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Marcus Aurelius Cleander
Marcus Aurelius Cleander ( gr, Μᾶρκος Αὐρήλιος Κλέανδρος; died 19 April 190), commonly known as Cleander, was a Roman freedman who gained extraordinary power as chamberlain and favourite of the emperor Commodus, rising to command the Praetorian Guard and bringing the principal offices of the Roman state into disrepute by selling them to the highest bidder. His career is narrated by Dio Cassius, Herodian and the ''Historia Augusta''. Career Cleander's date of birth is unknown but according to Herodian he was a Phrygian and "one of the slaves offered for sale by the public auctioneer for the benefit of the state"; according to Dio Cassius he was sold in Rome as one of a consignment of slaves to be a pack-carrier.Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'LXXIII.12/ref> By 182 however he had risen high enough to be an official of the Imperial household, and had married the Emperor's mistress Damostratia. Cleander was instrumental in the death of Commodus's favourite, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires of the time. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Phrygian kings: * Gordias, whose Gordian Knot would later be cut by Alexander the Great * Midas, who turned whatever he touched to gold * Mygdon, who warred with the Amazons According to Homer's ''Iliad'', the Phrygians participated in the Trojan War as close allies of the Trojans, fighting against the Achaeans. Phrygian power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under another, historical, king Midas, who dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyria and Urartu for power in eastern Anatolia. This later Midas was, however, also the last independent king of Phrygia before Cimmerians sacked the Phrygian capital, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saoterus
Saoterus ( gr, Σαώτερος ὁ Νικομηδεύς; died 182) was a Bithynian Greek freedman from Nicomedia who served as the Roman Emperor Commodus's palace chamberlain ('' a cubiculo''). His career is sketched by Herodian, Dio Cassius and the ''Historia Augusta''. Commodus preferred to exercise his rule through palace officials and Saoterus was the first of these; Saoterus was seen as in the Emperor's favour at the outset of his reign, as he accompanied Commodus in his chariot when he made his ceremonial entry into Rome on 22 October 180. Commodus placed him in a high position in his government, resulting in resentment from noble senatorial families. The ''Historia Augusta'', apparently drawing on the testimony of Marius Maximus, insinuates that Commodus had a homosexual infatuation with Saoterus.''Historia Augusta'', 'Commodus Antoninus', III.6 After the attempt on Commodus's life in 182, Saoterus was implicated in the plot by the praetorian prefect Tigidius Perennis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praefectus Urbi
The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and held high importance in late Antiquity. The office survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the last urban prefect of Rome, named Iohannes, is attested in 599. Lançon (2000), p. 45 In the East, in Constantinople, the office survived until the 13th century. Regal period According to Roman tradition, in 753 BC when Romulus founded the city of Rome and instituted the monarchy, he also created the office of ''custos urbis'' (guardian of the city) to serve as the king's chief lieutenant. Appointed by the king to serve for life, the ''custos urbis'' served concurrently as the ''princeps Senatus''. As the second highest office sof state, the ''custos urbis'' was the king's personal representative. In the absence of the king from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pertinax
Publius Helvius Pertinax (; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. Born the son of a freed slave, Pertinax became an officer in the army. He fought in the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166, where his success led him to be promoted to higher positions in both the military and political spheres. He achieved the rank of provincial governor and urban prefect. He was a member of the Roman Senate, serving at the same time as the historian Cassius Dio. Following the death of Commodus, Pertinax was proclaimed emperor. He attempted to institute several reform measures, although the short duration of his reign as emperor prevented the success of those attempts. One of those reforms, the restoration of discipline among the Praetorian Guard, led to conflict that eventually culminated in Pertinax's assassination by the Guard. Pertinax would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circus Maximus
The Circus Maximus ( Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire. It measured in length and in width and could accommodate over 150,000 spectators. In its fully developed form, it became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. The site is now a public park. Events and uses The Circus was Rome's largest venue for '' ludi'', public games connected to Roman religious festivals. ''Ludi'' were sponsored by leading Romans or the Roman state for the benefit of the Roman people (''populus Romanus'') and gods. Most were held annually or at annual intervals on the Roman calendar. Others might be given to fulfil a religious vow, such as the games in celebration of a triumph. In Roman tradition, the earliest triumphal ''ludi'' at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludi Ceriales
