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Carmen Contra Paganos
The ''Carmen contra paganos'' ("Song against the pagans"), also called the ''Carmen adversus Flavianum'' ("Song against Flavian"), is an anonymous 4th- or 5th-century Latin poem in 122 hexameters condemning a brief restoration of paganism at Rome. The ''Carmen'' ( CPL 1431) survives in only one manuscript, Parisian Cod. Lat. 8084, a copy of the works of the Roman Christian poet Prudentius. It is found on folios 156r–158v. It is not a work of high calibre. Its Latin is difficult to parse and often ungrammatical. Its prosody is often unmetrical. Its anti-pagan theme and tone are similar to that of the '' Carmen ad Antonium''. It provides early evidence for the Christian reception of Virgil. The ''Carmen'' is written from a Christian perspective. It describes how an unnamed prefect (either a ''praefectus urbi'' or a ''praefectus praetorio'') restored pagan practices at Rome, which offended God, who duly brought about his death. Theodor Mommsen identified the prefect with Virius ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition. Latin is a highly inflected language, with three distinct genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), six or seven noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative), five declensions, four verb conjuga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus (334–394 AD) was a grammarian, a historian and a politician of the Roman Empire. A pagan and close friend of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, he was Praetorian prefect of Italy in 390–392. Under the usurper Eugenius (392–394), Flavianus was again praetorian prefect (393–394) and consul (394, recognized only within Eugenius' territory). After the death of Eugenius in the battle of the Frigidus, Flavianus committed suicide. Biography Nicomachus Flavianus was born in 334, and belonged to the ''Nicomachi'', an influential family of senatorial rank. His father was Volusius Venustus, and from his wife, a pagan herself, he had a son also called Nicomachus Flavianus and maybe another son called Venustus; he was also grandfather of Appius Nicomachus Dexter and of Galla. His career can be reconstructed from two inscriptions: one ( CIL, VI, 1782) put up by his granddaughter's husband Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus and probably inscribed in 394, the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Poetry
Christian poetry is any poetry that contains Christian teachings, themes, or references. The influence of Christianity on poetry has been great in any area that Christianity has taken hold. Christian poems often directly reference the Bible, while others provide allegory. History of Christian poetry Early history Poetic forms have been used by Christians since the recorded history of the faith begins. The earliest Christian poetry, in fact, appears in the New Testament. Canticles such as the ''Magnificat'' and ''Nunc Dimittis'', which appear in the Gospel of Luke, take the Biblical poetry of the psalms of the Hebrew Bible as their models. Many Biblical scholars also believe that St Paul of Tarsus quotes bits of early Christian hymns in his epistles. Passages such as Philippians 2:5-11 (following) are thought by many Biblical scholars to represent early Christian hymns that were being quoted by the Apostle: :''Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:Who, being i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4th-century Poems
The 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was the time period which lasted from 301 ( CCCI) through 400 ( CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Great, who became the first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. Gaining sole reign of the empire, he is also noted for re-establishing a single imperial capital, choosing the site of ancient Byzantium in 330 (over the current capitals, which had effectively been changed by Diocletian's reforms to Milan in the West, and Nicomedeia in the East) to build the city soon called Nova Roma (New Rome); it was later renamed Constantinople in his honor. The last emperor to control both the eastern and western halves of the empire was Theodosius I. As the century progressed after his death, it became increasingly apparent that the empire had changed in many ways since the time of Augustus. The two emperor system originally established by Diocletian in the previous century fell in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4th-century Christian Texts
The 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was the time period which lasted from 301 (Roman numerals, CCCI) through 400 (Roman numerals, CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Great, who became the Constantine the Great and Christianity, first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. Gaining sole reign of the empire, he is also noted for re-establishing a single imperial capital, choosing the site of ancient Byzantium in 330 (over the current capitals, which had effectively been changed by Diocletian's reforms to Milan in the West, and Nicomedia, Nicomedeia in the East) to build the city soon called Nova Roma (New Rome); it was later renamed Constantinople in his honor. The last emperor to control both the eastern and western halves of the empire was Theodosius I. As the century progressed after his death, it became increasingly apparent that the empire had changed in many ways since the time of Augustus. The two empero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius (, ; c. 345 – 402) was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus sought to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when the aristocracy was converting to Christianity, and led an unsuccessful delegation of protest against Emperor Gratian's order to remove the Altar of Victory from the curia, the principal meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum. Two years later he made a famous appeal to Gratian's successor, Valentinian II, in a dispatch that was rebutted by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Symmachus's career was temporarily derailed when he supported the short-lived usurper Magnus Maximus, but he was rehabilitated and three years later appointed consul. After the death of Theodosius I, he became an ally of Stilicho, the guardian of emperor Honorius. In collaboration with Sti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vettius Agorius Praetextatus
