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Ancilia
In ancient Rome, the ''ancilia'' (Latin, singular ''ancile'') were twelve sacred shields kept in the Temple of Mars. According to legend, one divine shield fell from heaven during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. He ordered eleven copies made to confuse would-be thieves, since the original shield was regarded as one of the '' pignora imperii (pledges of rule)'', sacred guarantors that perpetuated Rome as a sovereign entity. The shields are identified by their distinct 'figure of eight' shape which is said to be derived from Mycenaean art. As described by Plutarch, the shape of the ancile is a standard shield, neither round or oval, which has curved indentations on both sides. The ancilia were kept by the Salii, a body of twelve priests instituted for that purpose by Numa. The Salii wielded them ritually in a procession throughout March. According to Varro, the ancilia may have also made an appearance in the Armilustrium (‘Purification of the Arms’) in Oct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salii
In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, the Salii ( , ) were the "leaping priests" (from the verb ''saliō'' "leap, jump") of Mars (mythology), Mars supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve Patrician (ancient Rome), 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 (headdress), apex. They were charged with the twelve bronze shields called ancile, ''ancilia'', which, like the Mycenaean Greece, 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 (deity), 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancilia II
In ancient Rome, the ''ancilia'' (Latin, singular ''ancile'') were twelve sacred shields kept in the Temple of Mars. According to legend, one divine shield fell from heaven during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. He ordered eleven copies made to confuse would-be thieves, since the original shield was regarded as one of the '' pignora imperii (pledges of rule)'', sacred guarantors that perpetuated Rome as a sovereign entity. The shields are identified by their distinct 'figure of eight' shape which is said to be derived from Mycenaean art. As described by Plutarch, the shape of the ancile is a standard shield, neither round or oval, which has curved indentations on both sides. The ancilia were kept by the Salii, a body of twelve priests instituted for that purpose by Numa. The Salii wielded them ritually in a procession throughout March. According to Varro, the ancilia may have also made an appearance in the Armilustrium (‘Purification of the Arms’) in Oct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancilia
In ancient Rome, the ''ancilia'' (Latin, singular ''ancile'') were twelve sacred shields kept in the Temple of Mars. According to legend, one divine shield fell from heaven during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. He ordered eleven copies made to confuse would-be thieves, since the original shield was regarded as one of the '' pignora imperii (pledges of rule)'', sacred guarantors that perpetuated Rome as a sovereign entity. The shields are identified by their distinct 'figure of eight' shape which is said to be derived from Mycenaean art. As described by Plutarch, the shape of the ancile is a standard shield, neither round or oval, which has curved indentations on both sides. The ancilia were kept by the Salii, a body of twelve priests instituted for that purpose by Numa. The Salii wielded them ritually in a procession throughout March. According to Varro, the ancilia may have also made an appearance in the Armilustrium (‘Purification of the Arms’) in Oct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamurius Veturius
In ancient Roman religion, the Mamuralia or ''Sacrum Mamurio'' ("Rite for Mamurius") was a festival held on March 14 or 15, named only in sources from late antiquity. According to Joannes Lydus, an old man wearing animal skins was beaten ritually with sticks. The name is connected to Mamurius Veturius, who according to tradition was the craftsman who made the ritual shields (''ancilia'') that hung in the temple of Mars. Because the Roman calendar originally began in March, the ''Sacrum Mamurio'' is usually regarded as a ritual marking the transition from the old year to the new. It shares some characteristics with scapegoat or ''pharmakos'' ritual. The craft of Mamurius According to legend, Mamurius was commissioned by Numa, second king of Rome, to make eleven shields identical to the sacred ''ancile'' that fell from the heavens as a pledge of Rome's destiny to rule the world. The ''ancile'' was one of the sacred guarantors of the Roman state ''( pignora imperii)'', and the repli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars (god)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Mars ( la, Mārs, ) was the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him ( Latin ''Martius''), and in October, which began the season for military campaigning and ended the season for farming. Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares,''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. The character and dignity of Mars differed in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, who is often treated with contempt and revulsion in Greek literature. Mars's altar in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that took its name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by Numa, the peace-lovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fasti (poem)
