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at its summit. This was traditionally the last and culminating portion of all Roman triumphs. Triumph The street is significant as one of the oldest roads in Rome as well as its central location around temples and judicial offices leading to the largest and most important of the Republican temples. Julius Caesar is said to have climbed this road on his knees to offset a bad omen during his triumph. History The earliest history of the road as well as the hill itself is not completely clear as much of Rome's earliest records were destroyed in a sacking of the city. The road may have been part of the original route ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capitolium
A ''Capitolium'' (Latin) was an ancient Roman temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad of gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. A capitolium was built on a prominent area in many cities in Italy and the Roman provinces, particularly during the Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods. Most had a triple '' cella'', one for each god. The first capitolium was on the Capitoline Hill in Rome and was considered the centre of the city, where it meant the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and afterwards the Latin word was used for the whole hill. The earliest known example outside of Italy was at Emporion (now Empúries, Spain).Blagg, T.F.C. (1990). "The temple at Bath ( Aquae Sulis) in the context of classical temples in the western European provinces" (pp. 426–427). ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'' 3 (pp. 419–430). Examples of ''capitolia'' are: * Capitolium Vetus (Rome) * Temple of Jupiter (Pompeii) * Capitolium of Minturnae * Capitolium of Ostia Antica * Capitolium of Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sextus Pompeius Festus
Sextus Pompeius Festus, usually known simply as Festus, was a Roman grammarian who probably flourished in the later 2nd century AD, perhaps at Narbo (Narbonne) in Gaul. Work He made a 20-volume epitome of Verrius Flaccus's voluminous and encyclopedic treatise '' De verborum significatione''. Flaccus had been a celebrated grammarian who flourished in the reign of Augustus. Festus gives the etymology as well as the meaning of many words, and his work throws considerable light on the language, mythology and antiquities of ancient Rome. He made a few alterations, and inserted some critical remarks of his own. He also omitted such ancient Latin words as had long been obsolete; these he apparently discussed in a separate work now lost, entitled ''Priscorum verborum cum exemplis''. Even incomplete, Festus' lexicon reflects at second hand the enormous intellectual effort that had been made in the Augustan Age to put together information on the traditions of the Roman world, which was alrea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Roman Deities
The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and religious life as it was experienced throughout the Empire. Many of the Romans' own gods remain obscure, known only by name and sometimes function, through inscriptions and texts that are often fragmentary. This is particularly true of those gods belonging to the archaic religion of the Romans dating back to the era of kings, the so-called "religion of Numa", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities have Italic or Etruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in the provinces were given new theological interpretations in light of functions or attributes they shared with Roman deities. An extensiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Etruscan Civilization
The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughly what is now Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio, as well as what are now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto, and western Campania. The earliest evidence of a culture that is identifiably Etruscan dates from about 900BC. This is the period of the Iron Age Villanovan culture, considered to be the earliest phase of Etruscan civilization, which itself developed from the previous late Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture in the same region. Etruscan civilization endured until it was assimilated into Roman society. Assimilation began in the late 4thcenturyBC as a result of the Roman–Etruscan Wars; it accelerated with the grant of Roman citizenship in 90 BC, and became complete in 27 BC, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salii
In ancient Roman religion, the Salii ( , ) were the "leaping priests" (from the verb ''saliō'' "leap, jump") of Mars supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve patrician youths, dressed as archaic warriors: an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak (''paludamentum)'', a sword, and a spiked headdress called an apex. They were charged with the twelve bronze shields called ''ancilia'', which, like the Mycenaean shield, resembled a figure eight. One of the shields was said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of King Numa and eleven copies were made to protect the identity of the sacred shield on the advice of the nymph Egeria, consort of Numa, who prophesied that wherever that shield was preserved, the people would be the dominant people of the earth. 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 ''ancilia'' in his ''Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silenus
In Greek mythology, Silenus (; grc, Σειληνός, Seilēnós, ) was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue ('' thiasos''), and sometimes considerably older, in which case he may be referred to as a Papposilenus. The plural ''sileni'' refers to the mythological figure as a type that is sometimes thought to be differentiated from a satyr by having the attributes of a horse rather than a goat, though usage of the two words is not consistent enough to permit a sharp distinction. Silenus presides over other daemones and is related to musical creativity, prophetic ecstasy, drunken joy, drunken dances and gestures. Evolution The original Silenus resembled a folkloric man of the forest, with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse. The later sileni were drunken followers of Dionysus, usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses, and having the legs of a human. Later still, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satyr
In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but, by the sixth century BC, they were more often represented with human legs. Comically hideous, they have mane-like hair, bestial faces, and snub noses and are always shown naked. Satyrs were characterized by their ribaldry and were known as lovers of wine, music, dancing, and women. They were companions of the god Dionysus and were believed to inhabit remote locales, such as woodlands, mountains, and pastures. They often attempted to seduce or rape nymphs and mortal women alike, usually with little success. They are sometimes shown masturbating or engaging in bestiality. In classical Athens, satyrs made up the chorus in a genre of play known as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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