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Auguraculum
The auguraculum (plural: auguracula), was a roofless temple oriented to the cardinal points, in which the priests of ancient Rome practiced augury and ornithomancy. The priest observer was positioned at the center of the temple, in a tent or a hut, and watched portions of the sky from which came the birds, which were marked out by stones placed along the perimeter of the temple. From this observation, the priest was believed to be able to predict the future. The auguraculum was structurally a very simple device, a small thatched hut, which appears to have been regularly renewed. There were three permanent auguracula in Rome: on the citadel, on the Quirinal Hill, and on the Palatine Hill. Festus said that originally the auguraculum was just the arx. It faced east, situating the north on the augur's left or lucky side. Within the auguraculum, the elected monarch, during the Roman Kingdom, was seated by the augurs with his face to the south. A magistrate who was serving as a military co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augury
Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. When the individual, known as the augur, interpreted these signs, it is referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" (Latin ''auspicium'') literally means "looking at birds", and Latin ''auspex'', another word for "augur", literally means "one who looks at birds". Depending upon the birds, the auspices from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable ('' auspicious'' or ''inauspicious''). Sometimes politically motivated augurs would fabricate unfavorable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections. Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of auspicy to Tiresias the seer of Thebes, the generic model of a seer in the Greco-Roman literary culture. This type of omen reading was already a millennium old in the time of Classical Greece: in the fourteenth-century BC diplomatic correspondence preserved in Egypt called the "Amarna correspondence", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomancy
Ornithomancy (modern term from Greek ''ornis'' "bird" and ''manteia'' "divination"; in Ancient Greek: οἰωνίζομαι "take omens from the flight and cries of birds") is the practice of reading omens from the actions of birds followed in many ancient cultures including the Greeks, and is equivalent to the augury employed by the ancient Romans. Ornithomancy in some form has been found globally among a wide variety of pre-industrial peoples. Mediterranean developments Prophesying by birds appeared among the Hittites in Anatolia, with texts on bird oracles written in Hittite known from the 13th or 14th century, and from whom the Greek practice may derive. It was also familiar to the Etruscans, who may have brought it to Rome. Greek evidence Ornithomancy dates back to early Greek times, appearing on Archaic vases, as well as in Hesiod and Homer: one notable example from the latter occurs in the ''Odyssey'', when an eagle appears three times, flying to the right, with a dead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Warde Fowler
William Warde Fowler (16 May 1847 – 15 June 1921) was an England, English historian and ornithologist, and tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford, Lincoln College, Oxford. He was best known for his works on religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion. Among his most influential works wa''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic''(1899). Howard Hayes Scullard, H. H. Scullard, in the introduction to his 1981 book on a similar topic, singled out Fowler's book as a particularly valuable resource despite its age, writing, "I have not been so presumptuous as to attempt to provide an alternative." References External links * * * ''The City-State of the Greeks and Romans: a survey introductory to the study of Ancient History''(1895) ''Julius Caesar and the Foundation of the Roman Imperial System''(1903)''Rome''Home University Library (1912)''Roman Ideas of Deity in the last century before the Christian Era''Oxford lectures (1914) ''Roman Essays and Interpretations''(19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arx (Roman)
''Arx'' is a Latin word meaning "citadel". In the ancient city of Rome, the ''arx'' was located on the northern spur of the Capitoline Hill, and is sometimes specified as the ''Arx Capitolina''. History At Rome, sentries were traditionally posted on the ''Arx'' to watch for signals displayed on the Janiculum if an enemy approached. A red flag would be raised and a trumpet blown. The ''Arx'' was not regularly garrisoned, however, and should not be regarded as a "fort." However, in the Gallic siege of Rome (387 BC), the ''Arx'' was considered the point of last retreat, the capture of which was synonymous with the capture of the city. It thus held a symbolic power beyond its importance in military strategy, and was a central place in archaic Roman religion. During the regal period, some members of the elite were permitted to live on the ''Arx'', among them the legendary Sabine leader Titus Tatius. After 384 BC, the Senate banned all private dwellings from the Capitoline Hill, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quirinal Hill
