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Rómverja Saga
''Rómverja saga'' (The Saga of the Romans) in an Old Norse-Icelandic translation of three Latin historical texts: Sallust's ''Bellum Iugurthinum'' and '' Coniuratio Catilinae'' and Lucan's ''Pharsalia''. It gives an account of Roman history from the Jugurthine War (112 BCE) to the death of Augustus (14 CE). This combination of sources is unique in medieval literature. Along with ''Breta sögu''r, ''Veraldar saga'' and ''Trójumanna saga'', it represent the earliest phase of translation of secular works into Old Norse-Icelandic. ''Rómverja saga'' exists in two versions: an older and longer, but poorly preserved version in AM 595a-b 4to; and a younger, abridged version in AM 226 fol, copied in AM 225 fol. There are close parallels between sections of ''Veraldar saga'' and ''Rómverja saga''. Hofmann proposed that ''Veraldar saga'' takes its Roman history from ''Rómverja saga''. Þorbjörg Helgadóttir instead considers that the two sagas both used the same Latin sources: Sallust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their Viking expansion, overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 7th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid-to-late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse, ''Old West Norse'' or ''Old West Nordic'' (often referred to as ''Old Norse''), Old East Norse, ''Old East Norse'' or ''Old East Nordic'', and ''Ol ... [...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] |
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisan of Julius Caesar (100 to 44 BC). He is the earliest known Latin-language Roman historian with surviving works to his name, of which ''Conspiracy of Catiline'' (on the eponymous conspiracy), ''The Jugurthine War'' (on the eponymous war), and the ''Histories'' (of which only fragments survive) remain extant. As a writer, Sallust was primarily influenced by the works of the 5th-century BC Greek historian Thucydides. During his political career he amassed great and ill-gotten wealth from his governorship of Africa. Life and career Sallust was probably born in Amiternum in Central Italy,.. though Eduard Schwartz takes the view that Sallust's birthplace was Rome. His birth date is calculated from the report of Jerome's ''Chronicon''.. But ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Conspiracy Of Catiline
''Bellum Catilinae'' (''War of Catiline''), also called (''Conspiracy of Catiline''), is the first history published by the Roman historian Sallust. The second historical monograph in Latin literature, it chronicles the attempted overthrow of the government by the aristocrat Catiline in 63 BC in what has been usually called the Catilinarian conspiracy. The narrative of the monograph was seized upon as illustrating the moral and social decadence of the ruling Roman classes, particularly the Roman Senate. Sallust continually critiques Roman corruption throughout his narration. Summary The history begins with a brief preface on the nature of man, history, and a brief autobiography of Sallust himself. Afterwards, Sallust launches into a character description of Catiline, who is portrayed as at once heroic and immoral, and then a description of Catiline's intention to gain kingship at any cost. However, Sallust tells his readership that Catiline's political ambitions were thwar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucan
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial Latin period, known in particular for his epic ''Pharsalia''. His youth and speed of composition set him apart from other poets. Life Three brief ancient accounts allow for the reconstruction of a modest biography – the earliest attributed to Suetonius, another to an otherwise unknown Vacca, and the third anonymous and undated – along with references in Martial, Cassius Dio, Tacitus's ''Annals'', and one of Statius's ''Silvae''. Lucan was the son of Marcus Annaeus Mela and grandson of Seneca the Elder; he grew up under the tutelage of his uncle Seneca the Younger. Born into a wealthy family, he studied rhetoric at Athens and was probably provided with a philosophical and Stoic education by his uncle. His wife was Polla Argentaria, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pharsalia
''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'', is a Roman epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Great. The poem's title is a reference to the Battle of Pharsalus, which occurred in 48 BC, near Pharsalus, Thessaly, in northern Greece. Caesar decisively defeated Pompey in this battle, which occupies all of the epic's seventh book. In the early twentieth century, translator J. D. Duff, while arguing that "no reasonable judgment can rank Lucan among the world's great epic poets", notes that the work is notable for Lucan's decision to eschew divine intervention and downplay supernatural occurrences in the events of the story. Scholarly estimation of Lucan's poem and poetry has since changed, as explained by commentator Philip Hardie in 2013: "In recent decades, it has undergone a thorough critical re-evaluation, to re-emerge as a major expr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jugurthine War