''Ludi'' (Latin plural) were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people (''populus Romanus''). ''Ludi'' were held in conjunction with, or sometimes as the major feature of, Roman religious festivals, and were also presented as part of the cult of state. The earliest ''ludi'' were horse races in the circus (''ludi circenses''). Animal exhibitions with mock hunts (''venationes'') and theatrical performances (''ludi scaenici'') also became part of the festivals. Days on which ''ludi'' were held were public holidays, and no business could be conducted—"remarkably," it has been noted, "considering that in the Imperial era more than 135 days might be spent at these entertainments" during the year. Although their entertainment value may have overshadowed religious sentiment at any given moment, even in late antiquity the ''ludi'' were understood as part of the worship of the traditional gods, and the Church Fathers thus advised Christians not to pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papirius Dionysius
Marcus Aurelius Papirius Dionysius (died c. 190) was a Roman '' eques'' and jurist who held a number of military and civilian positions during the reign of the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, including ''praefectus annonae'', or overseer of the grain rations for Rome. The career of Papirius Dionysius is partially documented in an incomplete inscription recovered from Antium. It attests several positions he held: ''prefectus vehiculorum'', or director of the public post; of ''sacerdos confarreationum et diffarreationum'', which was responsible for conducting the ancient form of Roman marriage; and as a member the advisory board (''consilium principis'') to the emperor as legal adviser (''centenario consiliario Augusti''). Due to the incomplete nature of the text, we cannot be certain of the order or date of these positions, except that they were earlier in his career than the major one he held -- ''praefectus annonae''. It was in this office that he intrigued to bring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praefectus Annonae
The ("prefect of the provisions"), also called the ("prefect of the grain supply") was a Roman official charged with the supervision of the grain supply to the city of Rome. Under the Republic, the job was usually done by an aedile. However, in emergencies, or in times of extraordinary scarcity, someone would be elected to the office, and would take charge of supplying the entire city with provisions. Lucius Minucius Augurinus, the accuser of Spurius Maelius, was the first individual appointed to this office, serving from 439 BC. During the early 60s BC, following the sacking of the port of Ostia by pirates, Pompey held the powers of the office. Around 7 BC, the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, followed this example, and after vesting himself with these powers, specified that two former praetors should be appointed each year to carry out the functions of this office. Augustus transferred powers from the aediles to this office, and specified that all holders of the office be me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. After deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, Severus fought his rival claimants, the Roman generals Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia. Later that year Severus waged a short punitive campaign beyond the eastern frontier, annexing the Kingdom of Osroene as a new province. Severus defeated Albinus three years later at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul. Following the consolidation of his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged another brief, more successful war in the east again ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Atilius Aebutianus
Publius Atilius Aebutianus (died 188) was a prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, during the reign of emperor Commodus, from 185 until his death in 188. Aebutianus acceded to the office upon the execution of his predecessor Sextus Tigidius Perennis. Perennis was removed by the influential freedman and chamberlain of Commodus, Marcus Aurelius Cleander. According to the '' Historia Augusta'', "Commodus Antoninus", Aebutianus was an ally of Lucius Antistius Burrus.''Historia Augusta''6.12/ref> So when Pertinax, so it is said, insinuated to the emperor that Burrus and the proconsul of Asia Gaius Arrius Antoninus Gaius Arrius Antoninus was a Roman senator and jurist active in the last half of the second century AD, who held a number of offices in the emperor's service. The date when he was suffect consul is not attested, but has been estimated to be aroun ... were plotting to depose him and replace him with Burrus, Aebutianus was accused as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suffect Consul
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired) after that of the censor. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated in holding '' fasces'' – taking turns leading – each month when both were in Rome and a consul's ''imperium'' extended over Rome and all its provinces. There were two consuls in order to create a check on the power of any individual citizen in accordance with the republican belief that the powers of the former kings of Rome should be spread out into multiple offices. To that end, each consul could veto the actions of the other consul. After the establishment of the Empire (27 BC), the consuls became mere symbolic representatives of Rome's republican heritage and held very little ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC). It survived the overthrow of the Roman monarchy in 509 BC; the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; the division of the Roman Empire in AD 395; and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476; Justinian's attempted reconquest of the west in the 6th century, and lasted well into the Eastern Roman Empire's history. During the days of the Roman Kingdom, most of the time the Senate was little more than an advisory council to the king, but it also elected new Roman kings. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Roman Republic. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the various executive magistr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
