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Curiatia Gens
The ''gens Curiatia'' was a distinguished family at Rome, with both patrician and plebeian branches. Members of this gens are mentioned in connection with the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome, during the seventh century BC. The first of the Curiatii to attain any significant office was Publius Curiatius Fistus, surnamed ''Trigeminus'', who held the consulship in 453 BC. The gens continued to exist throughout the Republic, and perhaps into imperial times, but seldom did its members achieve any prominence.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', William Smith, Editor. Origin The existence of a patrician gens of this name is attested by Livius, who expressly mentions the Curiatii among the noble Alban gentes, which, after the destruction of Alba, were transplanted to Rome, and there received among the ''Patres''. This opinion is not contradicted by the fact that in BC 401 and 138 we meet with Curiatii who were tribunes of the people and conse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman Republic (509–27 BC) and Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. Ancient Rome began as an Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually dominated the Italian Peninsula, assimilated the Greek culture of southern Italy (Magna Grecia) and the Etruscan culture and acquired an Empire that took in much of Europe and the lands and peoples surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. It was among the largest empires in the ancient world, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his '' Parallel Lives'', a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and '' Moralia'', a collection of essays and speeches. Upon becoming a Roman citizen, he was possibly named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (). Life Early life Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the small town of Chaeronea, about east of Delphi, in the Greek region of Boeotia. His family was long established in the town; his father was named Autobulus and his grandfather was named Lamprias. His name is derived from Pluto (πλοῦτον), an epithet of Hades, and Archos (ἀρχός) meaning "Master", the whole name meaning something like "Whose master is Pluto". His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (182/181–132 BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic best remembered today for leading a mob that assassinated the tribune Tiberius Gracchus, and hunted and killed Tiberius' supporters afterwards. A member of the great patrician ''gens'' Cornelia, he was the son of Scipio Nasica Corculum, the pontifex maximus and princeps senatus. As with many other Cornelii Scipiones, Serapio obtained several prominent offices; he notably succeeded his father as pontifex maximus in 141 BC, and became consul in 138 BC. A firm conservative, like his father and his cousin Scipio Aemilianus, he led the opposition to the tribune of the plebs Tiberius Gracchus, whom he finally murdered in 133 BC. However, he was sent to Asia by the senate to avoid his prosecution by Gracchus' supporters, and died in Pergamum soon after. Family background Not much is known about the early life of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio. He was a member of the '' ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics, and he is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC. His influence on the Latin language was immense. He wrote more than three-quarters of extant Latin literature that is known to have existed in his lifetime, and it has been said that subsequent prose was either a reaction against or a return to his style, not only in Latin but in European languages up to the 19th century. Cicero introduced into Latin the arguments of the chief schools of Hellenistic philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Tribune
A military tribune (Latin ''tribunus militum'', "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone to the Senate. The ''tribunus militum'' should not be confused with the elected political office of tribune of the people ''(tribunus plebis)'' nor with that of '' tribunus militum consulari potestate''. Early Rome The word ''tribunus'' derives from '' tribus'', "tribe". In Rome's earliest history, each of the three tribes (Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities) sent one commander when an army was mustered, since there was no standing army. The tribunes were commanders of the original legion of 3,000. By the time of the Greek historian Polybius (d. 118 BC), the tribunes numbered six, and they were appointed by the consuls. However, the process by which tribunes were chosen and assigned is complex and varies at different times. Republican peri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fasti Capitolini
The ''Fasti Capitolini'', or Capitoline Fasti, are a list of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, extending from the early fifth century BC down to the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Together with similar lists found at Rome and elsewhere, they form part of a chronology referred to as the ''Fasti Annales'', ''Fasti Consulares'', or ''Consular Fasti'', or occasionally just the ''fasti''.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', p. 523 ("Fasti Annales"). The Capitoline Fasti were originally engraved on marble tablets erected in the Roman forum. The main portions were discovered in a fragmentary condition, and removed from the forum in 1546, as ancient structures were dismantled to produce material for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. They were brought to the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the adjacent Capitoline Hill, where they remain as part of the collection of the Capitoline Museums, together with other Roman antiquities.''Harper's Dictionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decemviri
