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Tarpeia Coins
In Roman mythology, Tarpeia (), daughter of the Roman commander Spurius Tarpeius, was a Vestal Virgin who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines at the time of their women's abduction for what she thought would be a reward of jewelry. She was instead crushed to death by Sabine shields and her body cast from the southern cliff of Rome's Capitoline Hill, thereafter called after her the Tarpeian Rock (''Rupes Tarpeia''). Legend The legend tells that while Rome was besieged by the Sabine king Titus Tatius, Tarpeia, daughter of the commander of the citadel, Spurius Tarpeius, approached the Sabine camp and offered them entry to the city in exchange for "what they bore on their left arms". Greedy for gold, she had meant their bracelets, but instead the Sabines threw their shields—carried on the left arm—upon her, crushing her to death. Her body was then hurled from (or, according to some accounts, buried at) a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill. ...
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Vestal Virgin
In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from a number of suitable candidates, freed from any legal ties and obligations to their birth family, and enrolled in Vesta's priestly college of six priestesses. They were supervised by a senior vestal but chosen and governed by Rome's leading male priest, the ; in the Imperial era, this meant the emperor. Successful acolytes vowed to serve Vesta for at least thirty years, to study and practise her rites in service of the Roman State, and to maintain their chastity throughout. As well as their obligations on behalf of Rome, Vestals had extraordinary rights and privileges, some of which were granted to no others, male or female. The Vestals took it in turns to supervise Vesta's hearth, so that at least one Vestal was stationed there at a ...
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Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus. Biography Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) to a family thought to be of equestrian rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain, reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, until his old age. He supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, ''quaestor'' and ''curule aedile''. It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate was formed, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulate. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the ''Three-Headed Monster'' ( in th ...
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Publius Petronius Turpilianus
Publius Petronius Turpilianus was a Roman senator who held a number of offices in the middle of the 1st century AD, most notably governor of Britain. He was an ordinary consul in the year 61 with Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus as his colleague.Paul A. Gallivan"Some Comments on the Fasti for the Reign of Nero" ''Classical Quarterly'', 24 (1974), pp. 292, 310 He was the (adopted?) son of Publius Petronius and Plautia, sister of Aulus Plautius who was the conqueror and first governor of Britain. Life He was consul in 61, but in the second half of that year he laid down that office and was appointed governor of Roman Britain, replacing Gaius Suetonius Paulinus who had been removed from office in the wake of the rebellion of Boudica. In contrast to Suetonius's punitive measures, Petronius took a conciliatory approach, and conducted few military operations. In 63 he was replaced by Marcus Trebellius Maximus, and was appointed ''curator aquarum'' (superintendent of aqueducts) i ...
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Basilica Aemilia
The Basilica Aemilia ( it, Basilica Emilia, links=no) was a civil basilica in the Roman Forum, in Rome, Italy. Today only the plan and some rebuilt elements can be seen. The Basilica was 100 meters (328 ft) long and about 30 meters (98 ft) wide. Along the sides were two orders of 16 arches, and it was accessed through one of three entrances. History Pre-existing building The new basilica was built on a site of the 5th-century BC ''tabernae lanienae'' ("butcher shops") and later (4th century BC) the ''tabernae argentariae''. The latter housed the city's bankers, and after a fire was renamed ''tabernae novae'' ("new shops"). The square had two facing rows of shops. A first basilica had been built behind the ''tabernae argentariae'' between 210 BC and 195-191 BC, the date in which it is mentioned by Plautus. Archaeological studies have shown that this building comprised three naves paved with tuff from Monteverde, the back façade having a portico which opened to the ''Fo ...
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Parentalia
In ancient Rome, the Parentalia () or ''dies parentales'' (, "ancestral days") was a nine-day festival held in honor of family ancestors, beginning on 13 February. Although the Parentalia was a holiday on the Roman religious calendar, its observances were mainly domestic and familial. The importance of the family to the Roman state, however, was expressed by public ceremonies on the opening day, the Ides of February, when a Vestal conducted a rite for the collective ''di parentes'' of Rome at the tomb of Tarpeia. Overview Ovid describes sacred offerings (''sacrificia'') of flower-garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread and violets to the "shades of the dead" (''Manes'' or ''Di manes'') at family tombs, which were located outside Rome's sacred boundary ''(pomerium)''. These observances were meant to strengthen the mutual obligations and protective ties between the living and the dead, and were a lawful duty of the ''paterfamilias'' (head of the family). Parentalia concluded on 21 ...