The Jugurthine War ( la, Bellum Iugurthinum; 112–106 BC) was an armed conflict between the Roman Republic and king Jugurtha of Numidia, a kingdom on the north African coast approximating to modern Algeria. Jugurtha was the nephew and adopted son of Micipsa, King of Numidia, whom he succeeded on the throne, overcoming his rivals through assassination, war, and bribery. The war constituted an important phase in the Roman subjugation of Northern Africa, and the rise of the empire, but Numidia did not become a Roman province until 46 BC. Following Jugurtha's usurpation of the throne of Numidia, a loyal ally of Rome since the Punic Wars, Rome felt compelled to intervene. Jugurtha and Numidia Numidia was a kingdom located in North Africa (roughly corresponding to northern modern day Algeria) adjacent to what had been Rome's arch enemy, Carthage. King Masinissa, who was a steadfast ally of Rome in the Third Punic War, died in 149, and was succeeded by his son Micipsa, who ruled 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Principate, which is the first phase of the Roman Empire, and Augustus is considered one of the greatest leaders in human history. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the ''Pax Romana'' or ''Pax Augusta''. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession. Originally named Gaius Octavius, he was born into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian ''gens'' Octavia. His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesar' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breta Sögur
''Breta sögur'' (Sagas of the Britons) is an Old Norse-Icelandic rendering of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia regum Britanniae'' with some additional material from other sources. ''Breta sögur'' begins with a summary of the story of Aeneas and Turnus, derived from the Aeneid. Along with ''Rómverja saga'', ''Veraldar saga'' and ''Trójumanna saga'', it represents the earliest phase of translation of secular works into Old Norse-Icelandic. Versions and manuscripts ''Breta sögur'' survives in two recensions: a longer but poorly preserved version in AM 573 4to and a shorter, abridged version in ''Hauksbók'' (AM 544 4to). Both recensions of ''Breta sögur'' are based on an earlier translation. Because of the poor preservation of these texts and the absence of the original Latin exemplar, it is hard to trace the development of the ''Breta sögur'' from Latin to Old Norse-Icelandic. Because the author of ''Skjöldunga saga'' was familiar with the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'', a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veraldar Saga
''Veraldar saga'' (The Saga of the World) is an Old Norse, Old Norse-Icelandic work of Historiography#Middle Ages to Renaissance, universal history written in its earliest form some time in the twelfth century. It was first called ''Veraldar saga'' by Konráð Gíslason in his 1860 edition of the text. ''Veraldar saga'' follows the common medieval practice of dividing the world into six ages. However, it is unlike twelfth century European historiography for being written entirely in the vernacular, without any interpolated poetry, and for giving no attention to the area of the world where it was composed, instead focusing on the Holy Roman Empire. Cross notes that it instead has more in common with European works from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Summary ''Veraldar'' ''saga'' is a history of the world from Creation to the twelfth century. In most versions, the saga switches to the present tense to when it reaches its final sentence which says that Frederick I, Holy Rom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trójumanna Saga
Trójumanna saga (''The Saga of the Men of Troy'') is a saga in Old Norse which tells the story of the matter of Troy. It is the Old Icelandic translation of the ''Daretis Phrygii De Excidio Troiae Historia'' (''Dares Phrygius’ History of the Destruction of Troy''). The saga expands on the basic framework provided by Dares to create a story with many particularly Norse elements and values. Composition and sources ''Trójumanna saga'' was most likely composed by an Icelander in the mid-thirteenth century. Today there exist three separate and different redactions of ''Trójumanna saga'', themselves dating from probably the thirteenth and fourteenth century. These are known as the ''Hauksbók'', Beta, and the Alpha redactions. ''Trójumanna saga'' Alpha, though the last to be discovered by modern scholars, is the closest to Dares' ''Historia'' in that it uses fewer supplementary sources than the other two versions. As such, it was published as ''Trójumanna saga: The Dares Phrygius ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Norse Literature
Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian peoples up to c. 1350. It chiefly consists of Icelandic writings. In Britain From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colonised parts of what is now modern Scotland. Some Old Norse poetry survives relating to this period. The '' Orkneyinga saga'' (also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'') is a historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands, from their capture by the Norwegian king in the ninth century onwards until about 1200. 20th-century poet George Mackay Brown was influenced by the saga, notably for his 1973 novel ''Magnus''. The Icelandic ''Njáls saga'' includes actions taking place in Orkney and Wales. Besides these Icelandic sagas a few examples, sometimes fragmentary, of Norse poetry composed in Scotland survive. Among the runic inscriptions at Maeshowe is a text identified as irregular verse. Scandinavian cultural contacts in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