Vettius Agorius Praetextatus (ca. 315 – 384) was a wealthy pagan aristocrat in the 4th-century Roman Empire, and a high priest in the cults of numerous gods. He served as the praetorian prefect at the court of Emperor Valentinian II in 384 until his death that same year. Sources His life is primarily known through the works of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and Ammianus Marcellinus, supplemented by some epigraphical records. Symmachus (345 c. – 402 c.) was a leading member of the senatorial aristocracy of his time and the best orator of his age. Symmachus' letters, speeches and relations have been preserved and testify a sincere friendship between Symmachus and Praetextatus: according to Symmachus, Praetextatus was a good magistrate and a virtuous man.Kahlos (2002), Introduction. Ammianus Marcellinus, writing in the early 390s, tells about Praetextatus in three passages of his ''Res Gestae'': in all of them Ammianus shows appreciation of Praetextatus' actions, while the same autho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I (; c. 305 – 11 December 384) was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies (including Apollinarianism and Macedonianism) and thus solidifying the faith of the Catholic Church, and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome. He helped reconcile the relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Antioch, and encouraged the veneration of martyrs. As well as various prose letters and other pieces Damasus was the author of Latin verse. Alan Cameron describes his epitaph for a young girl called Projecta (of great interest to scholars as the Projecta Casket in the British Museum may have been made for her) as "a tissue of tags and clichés shakily strung together and barely squeezed into the meter". Damasus has been described as "the first society Pope", and was possibly a member o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sack Of Rome (410)
The Sack of Rome on 24 August 410 AD was undertaken by the Visigoths led by their king, Alaric I, Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position first by Mediolanum (now Milan) in 286 and then by Ravenna in 402. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a paramount position as "the eternal city" and a spiritual center of the Empire. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, and the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike. The sacking of 410 is seen as a major landmark in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Jerome, St. Jerome, living in Bethlehem, wrote: "the city which had taken the whole world was itself taken".St Jerome, ''Letter CXXVII. To Principia'', s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VI/The Letters of St. Jerome/Letter 127 paragraph 12. Background The Germanic tribes had undergone massive technological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaric I
Alaric I (; got, 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, , "ruler of all"; c. 370 – 410 AD) was the first king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades earlier by a combined force of Goths and Alans after the Battle of Adrianople. Alaric began his career under the Gothic soldier Gainas and later joined the Roman army. Once an ally of Rome under the Roman emperor Theodosius, Alaric helped defeat the Franks and other allies of a would-be Roman usurper. Despite losing many thousands of his men, he received little recognition from Rome and left the Roman army disappointed. After the death of Theodosius and the disintegration of the Roman armies in 395, he is described as king of the Visigoths. As the leader of the only effective field force remaining in the Balkans, he sought Roman legitimacy, never quite achieving a position acceptable to himself or to the Roman authorities. He operated m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus
Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus (died in Rome, February 409 AD) was a politician of the Western Roman Empire, ''praefectus urbi'' of Rome during the first siege of Alaric I. Pompeianus owned an estate that bounded with Quintus Aurelius Symmachus' in Baiae: the two of them disputed the exact definition of the boundaries until 398, when Pompeianus sold his property. A letter received by Pompeianus from Symmachus in 400 has been preserved. Between 400 and 401 he was proconsul of Africa Province. Between the end of 408 and the beginning of 409 he was ''praefectus urbi'' of Rome. During this time, Alaric I besieged Rome for the first time. Pompeianus proposed to ask the pagan gods to protect the city. For this reason it is often assumed that he was a pagan, but Zosimus calls him a Christian. It was probably he who proposed to confiscate the properties of Valerius Pinianus and his wife Melania the Younger; but before the Roman Senate could discuss this proposal, Pompeianus was killed in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Frigidus
The Battle of the Frigidus, also called the Battle of the Frigid River, was fought between 5 and 6 September 394 between the army of the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great and the army of the rebel ''augustus'' Eugenius (), in the eastern border of Regio X in Roman Italia. Theodosius won the battle and defeated the usurpation of Eugenius and Arbogast, restoring unity to the Roman Empire. The battlefield, in the ''Claustra Alpium Iuliarum'' near the Julian Alps through which Theodosius's army had passed, was probably in the Vipava Valley – with the Frigidus River being the modern Vipava – or possibly in the valley of the Isonzo. Timasius, the ''magister militum'', commanded the Theodosian army with help from the ''magister utriusque militiae'' Stilicho. Arbogast, previously the ''magister militum'' under Theodosius's brother-in-law and senior co-emperor Valentinian II (), commanded Eugenius's forces. It was Arbogast who had engineered Eugenius's acclamation after Valenti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
