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Tarpeia (cropped)
In Roman legend, Tarpeia (; mid-8th century BCE), daughter of the Roman commander Spurius Tarpeius, was a Vestal Virgin who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines at the time of their women's abduction for what she thought would be a reward of jewelry. She was instead crushed to death by Sabine shields and her body cast from the southern cliff of Rome's Capitoline Hill, thereafter called after her the Tarpeian Rock (''Rupes Tarpeia''). Legend The legend tells that while Rome was besieged by the Sabine king Titus Tatius, Tarpeia, a Vestal Virgin and daughter of the commander of the citadel, Spurius Tarpeius, approached the Sabine camp and offered them entry to the city in exchange for "what they bore on their left arms". Greedy for gold, she had meant their bracelets, but instead the Sabines threw their shields—carried on the left arm—upon her, crushing her to death. Her body was then hurled from (or, according to some accounts, buried at) a steep cliff of the sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vestal Virgin
In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from several suitable candidates, freed from any legal ties and obligations to their birth family, and enrolled in Vesta's priestly college of six priestesses. They were supervised by a senior vestal but chosen and governed by Rome's leading male priest, the -- in the Imperial era, this meant the emperor. Vesta's acolytes vowed to serve her for at least thirty years, study and practise her rites in service of the Roman State, and maintain their chastity throughout. In addition to their obligations on behalf of Rome, Vestals had extraordinary rights and privileges, some of which were granted to no others, male or female. The Vestals took turns to supervise Vesta's sacred hearth so that at least one Vestal was stationed there at all times. Vestals who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on good terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and was a friend of Augustus. Livy encouraged Augustus’s young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, to take up the writing of history. Life Livy was born in Patavium in northern Italy, now modern Padua, probably in 59 BC. At the time of his birth, his home city of Patavium was the second wealthiest on the Italian peninsula, and the largest in the province of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy). Cisalpine Gaul was merged into Italy proper during his lifetime and its inhabitants were given Roman citizenship by Julius Caesar. In his works, Livy often expressed his deep affection and pride for Patavium, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terme River
The Terme River (; ; , rendered Thermodon) is a short river in Samsun Province, Turkey draining into the Black Sea. Its sources are in the Pontic Mountains. It runs through the fertile Çarşamba plain to Salıpazarı, where it splits into three tributaries. The city of Terme is on the river, about 5 km from its mouth. The ancient name of the river is the Thermodon, and the surrounding region was the Pontus. In antiquity, its mouth was about "three plethra" wide (ca. 300 feet), and it was navigable. The river, said by Strabo to have "its many sources near Phanaroea... nmany streams" (which is not true; perhaps he was thinking of the Iris), was "very often noticed by ancient writers", and its mouth was near the town of Themiscyra. Starting with Dionysius Periegetes, in his '' Periegesis of the World'', the Thermodon is often confused with the Iris River (modern Yeşilırmak), which is much larger, flows through Phanaroea, and carries much more sediment.Tønnes Bekker- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazons
The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. They were female warriors and hunters, known for their physical agility, strength, archery, riding skills, and the arts of combat. Their society was closed to men and they raised only their daughters, returning their sons to their fathers with whom they would only socialize briefly in order to reproduce. Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, regularly undertook extensive military expeditions into the far corners of the world, from Scythia to Thrace, Asia Minor, and the Aegean Islands, reaching as far as Arabia and Egypt. Besides military raids, the Amazons are also associated with the foundation of temples and the establishment of numerous ancient cities like Ephesos, Cyme (Aeolis), Cyme, Smyrna, Sino ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Petronius Turpilianus
Publius Petronius Turpilianus was a Roman senator who held a number of offices in the middle of the 1st century AD, most notably governor of Britain. He was an ordinary consul in the year 61 with Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus as his colleague.Paul A. Gallivan"Some Comments on the Fasti for the Reign of Nero" '' Classical Quarterly'', 24 (1974), pp. 292, 310 He was the (adopted?) son of Publius Petronius and Plautia, sister of Aulus Plautius who was the conqueror and first governor of Britain. Life He was consul in 61, but in the second half of that year he laid down that office and was appointed governor of Roman Britain, replacing Gaius Suetonius Paulinus who had been removed from office in the wake of the rebellion of Boudica. In contrast to Suetonius's punitive measures, Petronius took a conciliatory approach, and conducted few military operations. In 63 he was replaced by Marcus Trebellius Maximus, and was appointed '' curator aquarum'' (superintendent of aqueducts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basilica Aemilia
