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Bacchanalian
The Bacchanalia were unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia. They were almost certainly associated with Rome's native cult of Liber, and probably arrived in Rome itself around 200 BC. Like all mystery religions of the ancient world, very little is known of their rites. They seem to have been popular and well-organised throughout the central and southern Italian peninsula. Livy, writing some 200 years after the event, offers a scandalized and extremely colourful account of the Bacchanalia, with frenzied rites, sexually violent initiations of both sexes, all ages and all social classes; he represents the cult as a murderous instrument of conspiracy against the state. Livy claims that seven thousand cult leaders and followers were arrested, and that most were executed. Livy believed the Bacchanalia scandal to be one of several indications of Rome's inexorable moral decay. Modern scholars take a skept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hispala Faecenia
Hispala Faecenia was a freedwoman and highly ranked courtesan from ancient Rome involved in giving a testimony that helped put a stop to the Bacchanalian scandal of 186 BCE. Hispala's role in the Bacchanalian scandal was to provide information on exactly what happened at the Bacchanalia. Sources Most of what is known about Hispala Faecenia comes from Livy, who discussed her in book 39 of his ''History of Rome''. Livy's describes her as a freedwoman and courtesan, who took care of herself while enslaved until she was manumitted. Life Profession Livy claims that Hispala was a very well known courtesan. According to Danuta Musial, he draws on the fact that Livy does not hide Hispala's client and customer relationship. Musial also makes a point to say that the reason Hispala was no longer dishonourable was because she made a confession in front of a consul with appropriate attitude, which in turn evoked the repression of the Bacchanalia. Musial goes on to say that Hispala suppor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liber
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome's plebeians and was part of their Aventine Triad. His festival of Liberalia (March 17) became associated with free speech and the rights attached to coming of age. His cult and functions were increasingly associated with Romanised forms of the Greek Dionysus/Bacchus, whose mythology he came to share. Etymology The name ''Līber'' ('free') stems from Proto-Italic ''*leuþero'', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₁leudʰero'' ('belonging to the people', hence 'free'). Origins and establishment Before his official adoption as a Roman deity, Liber was companion to two different goddesses in two separate, archaic Italian fertility cults; Ceres, an agricultural and fertility goddess of Rome's Hellenised neighbours, and Libera, who was Liber's female equivalent. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paculla Annia
Paculla Annia was a Campanian priestess of Bacchus. She is known only through the Roman historian Livy's account of the introduction, growth and spread of unofficial Bacchanalia festivals, which were ferociously suppressed in 186 BC under threat of extreme penalty. Paculla Annia is said to have presided over the corruption of Bacchus's mystery cult and its holy '' orgia'', starting around 188. Livy describes the Bacchanalia as hitherto reserved to women, a daylight ritual held on just three days of the year; Paculla Annia changed them to nocturnal rites, increased their frequency to five a month, opened them to all social classes and both sexes - starting with her own sons, Minius and Herennius Cerrinius - and made wine-fueled violence and sexual promiscuity mandatory for all initiates. The cult was thought to function as a hidden state within the state, with particular appeal to those with ''leuitas animi'' (fickle or uneducated minds); the lower classes, plebeians, women, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystery Cult
Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates ''(mystai)''. The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which predated the Greek Dark Ages. The mystery schools flourished in Late Antiquity; Julian the Apostate in the mid 4th century is known to have been initiated into three distinct mystery schools—most notably the mithraists. Due to the secret nature of the school, and because the mystery religions of Late Antiquity were persecuted by the Christian Roman Empire from the 4th century, the details of these religious practices are derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies. Much information on the Mysteries come from Marcus Terent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aebutia (gens)
The gens Aebutia was an ancient Roman family that was prominent during the early Republic. The gens was originally patrician, but also had plebeian branches. The first member to obtain the consulship was Titus Aebutius Helva, consul in 499 BC. ''Praenomina'' During the first century of the Republic, the Aebutii used the praenomina ''Titus, Lucius, Postumus'', and ''Marcus''. In later times, they also used the name '' Publius''. Branches and ''cognomina'' The patrician Aebutii used the cognomen ''Helva'' (also found as ''Elva'' in some sources). ''Cornicen'' was a personal surname belonging to one of the Helvae. No patrician Aebutius held any curule magistracy from 442 to 176 BC, when Marcus Aebutius Helva obtained the praetorship. ''Carus'' was a cognomen of the plebeian Aebutii. Later surnames include ''Faustus'', ''Liberalis'', and ''Pinnius''. Members Aebutii Helvae * Titus Aebutius T. f. Helva, consul in 499 BC. * Lucius Aebutius T. f. T. n. Helva , consul in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aventine Triad