The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") were some of the several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic. The most important were those of the two Decemvirates, formally the " decemvirate with consular power for writing laws" ( la, decemviri consulari imperio legibus scribundis) who reformed and codified Roman law during the Conflict of the Orders between ancient Rome's patrician aristocracy and plebeian commoners. Other decemviri include the "decemviri adjudging litigation" ('), the "decemviri making sacrifices" ('), and the "Decemviri Distributing Public Lands" ('). ''Decemviri consulari imperio legibus scribundis'' Background Gaius Terentilius Harsa, a plebeian tribune, wished to protect the plebeian population by curtailing the power of the Roman consuls. To do this, he proposed a law in 462 BC which provided for a five-man commission to define their power. The patricians were opposed to this curtailment and managed to postpone the debate on this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus
Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus was a Roman politician in the 5th century BC, consul in 453 BC, and decemvir in 451 BC. Family He was named ''Publius Curiatius'' by Livy, but ''Publius Horatius'' by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, which nevertheless confirms Livy's as fact. Diodorus Siculus himself only gives ''Trigeminus''. He could have been part of the ''gens Horatii'' and not in that of the ''Curiatii'', two ''gentes'' that had opposed each other during the Roman monarchy in the fight of the Horatii and the Curiatii. If he was part of the ''gens Curiatii'', he was the only member of the family to become consul. Biography Consulship In 453 BC, he was consul with Sextus Quinctilius. Rome was ravaged this year by a famine and an epidemic, which killed animals as well as people. It is thought to have been typhus, an epidemic that raged on for ten or more years. His colleague, Varus, and the consul suffect that replaced him both caught the disease that same year. ''Decemvirate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cognomen
A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary ''cognomina'' were used to augment the second name, the ''nomen gentilicium'' (the family name, or clan name), in order to identify a particular branch within a family or family within a clan. The term has also taken on other contemporary meanings. Roman names Because of the limited nature of the Latin ''praenomen'', the ''cognomen'' developed to distinguish branches of the family from one another, and occasionally, to highlight an individual's achievement, typically in warfare. One example of this is Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, whose cognomen ''Magnus'' was earned after his military victories under Sulla's dictatorship. The ''cognomen'' was a form of distinguishing people who accomplished important feats, and those who al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barthold Georg Niebuhr
Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr was inspiring German patriotism in students at the University of Berlin by his analysis of Roman economy and government. Niebuhr was a leader of the Romantic era and symbol of German national spirit that emerged after the defeat at Jena. But he was also deeply rooted in the classical spirit of the Age of Enlightenment in his intellectual presuppositions, his use of philologic analysis, and his emphasis on both general and particular phenomena in history. Education Niebuhr was born in Copenhagen, the son of Carsten Niebuhr, a prominent German geographer resident in that city. His father provided his early education. By 1794 the precocious young Niebuhr had already become an accomplished classical scholar who read several languages. That year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joannes Zonaras
Joannes or John Zonaras ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Ζωναρᾶς ; 1070 – 1140) was a Byzantine Greek historian, chronicler and theologian who lived in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he held the offices of head justice and private secretary ('' protasēkrētis'') to the emperor, but after Alexios' death, he retired to the monastery on the Island of Hagia Glykeria, (İncir Adası, in the Bay of Tuzla), where he spent the rest of his life writing books. Life Almost nothing is known of Zonaras's life. However, various elements can be inferred from his own writings. In one of his writings he states that he "saw" the second marriage of an emperor. This could have only been the marriage of Nikephoros III with Maria of Alania in late 1078. It's not known with certainty if Zonaras served under John II Komnenos (r. 1118–1143), although this is still a possibility. Zonaras' ''Epitome'' served as the basis of Constantine Manasse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Viris Illustribus
''De Viris Illustribus'', meaning "concerning illustrious men", represents a genre of literature which evolved during the Italian Renaissance in imitation of the exemplary literature of Ancient Rome. It inspired the widespread commissioning of groups of matching portraits of famous men from history (''Uomini Famosi'') to serve as moral role models. With its inception in the circle of Cicero, various ancient works bear the titles ''De Viris Illustribus'' or ''De hominibus illustribus'', including: * Cornelius Nepos' ''De Viris Illustribus'', from which Aulus Gellius draws an anecdote of Cato the Elder; Cornelius Nepos also produced a ''Liber De Excellentibus Ducibus Gentium'' (Lives of Eminent Commanders). * Suetonius' fragmentary ''Lives'' include grammarians, rhetoricians, historians, and poets. * An anonymous ''De Viris Illustribus'' probably dating to the first half of the 4th century is a compilation of 86 brief biographies of individuals important to Roman history, fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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