The Basilica Aemilia (), or the Basilica Paulli, was a civil basilica in the Roman Forum. Lucius Aemilius Paullus initiated its construction, but the building was completed by his son, Paullus Aemilius Lepidus, in 34 BCE. Under Augustus, it was reconstructed in 22 CE and was described by Pliny as one of the most beautiful examples of Roman architecture. Today, only fragments of the floorplan and colonnade remain, but a continuous sculptural frieze from the lower entablature was partially reconstructed and is now preserved inside the neighboring Curia Julia. History Pre-existing structures According to Livy, a series of butcher shops ('' tabernae lanienae'') lined the central area of the Forum from the early Roman Republic era. Varro writes that by 310 BCE, the butchers had been relocated outside the Forum and their former storefronts were turned over to bankers ('' tabernae argentariae''). A fire in 210 BCE destroyed these '' tabernae'' and Livy refers to the newly built sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parentalia
In ancient Rome, the Parentalia () or ''dies parentales'' (, "ancestral days") was a nine-day festival held in honour of family ancestors, beginning on 13 February. Although the Parentalia was a holiday on the Roman religious calendar, its observances were mainly domestic and familial. The importance of the family to the Roman state, however, was expressed by public ceremonies on the opening day, the Ides of February, when a Vestal conducted a rite for the collective ''di parentes'' of Rome at the tomb of Tarpeia. Overview Ovid describes sacred offerings (''sacrificia'') of flower-garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread and violets to the "shades of the dead" ('' Manes'' or ''Di manes'') at family tombs, which were located outside Rome's sacred boundary ''( pomerium)''. These observances were meant to strengthen the mutual obligations and protective ties between the living and the dead and were a lawful duty of the '' paterfamilias'' (head of the family). Parentalia concluded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucius Cincius Alimentus
Lucius Cincius Alimentus (200BC) was a celebrated Roman annalist, jurist, and provincial official. He is principally remembered as one of the founders of Roman historiography, although his ''Annals'' has been lost and is only known from fragments in other works. Life L. Cincius Alimentus was part of the Cincia clan of ancient Rome. He served as praetor in Sicily 210BC and as propraetor in 209 BC, again in Sicily, commanding two legions. As a Roman senator, his most important legislation was the Cincian Law ( Lex Cincia), which forbade the acceptance of payment for legal services. Alimentus was captured in one of the early battles of the Second Punic War. He spent years as a prisoner of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, whoaccording to Alimentus's later accountconfided in the Roman the details of his crossing of the Alps. He is last attested as an envoy in 208 BC. Scholar Bruce W. Frier mentions that none of the envoys are heard of again in the written records, and argues that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus Fabius Pictor
Quintus Fabius Pictor (born BC, BC) was the earliest known Roman historian. His history, written in Greek and now mostly lost besides some surviving fragments, was highly influential on ancient writers and certainly participated in introducing Greek historiographical methods to the Roman world. However, the work was highly partisan towards Rome, blaming the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) on Carthage and idealizing the Roman Republic as a well-ordered state loyal to its allies. Fabius probably served as praetor, was a member of the Senate, and participated in a delegation sent to the oracle at Delphi in 216 BC. Some scholars consider him one of the earliest annalists, although this conclusion has been criticized. Life Quintus Fabius Pictor was born ca. 270 BC to a prestigious patrician family of the Roman Republic, the gens Fabia. The cognomen ''Pictor'' (Latin for 'painter') was inherited from his grandfather, Gaius Fabius Pictor, who had decorated the temple of Salus in 30 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antigonus Of Carystus
Antigonus of Carystus (; ; ), a Greek writer on various subjects, flourished in the 3rd century BCE. After some time spent at Athens and travelling, he was summoned to the court of Attalus I (241 BCE–197 BCE) of Pergamum. His chief work is the ''Successions of Philosophers'' drawn from personal knowledge, with considerable fragments preserved in Athenaeus and Diogenes Laërtius. His work ' (', "Collection of Wonderful Tales"), a paradoxographical work chiefly extracted from the ' ('' On Marvellous Things Heard'') attributed to Aristotle and the ' ("Thaumasia") of Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ..., survived to modernity. It is doubtful whether he is identical to the sculptor who, according to Pliny (''Nat. Hist.'' xxxiv. 19), wrote books on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simylus
{{AncientGreece-bio-stub ...
Simylus, Simulus, or Simylos (Greek: ) may refer to: *Simylus, Athenian comic poet of 4th century BC *Simylus, Athenian tragic actor of 4th century BC *Simylus of Neapolis, Olympic winner in stadion 248 BCChronicon (Eusebius) *Simylus, poor farmer in the poem Moretum traditionally ascribed to Virgil References *Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi ( – 112 BC) was a Roman politician and historian. He created the first permanent jury court in Rome ('' quaestio perpetua'') to try cases related to provincial corruption during his plebeian tribunate in 146 BC. He also fought, not entirely successfully, in the First Servile War. He was consul in 133 BC and censor in 120 BC. Later in life, he wrote the ''Annales'', a history of Rome from its foundation through to at least 146 BC and probably his own time; only 49 fragments of the ''Annales'' survive, preserved in other works. Consisting of seven or eight books, it was the first history to split up Roman history into a year-by-year account. Family Piso belonged to the plebeian ''gens'' Calpurnia, which emerged during the First Punic War and was of Etruscan descent. The Pisones were the most important family of the gens and remained on the fore of Roman politics during the Empire; their first member was Gaius Calpurnius P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