The Quirinal Hill (; la, Collis Quirinalis; it, Quirinale ) 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 extension of 1.2 million square feet. 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 deity, 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 of Quirinus, temple for his Roman Triumph, triumph after the third Samnium, S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill (; la, Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus; it, Palatino ), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites. Imperial palaces were built there, starting with Augustus. Before imperial times the hill was mostly occupied by the houses of the rich. The hill originally had two summits separated by a depression; the highest part was called Palatium and the other Germalus (or Cermalus). Using the Forma Urbis its perimeter enclosed ; while the Regionary Catalogues of the 4th century enclose . Etymology According to Livy (59 BC – AD 17) the Palatine hill got its name from the Arcadian settlers from Pallantium, named from its founder Pallas, son of Lycaon. More likely, it is derived from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Festus (historian)
Festus (), whose name also appears in the manuscripts of his work as Rufus Festus, Ruffus Festus, Sextus Festus, Sextus Rufus, and Sextus, was a Late Roman historian and proconsul of Asia whose epitome ''Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani'' ("Summary of the history of Rome") was commissioned by the emperor Valens in preparation for his war against Persia. It was completed about AD 370. The ''Breviarium'' covers the entire history of the Roman state from the foundation of the City until AD 364. The book consists of 30 chapters treating events in Roman history in terse overview, mainly focused on military and political conflicts. It is estimated as a work of very low quality. Festus of Tridentum, magister memoriae (secretary) to Valens and notoriously severe proconsul of the province of Asia, where he was sent to punish those implicated in the conspiracy of Theodorus. The work itself (Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani) is divided into two parts, one geographical, the oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Kingdom
The Roman Kingdom (also referred to as the Roman monarchy, or the regal period of ancient Rome) was the earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled by kings. According to oral accounts, the Roman Kingdom began with the city's founding 753 BC, with settlements around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in central Italy, and ended with the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Republic 509 BC. Little is certain about the kingdom's history as no records and few inscriptions from the time of the kings survive. The accounts of this period written during the Republic and the Empire are thought largely to be based on oral tradition. Origin The site of the founding of the Roman Kingdom (and eventual Republic and Empire) had a ford where one could cross the river Tiber in central Italy. The Palatine Hill and hills surrounding it provided easily defensible positions in the wide fertile plain surrounding them. Each of these features c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Scheid
John Scheid (born 1946 in Luxembourg under the first name Jean) is a French historian. A specialist of ancient Rome, he has been a professor at the Collège de France since 2001. Biography After his secondary studies in Luxembourg, John Scheid came to France in 1966 in order to study history and classical letters first at the University of Strasbourg and then in Paris, where he was a pupil of Hans-Georg Pflaum. He obtained a 3rd cycle thesis scholarship that he led under the direction of Robert Schilling and which he supported in 1972 in Strasbourg. (''Les Frères arvales : recrutement et origine sociale sous les Julio-Claudiens'') Wishing to go to Rome as part of the École française de Rome, he had to pass the ''agrégation''. He obtained the necessary French naturalization in January 1973, in time to enroll in the competition of that year. He was received at the ''agrégation de grammaire''. He left for Rome in 1974 and in 1975 began excavations in the district of La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Roman Religion
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety ''(pietas)'' in maintaining Pax deorum, good relations with the gods. Their Polytheism, polytheistic religion is known for having honored List of Roman deities, many deities. The presence of Magna Graecia, Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became fundamental, such as the ''Cult (religious practice), cultus'' of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks (''interpretatio graeca''), adapting Greek mythology, Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art, as the Etruscans h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religion In The Roman Empire
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety ''(pietas)'' in maintaining good relations with the gods. Their polytheistic religion is known for having honored many deities. The presence of Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became fundamental, such as the ''cultus'' of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks (''interpretatio graeca''), adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art, as the Etruscans had. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury, used by the state to seek the will of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
