Numeria Gens
The gens Numeria was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few of its members held any of the higher offices of the Roman state.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 1214 (" Numerius"). Origin As a nomen, ''Numerius'' is comparatively scarce relative to the praenomen '' Numerius'', from which it is derived. ''Numerius'' was not a particularly common praenomen, and is widely believed to have been of Sabine or Oscan origin, although despite its scarcity it was widely diffused among the Roman plebeians, and even received limited use by a few patrician families. According to Varro, there was a goddess Numeria, to whom women prayed during childbirth. She was mentioned in the ancient prayers recited by the Pontifex Maximus, and Varro writes that the praenomen ''Numerius'' was given to children who were born quickly. As with other gentilicia that share a form with praenomina and cognomina, it is often difficult to determine whether persons named ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Plebeian
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, ''plēthos'', meaning masses. In Latin, the word is a singular collective noun, and its genitive is . Plebeians were not a monolithic social class. Those who resided in the city and were part of the four urban tribes are sometimes called the , while those who lived in the country and were part of the 31 smaller rural tribes are sometimes differentiated by using the label . (List of Roman tribes) In ancient Rome In the annalistic tradition of Livy and Dionysius, the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by Romulus' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became the patriciate. Modern hypotheses date ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gnaeus (praenomen)
Gnaeus ( , ) is a Latin ''praenomen'', or personal name, which was common throughout the period of the Roman Republic, and well into imperial times. The feminine form is ''Gnaea''. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic '' gens Naevia''. The name was regularly abbreviated Cn., based on the archaic spelling, ''Cnaeus'', dating from the period before the letters "C" and "G" were differentiated. For most of Roman history, Gnaeus was one of the ten most common praenomina, being less common than ''Titus'', the sixth most common praenomen, and comparable in frequency to ''Aulus'', '' Spurius'', and ''Sextus''. Although the name was used by a minority of families at Rome, it was favored by a number of prominent ''gentes'', including the Cornelii, Domitii, Manlii, and Servilii. The name gradually became less common in imperial times. Origin and meaning According to Festus, the praenomen Gnaeus originally referred to a birthmark, whi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the ''praetura'' (praetorship), are described by the adjective: the ''praetoria potestas'' (praetorian power), the ''praetorium imperium'' (praetorian authority), and the ''praetorium ius'' (praetorian law), the legal precedents established by the ''praetores'' (praetors). ''Praetorium'', as a substantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his '' castra'', the courthouse (tribunal) of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship. History of the title The status of the ''praetor'' in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was created by the Sextian-Licinian Rogatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roman Senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC). It survived the overthrow of the Roman monarchy in 509 BC; the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; the division of the Roman Empire in AD 395; and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476; Justinian's attempted reconquest of the west in the 6th century, and lasted well into the Eastern Roman Empire's history. During the days of the Roman Kingdom, most of the time the Senate was little more than an advisory council to the king, but it also elected new Roman kings. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Roman Republic. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the various executive magistr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Johann Caspar Von Orelli
Johann Caspar von Orelli (Latin ''Iohannes Caspar Orellius''; 13 February 1787 – 6 January 1849), was a Swiss classical scholar. Life He was born at Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ... of a distinguished Italian family which had taken refuge in Switzerland at the time of the Protestant Reformation. His cousin, Johann Conrad Orelli (1770–1826), was the author of several works in the department of later Greek literature. From 1807 to 1814 Orelli worked as preacher in the reformed community of Bergamo, where he acquired the taste for Italian literature which led to the publication of ''Contributions to the History of Italian Poetry'' (1810) and a biography (1812) of Vittorino da Feltre, his ideal of a teacher. In 1814 he became teacher of modern langua ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gracchi
The Gracchi brothers were two Roman brothers, sons of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who was consul in 177 BC. Tiberius, the elder brother, was tribune of the plebs in 133 BC and Gaius, the younger brother, was tribune a decade later in 123–122 BC. They attempted to redistribute the ''ager publicus'' – the public land hitherto controlled principally by aristocrats – and military veterans, in addition to other social and constitutional reforms. After achieving some early success, both were assassinated by the Early lives Their father was the elderly Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, who had served as tribune of the plebs, praetor, consul, and censor. Their mother was Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus, himself considered a hero by the Roman people for his part in the war against Carthage. Their parents had 12 children; only one daughter – who later married Scipio Aemilianus – and two sons, Tiberius and Gaius, survived to adulthood. After the boy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tribune Of The Plebs
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman Republic, Roman state that was open to the plebs, plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and Roman magistrate, magistrates. These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the ''Plebeian Council, Concilium Plebis'' (people's assembly); to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power was to veto the actions of the Roman consul, consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was punishable by death. In Roman Empire, imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to the Roman emperor, emperor as a matter of course, and the office itself lost its independence a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 vocabulary ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Titus Pomponius Atticus
Titus Pomponius Atticus (November 110 BC – 31 March 32 BC; later named Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus) was a Roman editor, banker, and patron of letters, best known for his correspondence and close friendship with prominent Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. Atticus was from a wealthy Roman family of the equestrian class (lower aristocratic non-ruling class) and from the Pomponia gens. A close friend since childhood, Cicero dedicated his treatise, ' (), to Atticus. Their correspondence, often written in subtle code to disguise their political observations, is preserved in ' (''Letters to Atticus'') compiled by Tiro, Cicero's slave (later his freedman) and personal secretary. Biography Early life Born Titus Pomponius in Rome , Atticus descended from a family of equestrian rank and was the son of Titus Pomponius and Caecilia. He had a sister named Pomponia. Growing up, he studied and developed close friendships with Cicero, Lucius Manlius Torquatus, and Gaius ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paestum
Paestum ( , , ) was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC, which are in an excellent state of preservation. The city walls and amphitheatre are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remain, as well as paved roads. The site is open to the public, and there is a modern national museum within it, which also contains the finds from the associated Greek site of Foce del Sele. Solinus wrote that it was established by Dorians. After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia ( grc, Ποσειδωνία), it was eventually conquered by the local Lucanians and later the Romans. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name. As Pesto or Paestum, the town became a bishopric (now only titular), but it was abandoned in the E ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Appius (praenomen)
Appius () is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, usually abbreviated Ap. or sometimes App., and best known as a result of its extensive use by the patrician ''gens Claudia''. The feminine form is ''Appia''. The praenomen also gave rise to the patronymic ''gens Appia''.George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII (1897)''Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology'' Origin and meaning As with many praenomina, there is no satisfactory explanation of the meaning of Appius. The origin of the name has been obscured by the fact that it is chiefly known from its association with gens Claudia, and was borne by no other major figures in Roman history. Titus Livius relates the story of how, in the early days of the Roman Republic, a wealthy Sabine by the name of ''Attius Clausus'' emigrated to Rome from the town of Cures, together with his family and retainers, and was admitted to the patriciate. He subsequently Latiniz ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Claudia Gens
The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. I, p. 762 (" Claudia Gens"). Plebeian Claudii are found fairly early in Rome's history. Some may have been descended from members of the family who had passed over to the plebeians, while others were probably the descendants of freedmen of the gens. In the later Republic, one of its patrician members voluntarily converted to plebeian status and adopted the spelling "Clodius". In his life of the emperor Tiberius, who was a scion of the Claudii, the historian Suetonius gives a summary of the gens, and says, "as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |