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Temple Of Venus Genetrix
The Temple of Venus Genetrix () is a ruined temple in the Forum of Caesar, Rome, dedicated to the Roman goddess '' Venus Genetrix'', the founding goddess of the Julian gens. It was dedicated to the goddess on 26 September 46 BCE by Julius Caesar. History The forum and temple were perhaps planned as early as 54 BCE, and construction began shortly thereafter. On the eve of the Battle of Pharsalus, Caesar vowed the temple to '' Venus Victrix''. He eventually decided to dedicate the temple to Venus Genetrix, the mother of Aeneas, and thus the mythical ancestress of the Julian family. The Temple was dedicated on 26 September 46 BCE, the last day of Caesar's triumph. The forum and temple were eventually completed by Octavian. The area was damaged by the fire in 80 CE. Later the temple was rebuilt by Domitian and was restored and rededicated by Trajan on 12 May 113 CE. It was then burned again in 283 CE, and again restored, this time by Diocletian. The three columns now visible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forum Of Caesar
The Forum of Caesar, also known by the Latin Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris,Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth. ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. 3d Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. was a forum built by Julius Caesar near the Forum Romanum in Rome in 46 BC. Construction Caesar decided to construct a forum bearing his name in the northeast section of the Forum Romanum, and purchased some very expensive parcels of land in that area (the final cost was said to be 100,000,000 sesterces). Forum construction began probably in 51 BC, although Cicero and Gaius Oppius were entrusted with purchasing the parcels of land on Caesar's behalf as early as 54 BC. On the eve of the Battle of Pharsalus in 48, Caesar vowed a temple to Venus Victrix, the legendary progenitor of his own clan, the '' gens Iulia''. This original dedication was done because she was Pompey's favourite goddess, and Caesar hoped to gain the goddess's favour before the battle against Pompey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quirinal Hill
The Quirinal Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has come to stand for the Italian president. The Quirinal Palace has an area of . History According to Roman legend, the Quirinal Hill was the site of a small village of the Sabines, and king Titus Tatius would have lived there after the peace between Romans and Sabines. These Sabines had erected altars in the honour of their god Quirinus (naming the hill by this god). Tombs from the 8th century BC to the 7th century BC that confirm a likely presence of a Sabine settlement area have been discovered; on the hill, there was the tomb of Quirinus, which Lucius Papirius Cursor transformed into a temple for his triumph after the third Samnite war. Some authors consider it possible that the cult of the Capitoline Triad ( Jove, Minerva, Juno) co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Britannia
The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great Britain, and the Roman province of Britain during the Roman Empire. The Roman Britannia was typically depicted reclining or seated, with not a trident but a spear and shield, appearing on Roman coins of the 2nd century AD. The classical allegory was revived in the early modern period. On coins of the pound sterling issued by Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Britannia appears with her shield bearing the Union Flag. To symbolise the Royal Navy's victories, Britannia's spear became the trident in 1797, and a helmet was added to the coinage in 1825. By the 1st century BC, Britannia had replaced Albion as the prevalent Latin name for the island of Great Britain. After the Roman conquest of Britain, Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuirass
A cuirass ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The term probably originates from the original material, leather, from the Old French word and the Latin word . The use of the term ''cuirass'' generally refers to both the breastplate and the backplate pieces; whereas a breastplate protects only the front, a cuirass protects both the front and the back of the wearer. Description In Hellenistic Greece, Hellenistic and ancient Rome, Roman times, the musculature of the male torso was idealized in the form of the muscle cuirass or "heroic cuirass" (in French the ''cuirasse esthétique'') sometimes further embellished with symbolic representation in relief, familiar in the Augustus of Prima Porta and other heroic representations in official Roman sculpture. As parts of the actual military equipment of classical antiquity, cuirasses and corsets of bronze, iron, or some other rigid substance were used. Seconda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engraved Gems