The Aventine Triad (also referred to as the plebeian Triad or the agricultural Triad) is a modern term for the joint cult of the Roman deities Ceres, Liber and Libera. The cult was established ca. 493 BC within a sacred district ''( templum)'' on or near the Aventine Hill, traditionally associated with the Roman ''plebs''. Later accounts describe the temple building and rites as "Greek" in style. Some modern historians describe the Aventine Triad as a plebeian parallel and self-conscious antithesis to the Archaic Triad of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus and the later Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Minerva and Juno. The Aventine Triad, temple and associated '' ludi'' (games and theatrical performances) served as a focus of plebeian identity, sometimes in opposition to Rome's original ruling elite, the patricians. Origins The Aventine relationship between Ceres, Liber and Libera was probably based first on their functions as agricultural and fertility deities of the ''plebs'' as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augur
An augur was a priest and official in the ancient Rome, classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the List of Roman deities, gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying in groups or alone, what noises they made as they flew, the direction of flight, what kind of birds they were, etc. This practice was known as "''taking the auspices''". The augural 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 in ancient Rome, religion. Augurs sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Rome's ''pax'', ''fortuna'', and ''salus'' (peace, good fortune, and well-being). Etymology Although ancient authors believed that the term "augur" contained the words ''avis'' and ''gerō'' – Latin for "directing the birds" – hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plebeian
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, ''plēthos'', meaning masses. In Latin, the word is a singular collective noun, and its genitive is . Plebeians were not a monolithic social class. Those who resided in the city and were part of the four urban tribes are sometimes called the , while those who lived in the country and were part of the 31 smaller rural tribes are sometimes differentiated by using the label . ( List of Roman tribes) In ancient Rome In the annalistic tradition of Livy and Dionysius, the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by Romulus' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became the patriciate. Modern hypotheses d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the River Aniene, to the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Ostia and Fiumicino. It drains a basin estimated at . The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, which was founded on its eastern banks. The river rises at Mount Fumaiolo in central Italy and flows in a generally southerly direction past Perugia and Rome to meet the sea at Ostia. Known in ancient times (in Latin) as '' flavus'' ("the blond"), in reference to the yellowish colour of its water, the Tiber has advanced significantly at its mouth, by about , since Roman times, leaving the ancient port of Ostia Antica inland."Tiber River". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006 However, it does not form a proportional delta, owing to a strong north-flowing sea cur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aventine Hill
The Aventine Hill (; la, Collis Aventinus; it, Aventino ) is one of the Seven Hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the modern twelfth '' rione'', or ward, of Rome. Location and boundaries The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. It has two distinct heights, one greater to the northwest (''Aventinus Major'') and one lesser to the southeast (''Aventinus Minor''), divided by a steep cleft that provides the base for an ancient roadway between the heights. During the Republican era, the two hills may have been recognized as a single entity. The Augustan reforms of Rome's urban neighbourhoods ('' vici'') recognised the ancient road between the two heights (the modern Viale Aventino) as a common boundary between the new Regio XIII, which absorbed Aventinus Maior, and the part of Regio XII known as Aventinus Minor. Etymology and mythology Most Roman sources trace the name of the hill to a legendary king Aventinus. Servius identifie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semele
Semele (; Ancient Greek: Σεμέλη ), in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from the Phrygians. These were modified, expanded, and elaborated by the Ionian Greek invaders and colonists. Doric Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire, who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived either 1,000 or 1,600 years prior to his visit to Tyre in 450 BC at the end of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC) or around 2050 or 1450 BC. In Rome, the goddess Stimula was identified as Semele. Etymology According to some linguists the name Semele is Thraco- Phrygian, derived from a PIE root meaning 'earth' (''* Dʰéǵʰōm''). Julius Pokorny reconstructs her name from the PIE root ''*'' meaning 'earth' and relates it with Thracian , 'mother earth'. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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