The ''Fasti'' ( la, Fāstī , "the Calendar"), sometimes translated as ''The Book of Days'' or ''On the Roman Calendar'', is a six-book Latin poem written by the Roman poet Ovid and published in AD 8. Ovid is believed to have left the ''Fasti'' incomplete when he was exiled to Tomis by the emperor Augustus in 8 AD. Written in elegiac couplets and drawing on conventions of Greek and Latin didactic poetry, the ''Fasti'' is structured as a series of eye-witness reports and interviews by the first-person ''vates'' ("poet-prophet" or "bard") with Roman deities, who explain the origins of Roman holidays and associated customs—often with multiple aetiologies. The poem is a significant, and in some cases unique, source of fact in studies of religion in ancient Rome; and the influential anthropologist and ritualist J.G. Frazer translated and annotated the work for the Loeb Classical Library series. Each book covers one month, January through June, of the Roman calendar, and was writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus. Biography Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) to a family thought to be of equestrian rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain, reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, until his old age. He supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, ''quaestor'' and ''curule aedile''. It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate was formed, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulate. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the ''Three-Headed Monster'' ( in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buckler
A buckler (French ''bouclier'' 'shield', from Old French ''bocle, boucle'' 'boss') is a small shield, up to 45 cm (up to 18 in) in diameter, gripped in the fist with a central handle behind the boss. While being used in Europe since antiquity, it became more common as a companion weapon in hand-to-hand combat during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Its size made it poor protection against missile weapons (e.g., arrows) but useful in deflecting the blow of an opponent's weapons, binding his arms, hindering his movements, or punching him. MS I.33, considered the earliest extant armed-combat manual, (around 1300) contains an early description of a system of combat with buckler and sword. Typology According to the typology of Schmidt, there are three main types of buckler regarding their shape: *Type I: round *Type II: rectangular or trapezoid *Type III: oval or teardrop-shaped These types are combined with the cross sections: *Type a: flat *Type b: concave *Ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thracians
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area between northern Greece, southern Russia, and north-western Turkey. They shared the same language and culture... There may have been as many as a million Thracians, diveded among up to 40 tribes." Thracians resided mainly in the Balkans (mostly Present (time), modern day Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece) but were also located in Anatolia, Anatolia (Asia Minor) and other locations in Eastern Europe. The exact origin of Thracians is unknown, but it is believed that proto-Thracians descended from a purported mixture of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Early European Farmers, arriving from the rest of Asia and Africa through the Asia Minor (Anatolia). The proto-Thracian culture developed int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelta
A ''peltast'' ( grc-gre, πελταστής ) was a type of light infantryman, originating in Thrace and Paeonia, and named after the kind of shield he carried. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops. The peltast often served as a skirmisher in Hellenic and Hellenistic armies. In the Medieval period, the same term was used for a type of Byzantine infantryman. Description ''Pelte'' shield ''Peltasts'' carried a crescent-shaped wicker shield called a "''pelte''" (Ancient Greek grc, πέλτη, peltē, label=none; Latin: ) as their main protection, hence their name. According to Aristotle, the ''pelte'' was rimless and covered in goat- or sheepskin. Some literary sources imply that the shield could be round, but in art it is usually shown as crescent-shaped. It also appears in Scythian art and may have been a common type in Central Europe. The shield could be carried with a central strap a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egeria (mythology)
Egeria (, grc, Ἠγερία) was a nymph attributed a legendary role in the early history of Rome as a divine consort and counselor of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to ancient Roman religion. Her name is used as an eponym for a female advisor or counselor. Origin and etymology Egeria may predate Roman myth: she could have been of Italic origin in the sacred forest of Aricia in Latium, her immemorial site, which was equally the grove of Diana Nemorensis ("Diana of Nemi"). At Aricia there was also a Manius Egerius, a male counterpart of Egeria. The name ''Egeria'' has been diversely interpreted. Georges Dumézil proposed it came from ''ē-gerere'' ("bear out"), suggesting an origin from her childbirth role. It may mean "of the black poplar" (Greek αἴγειρος, ''aigeiros''). Her role as prophetess and author of "sacred books" would compare her to the Etruscan figure of Vegoia (alleged author among other thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palladium (mythology)
In Greek and Roman mythology, the Palladium or Palladion (Greek Παλλάδιον (Palladion), Latin ''Palladium'') was a cult image of great antiquity on which the safety of Troy and later Rome was said to depend, the wooden statue (''xoanon'') of Pallas Athena that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to the future site of Rome by Aeneas. The Roman story is related in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' and other works. Rome possessed an object regarded as the actual Palladium for several centuries; it was in the care of the Vestal Virgins for nearly all this time. Since around 1600, the word palladium has been used figuratively to mean anything believed to provide protection or safety, and in particular in Christian contexts a sacred relic or icon believed to have a protective role in military contexts for a whole city, people or nation. Such beliefs first become prominent in the Eastern church in the period after the reign of the Byzantine Emperor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