An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major luxury art form in the ancient world, and an important one in some later periods. Strictly speaking, ''engraving'' means carving ''in intaglio'' (with the design cut ''into'' the flat background of the stone), but relief carvings (with the design projecting ''out of'' the background as in nearly all cameos) are also covered by the term. This article uses ''cameo'' in its strict sense, to denote a carving exploiting layers of differently coloured stone. The activity is also called ''gem carving'' and the artists ''gem-cutters''. References to antique gems and intaglios in a jewellery context will almost always mean carved gems; when referring to monumental sculpture, the term counter-relief, meaning the same as ''intaglio'', is more likely t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high-priestess of the goddess Hecate. She is a mythical granddaughter of the sun god Helios and a niece of Circe, an enchantress goddess. Her mother may have been Idyia. She first appears in Hesiod's ''Theogony'' around 700 BC, but is best known from Euripides's 5th-century BC tragedy ''Medea (play), Medea'' and Apollonius of Rhodes's 3rd-century BC epic ''Argonautica''. In the myth of the Argonauts, she aids Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece. Medea later marries him, but eventually kills their children and his other bride according to some versions of her story. In the ''Argonautica'', Medea plays the archetypal role of helper-maiden, aiding Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece, using her magic to save his life and kills her bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ajax The Great
Ajax () or Aias (; , ''Aíantos''; Archaic Greek alphabets, archaic ) is a Greek mythology, Greek mythological Greek hero cult, hero, the son of King Telamon and Periboea, and the half-brother of Teucer. He plays an important role in the Trojan War, and is portrayed as a towering figure and a warrior of great courage in Homer's ''Iliad'' and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War, being second only to Achilles among Greek heroes of the war. He is also referred to as "Telamonian Ajax" (, in Etruscan language, Etruscan recorded as ''Aivas Tlamunus''), "Greater Ajax", or "Ajax the Great", which distinguishes him from Ajax, son of Oileus, also known as Ajax the Lesser. Family Ajax is the son of Telamon. Telamon was the son of Aeacus and grandson of Zeus, and his first wife Periboea. By Telamon, he is also the elder Sibling, half-brother of Teucer. Through his uncle Peleus (Telamon's brother), he is the cousin of Achilles. The etymology of his given name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timomachus
Timomachus of Byzantium (or Timomachos, ) was an influential painter of the first century BCE. Works Pliny the Elder, in his ''Naturalis Historia'' (35.136), records that Julius Caesar had acquired two paintings by Timomachus, one of ''Ajax'' during his madness, and a ''Medea'' meditating the slaying of her children, which cost him the considerable sum of 80 talents. Scholars have connected these works with the carrying away of a ''Medea'' and ''Ajax'' from Cyzicus, an ancient port of Anatolia, mentioned in Cicero's ''In Verrem'' (2.4.135), and propose that Caesar acquired them there, shortly after his victory at Pharsalus. The paintings, "a pair linked to each other by their rage", were installed in front of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, and remained there until their destruction by fire in 80 CE. The '' Anthology of Planudes'' preserves a number of epigrams on the ''Medea'', which note its incomplete state, and praise its emotional intensity and verisimilitude. Scholars bel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and communities. Prior to the Roman period, most of these regions were officially unified only once under the Kingdom of Macedon from 338 to 323 BC. In Western history, the era of classical antiquity was immediately followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine period. Three centuries after the decline of Mycenaean Greece during the Bronze Age collapse, Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the Archaic period and the colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. This was followed by the age of Classical Greece, from the Greco-Persian Wars to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, and which included the Golden Age of Athens and the Peloponnesian War. The u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arcesilaus (sculptor)
Arcesilaus () was a sculptor in the first century B.C, who, according to Pliny, was held in high esteem at Rome, was especially celebrated by Marcus Terentius Varro, and was intimate with Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus. Among his works were a statue of Venus Genetrix in the forum of Caesar, and a marble lioness surrounded by winged Cupids, who were sporting with her. Of the latter work the mosaics in the Mus. Borb. 7.61, and the Mus. Capit. 4.19, are supposed to be copies. There were some statues by him of centaurs carrying nymphs, in the collection of Gaius Asinius Pollio. Arcesilaus received a talent from Octavius, a Roman knight, for the model of a bowl (''crater''), and was engaged by Lucullus to make a statue of Felicitas for 60 sestertii; but the deaths both of the artist and of his patron prevented the completion of the work.Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus Genetrix (sculpture)
The Venus Genetrix (also spelled ) is a sculptural type which shows the Roman goddess Venus in her aspect of ''Genetrix'' ("foundress of the family"), as she was honoured by the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Rome, which claimed her as their ancestor. Contemporary references identify the sculptor as a Greek named Arcesilaus. The statue was set up in Julius Caesar's new forum, probably as the cult statue in the cella of his temple of Venus Genetrix. Through this historical chance, a Roman designation is applied to an iconological type of Aphrodite that originated among the Greeks. History On the night before the decisive battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), Julius Caesar vowed to dedicate a temple at Rome to Venus, supposed ancestor of his ''gens''. In fulfilment of his vow he erected a temple of Venus Genetrix in the new forum he constructed. In establishing this new cult of Venus, Caesar was affirming the claim of his own ''gens'' to descent from the goddess, through Iulus, the son of Aen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