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Lucius Cincius Alimentus
Lucius Cincius Alimentus (200BC) was a celebrated ancient Rome, Roman annalists, annalist, jurist, and provincial official. He is principally remembered as one of the founders of Roman historiography, although his ''Annals'' has been lost and is only known from fragments in other works. Life L. Cincius Alimentus was part of the Cincia (gens), Cincia gens, clan of ancient Rome. He served as praetor in Roman Sicily, Sicily in 209 or 210BC, commanding two Roman legion, legions. As a Roman Senate, Roman senator, his most important legislation was the Cincian Law, which forbade the acceptance of payment for legal services. Alimentus was captured in one of the early battles of the Second Punic War. He spent years as a prisoner of war, prisoner of the Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian general Hannibal, whoaccording to Alimentus's later accountconfided in the Roman the details of his crossing of the Alps. He is last attested as an envoy in 208 BC. Scholar Bruce W. Frier mentions that none o ...
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Quintus Fabius Pictor
Quintus Fabius Pictor (born BC, BC) was the earliest known Roman historian. His history, written in Greek and now mostly lost besides some surviving fragments, was highly influential on ancient writers and certainly participated in introducing Greek historiographical methods to the Roman world. However, the work was highly partisan towards Rome, blaming the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) on Carthage and idealizing the Roman Republic as a well-ordered state loyal to its allies. Fabius probably served as praetor, was a member of the Senate, and participated in a delegation sent to the oracle at Delphi in 216 BC. Some scholars consider him one of the earliest annalists, although this conclusion has been criticized. Life Quintus Fabius Pictor was born ca. 270 BC to a prestigious patrician family of the Roman Republic, the gens Fabia. The cognomen ''Pictor'' (Latin for 'painter') was inherited from his grandfather, Gaius Fabius Pictor, who had decorated the temple of Salus in 304. H ...
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Antigonus Of Carystus
Antigonus of Carystus (; grc, Ἀντίγονος ὁ Καρύστιος; la, Antigonus Carystius), Greek writer on various subjects, flourished in the 3rd century BCE. After some time spent at Athens and in travelling, he was summoned to the court of Attalus I (241 BCE–197 BCE) of Pergamum. His chief work is the ''Successions of Philosophers'' drawn from personal knowledge, with considerable fragments preserved in Athenaeus and Diogenes Laërtius. His work ' (', "Collection of Wonderful Tales"), a paradoxographical work chiefly extracted from the ' (''On Marvellous Things Heard'') attributed to Aristotle and the ' ("Thaumasia") of Callimachus, survived to modernity. It is doubtful whether he is identical with the sculptor who, according to Pliny (''Nat. Hist.'' xxxiv. 19), wrote books on his art. References *Text in Otto Keller, ''Rerum Naturalium Scriptores Graeci Minores'', I. (1877). *Reinhold Köpke, ''De Antigono Carystio'' (1862). *Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moel ...
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Simylus
Simylus, Simulus, or Simylos (Greek: ) may refer to: *Simylus, Athenian comic poet of 4th century BC *Simylus, Athenian tragic actor of 4th century BC *Simylus of Neapolis, Olympic winner in stadion 248 BCChronicon (Eusebius) *Simylus, poor farmer in the poem Moretum traditionally ascribed to Virgil References *Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...br>Simylus
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Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (sometimes Censorinus) (c. 180 – 112 BC) was a Roman politician and historian of plebeian origin, consul in 133 BC and censor in 120 BC. Family background Piso belonged to the plebeian ''gens'' Calpurnia, which emerged during the First Punic War and was of Etruscan descent. The Pisones were the most important family of the gens and remained on the fore of Roman politics during the Empire; their first member was Gaius Calpurnius Piso, praetor in 211, also grandfather of Piso the historian. This man had two sons, Gaius, the first consul of the gens in 180 who also earned a triumph for his successful command in Spain in 186, and Lucius, only known as ambassador to the Achaean League in 198; the latter was the father of the historian. The next generation of the Calpurnii Pisones had an impressive number of consuls—four in 16 years—as in addition to Piso's own consulship in 133, his cousins Lucius Caesoninus, Gnaeus, and Quintus were also consul ...
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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 dialogues, which ...
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Propertius
Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of ''Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the poets Gallus and Virgil and, with them, had as his patron Maecenas and, through Maecenas, the emperor Augustus. Although Propertius was not as renowned in his own time as other Latin elegists, he is today regarded by scholars as a major poet. Life Very little information is known about Propertius outside of his own writing. His praenomen "Sextus" is mentioned by Aelius Donatus, a few manuscripts list him as "Sextus Propertius", but the rest of his name is unknown. From numerous references in his poetry it is clear he was born and raised in Umbria, of a well-to-do family at or near Asisium (Assisi). His birthplace is generally regarded as modern Assisi, where tourists can view the excavated remains of a house thought to have belonged at least to the p ...
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