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Roman

Specialty Definition: Roman

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Specialty Definition: Ancient Rome

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This is an tentative list of topics regarding Ancient Rome

• City of Rome
• Founding of Rome
• Roman Kingdom - 753 BC to 509 BC
• Roman Republic - 509 BC to 27 BC
• Roman Empire - 27 BC to 554 AD, year of the last attempt to reconquer the city of Rome (continues in the East as the Byzantine Empire
• Fall of the Roman Empire
• Timeline of Ancient Rome
• Ancient city of Rome
• List of ancient Romans
• Military History of Rome
• Political institutions of Rome
• Roman culture
• Miscellaneous
  • Ancient Roman literature
  • Fiction set in Ancient Rome

History - Ancient history - Ancient Rome

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ancient Rome."

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Byzantine Empire

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Timeline
Byzantine Empire
Date	Event
330	Constantine I makes Constantinople his capital.
527	Justinian I becomes Emperor.
532-537	Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia
1054	The Church in Constantinople breaks with the Church in Rome
1204	Constantinople is captured by crusaders
1261	Constantinople is liberated by the Byzantine emperor Michael Palaeologus.
1453	Ottoman Turks take Constantinople. End of Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire which remained in existence after the fall of the western section. The life of the empire is commonly considered to span AD 395 to 1453. During the thousand years of its existence, it was known simply as the "Roman Empire." The Byzantines considered themselves to be Romans (Rhomaioi) and the legitimate continuation of the Roman Empire, although much of its religion, language, and culture was in actuality Greek. Latin remained the official language until the 7th century. Surrounding lands and empires (such as the Persians and Arabs to the east, Europeans to the west, and Russians to the north) called them Roman as well, and it was considered a great insult to refer to the empire as "Greek.", because "Greek" meant "Pagan". The empire was not referred to as "Byzantine" until the 17th century, when historians began to distinguish the medieval entity from the (in reality quite different) ancient empire. This name comes from the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium.

Origin

The division of the Empire began with the Tetrarchy (quadrumvirate) in the late 3rd century AD with Emperor Diocletian, as an institution intended to more efficiently control the vast Roman empire. He split the empire in half, with two emperors ruling from Italy and Greece, each having a co-emperor of their own. This division continued into the 4th century until 324 when Constantine the Great managed to become the sole Emperor of the Empire. Constantine decided to found a new capital for himself and chose Byzantium (today's Istanbul) for that purpose. The rebuilding process was completed in AD 330. Constantine renamed the city Nova Roma (New Rome) but in popular use it was called Constantinople, meaning Constantine's City. This new capital became the centre of his administration. Constantine was also the first Christian emperor. Although the empire was not yet "Byzantine" under Constantine, Christianity would become one of the defining characteristics of the Byzantine Empire, as opposed to the pagan Roman Empire.

Another defining moment in the history of Roman/Byzantine Empire was the Battle of Adrianople in 378. This defeat, along with the death of Emperor Valens, is one possible date for dividing the ancient and medieval worlds. The Roman empire was divided further by Valens' successor Theodosius I (also called "the great"), who had ruled both beginning in 392. In 395 he gave the two halves to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the East, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the west, with his capital in Milan. At this point it is common to refer to the empire as "Eastern Roman" rather than "Byzantine."

Byzantine Imperial eagle

Culture

Although the empire was still considered Roman, in reality the general prevailing cultural identity of the Eastern Roman Empire was Greek. Greek was not only the everyday language, but also the language of the church, of the literature and of all commercial transactions. The empire was a multinational state, including Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Egyptians, Syrians, Illyrians, and Slavs, but its Greek culture radiated from large centers of Hellenism such as Constantinople, Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonika and Alexandria. Though it was not as pronounced at this time, the Eastern Empire was developing its own style of Christianity, under such scholars as John Chrysostom.

Early History

The Eastern Empire was largely spared the difficulties of the west in the 3rd and 4th centuries, in part because urban culture was better established there and the initial invasions were attracted to the wealth of Rome. Throughout the 5th century various invasions conquered the western half of the empire, but at best could only demand tribute from the eastern half. Theodosius II expanded the walls of Constantinople, leaving the city impenetrable to "barbarian" attacks. Zeno I ruled the east as the empire in the west finally collapsed in 476. Zeno negotiated with the Goths, ending their threats to the east but leaving them in control of the west.

