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Tyche Of Constantinople
The Tyche of Constantinople was the deity of fortune ''(Tyche)'' who embodied the guardianship ''(tutela)'' of the city of Constantinople in the Roman Imperial era. Malalas says that her name was ''Anthousa'' (Roman equivalent Flora). Her attributes included the mural crown, cornucopia, a ship's prow, and a spear. She was depicted standing or seated on a throne. As the personification of the city, Tyche or Anthousa could be abstracted from her origins as a Classical goddess, and like Victory made tolerable as a symbol for Christians. Under Constantine, the ''Tychai'' of Rome and Constantinople together might be presented as personifications of the empire ruling the world. Tyche of Constantinople appears in two basic guises on coins and medallions. In one, she wears a helmet like '' Dea Roma''. In the other, which was used for instance on silver medallions in 330 AD to commemorate Constantine's inauguration day, Tyche wears a crown of towers representing city walls, and sits on a t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zosimus (historian)
Zosimus ( grc-gre, Ζώσιμος ; 490s–510s) was a Greek historian who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the eastern Roman emperor, Roman Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus, Anastasius I (491–518). According to Photios I of Constantinople, Photius, he was a ''comes'', and held the office of "advocate" of the Imperial treasury, Rome, imperial treasury. Zosimus was also known for condemning Constantine the Great, Constantine’s rejection of the Roman Polytheism, traditional polytheistic religion. ''Historia Nova'' Zosimus' ''Historia Nova'' (Ἱστορία Νέα, "New History") is written in Greek in six books. For the period from 238 to 270, he apparently uses Dexippus; for the period from 270 to 404, Eunapius; and after 407, Olympiodorus of Thebes, Olympiodorus. His dependence upon his sources is made clear by the change in tone and style between the Eunapian and Olympiodoran sections, and by the gap left in between them. In the Eunapian section, for example, he is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personifications In Roman Mythology
Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their breath", and covers cases where a personification appears as a character in literature, or a human figure in art. The technical term for this, since ancient Greece, is prosopopoeia. In the arts many things are commonly personified. These include numerous types of places, especially cities, countries and the four continents, elements of the natural world such as the months or Four Seasons, Four Elements, Four Winds, Five Senses, and abstractions such as virtues, especially the four cardinal virtues and seven deadly sins, the nine Muses, or death. In many polytheistic early religions, deities had a strong element of personification, suggested by descriptions such as "god of". In ancient Greek religion, and the related ancient Roman re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tutelary Deities
A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the ''genius'', functions as the personal deity or ''daimon'' of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore. Ancient Greece Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or ''daimonion'': The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Ancient Rome Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Goddesses
The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and religious life as it was experienced throughout the Empire. Many of the Romans' own gods remain obscure, known only by name and sometimes function, through inscriptions and texts that are often fragmentary. This is particularly true of those gods belonging to the archaic religion of the Romans dating back to the era of kings, the so-called "religion of Numa", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities have Italic or Etruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in the provinces were given new theological interpretations in light of functions or attributes they shared with Roman deities. An extensive a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consular Diptych
In Late Antiquity, a consular diptych was a type of diptych intended as a de-luxe commemorative object. The diptychs were generally in ivory, wood or metal and decorated with rich relief sculpture. A consular diptych was commissioned by a ''consul ordinarius'' to mark his entry to that post, and was distributed as a commemorative reward to those who had supported his candidature or might support him in the future. History Origins From as early as the first century CE, some formal letters of appointment to office were known as "codicilli", little books, two or more flat pieces of (usually) wood, joined by clasps, lined with wax on which was written the letter of appointment. Later, the letter might be written on papyrus and presented within the covers. By the late fourth century, however, specially-commissioned diptychs began to be included among the gifts that appointees to high office distributed to celebrate and publicize the public games that were their principal duties. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians prefer to differentiate the Byzantine Empire from Ancient Rome a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian (emperor)
Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenistic religion, Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate in Christian tradition. A nephew of Constantine I, Constantine, Julian was one of few in the imperial family to survive the purges and civil wars during the reign of Constantius II, his cousin. Julian became an orphan as a child after his father was executed in 337, and spent much of his life under Constantius's close supervision.''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'', "Julian the Apostate", p. 839 However, the emperor allowed Julian to freely pursue an education in the Greek-speaking east, with the result that Julian became unusually cultured for an emperor of his time. In 355, Constantius II summoned Julian to court and appointed him to ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milion
The Milion ( grc-gre, Μίλιον or , ''Míllion''; tr, Milyon taşı) was a monument erected in the early 4th century AD in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). It was the Byzantine zero-mile marker, the starting-place for the measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the Byzantine Empire. It thus served the same function as the Golden Milestone (') in Rome's forum. The domed building of the Milion rested on four large arches, and it was expanded and decorated with several statues and paintings. It survived the Fourth Crusade and Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 but had disappeared by the start of the 16th century. During excavations in the 1960s, some partial fragments of it were discovered under houses in the area. Location The remains of the monument are located in Istanbul, in the district of Eminönü, in the neighborhood of Cağaloğlu, at the northern corner of the square of Hagia Sophia, and close to the Basilica Cistern. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proskynesis
Proskynesis or proscynesis , or proskinesis (Greek , ''proskýnēsis''; Latin adoratio) is a solemn gesture of respect for the gods and people; among the Persians, it referred to a man prostrating himself and kissing the earth, or the limbs of a respected person. Proskynesis (''adoratio'') was one of the religious rites of the Greeks and Romans. In the Byzantine ceremonial, it is a common gesture of supplication or reverence. The physical act ranged from full prostration to a genuflection, bow, or simple greeting that concretized the relative positions of performer and beneficiary within a hierarchical order (''taxis''). Etymology The Greek word is derived from the verb προσκυνέω, ''proskyneo'', itself formed from the compound words πρός, ''pros'' (towards) and κυνέω, ''kyneo'' ( kiss). It describes an attitude of humbling, submission, or worship adoration – particularly towards a sovereign ruler, God or the gods. Practice According to Herodotus in hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Cult (ancient Rome)
The Roman imperial cult identified Roman emperor, emperors and some members of their families with the Divine right of kings, divinely sanctioned authority (''auctoritas'') of the Roman State. Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents, and was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus. It was rapidly established throughout the Roman Empire, Empire and its Roman province, provinces, with marked local variations in its reception and expression. Augustus's reforms transformed Rome's Roman Republic, Republican system of government to a ''de facto'' monarchy, couched in mos maiorum, traditional Roman practices and Republican values. The ''princeps'' (emperor) was expected to balance the interests of the Military of ancient Rome, Roman military, SPQR, Senate and people, and to maintain peace, security and prosperity throughout an ethnically diverse empire. The official offer of ''Glossary of ancient Roman religion#cultus, cultus'' to a living emperor acknowledged hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhea (goddess)
Rhea or Rheia (; Ancient Greek: Ῥέα or Ῥεία ) is a mother goddess in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, the Titaness daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, himself a son of Gaia. She is the older sister of Cronus, who was also her consort, and the mother of the five eldest Olympian gods Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon and Zeus, and the king of the Underworld, Hades. When Cronus learnt that he was destined to be overthrown by one of his children like his father was before him, he swallowed all the children Rhea bore as soon as they were born. When Rhea had her sixth and final child, Zeus, she spirited him away and hid him in Crete, giving Cronus a rock to swallow instead, thus saving her youngest son who would go on to challenge his father's rule and rescue the rest of his siblings. Following Zeus' defeat of Cronus and the rise of the Olympian gods into power, Rhea withdraws her role as the queen of the gods to become a supporting figure on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