The 6th century saw the beginning of the conflicts with the Byzantine Empire's traditional early enemies, the Persians, Slavs, and Bulgars. Theological crises, such as the question of Monophysitism, also dominated the empire. However, the Eastern Empire had not forgotten its western roots. Under Justinian I, and the brilliant general Belisarius, the empire even regained some of the lost Roman provinces in the west, conquering much of Italy, north Africa, and Spain. Justinian updated the ancient Roman legal code in the new Corpus Juris Civilis, although it is notable that these laws were still written in Latin, a language which was becoming archaic and poorly understood even by those who wrote the new code. Under Justinian's reign, the Church of Hagia Sophia was constructed in the 530s. This church would become the centre of Byzantine religious life and the centre of the still-developing Eastern Orthodox form of Christianity.

Justinian left his successors an empty treasury, however, and they were unable to deal with the sudden appearance of new invaders on all fronts. The Lombards seized Northern Italy, the Slavs overwhelmed much of the Balkans, and the Persians invaded and conqured the eastern provinces. These were recovered by the emperor Heraclius, but the unexpected appearance of the newly converted and united Muslim Arabs took Heraclius by surprise, and the southern provinces were all overrun. Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt were permanently incorporated into the Muslim Empire in the 7th century.

Hellenizing Era

What the empire lost in territory, though, it made up in uniformity. Heraclius fully Hellenized the empire by making Greek the official language, and he took the title Basileus ("king") instead of the old Roman term Augustus. The empire was by now noticeably different in religion than the former imperial lands in western Europe, although the southern Byzantine provinces differed significantly from the north in culture and practiced monophysite (rather than Orthodox) Christianity. The loss of the southern provinces to the Arabs made Orthodoxy stronger in the remaining provinces. Heraclius divided the empire into a system of military provinces called themes to face permanent assault, with urban life declining outside the capital while Constantinople grew to become the largest city in the world. Attempts by the Arabs to conquer Constantinople failed in the face of the Byzantines' superior navy and their monopoly of the still mysterious incendiary weapon Greek fire. After repelling the initial Arab assault, the empire began to recover.

The 8th century was dominated by the controversy over iconoclasm. Icons were banned by Emperor Leo III, leading to revolts by iconophiles within the empire. Thanks to the efforts of Empress Irene, the Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 and affirmed that icons could be venerated but not worshipped. Irene also attempted a marriage alliance with Charlemagne, which would have united the two empires, but these plans came to nothing. The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, but they were restored once more in 843. These controversies did not help the disintegrating relations with the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire, which were both beginning to gain more power of their own.

Golden Era

The empire reached its height under the Macedonian emperors of the late 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries. During these years the Empire held out against pressure from the Roman church to remove the patriarch Photius, and gained control over the Adriatic Sea, parts of Italy, and much of the land held by the Bulgarians. The Bulgarians were completely defeated by Basil II in 1014. The Empire also gained a new ally (yet sometimes also an enemy) in the new Russian state in Kiev, from which the empire received an important mercenary force, the Varangian Guard.

Like Rome before it, though, Byzantium soon fell into a period of difficulties, caused to a large extent by the growth of the landed aristocracy, which undermined the theme system. Facing its old enemies, the Holy Roman Empire and the Abbasid caliphate, it might have recovered, but around the same time new invaders appeared on the scene who had little reason to respect its reputation - the Normans, who conquered Italy, and the Seljuk Turks, who were mainly interested in defeating Egypt but still made moves into Asia Minor, the main recruiting ground for the Byzantine armies. With the defeat at Manzikert of emperor Romanus IV in 1071 by Alp Arslan, sultan of the Seljuk Turks, most of that province was lost. The final split between the Roman and Orthodox churches occurred at this time as well, with their mutual excommunication in 1054.

End of Empire

The last few centuries of Byzantine life were brought by a usurper, Alexius Comnenus, who began to reestablish an army on the basis of feudal grants (pronoia) and made significant advances against the Seljuk Turks. His plea for western aid against the Seljuk advance brought about the First Crusade, which helped him reclaim Nicaea but soon distanced itself from imperial aid. Later crusades grew increasingly antagonistic. Although Alexius' grandson Manuel I Comnenus was a friend of the Crusaders, neither side could forget that the other had excommunicated them, and the Byzantines were very suspicious of the intentions of the Roman Catholic Crusaders who continually passed through their territory. The Germans of the Holy Roman Empire and the Normans of Sicily and Italy continued to attack the empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The Italian city states, who had been granted trading rights in Constantinople by Alexius, became the targets of anti-Western sentiments as the most visibly example of Western "Franks" or "Latins." The Venetians were especially disliked, even though their ships were the basis of the Byzantine navy. To add to the empire's concerns, the Seljuks remained a threat, defeating Manuel at Myriokephalon in 1176.

Frederick Barbarossa attempted to conquer the empire during the Third Crusade, but it was the Fourth Crusade that had the most devastating effect on the empire. Although the intent of the crusade was to conquer Egypt, the Venetians took control of the expedition, and under their influence the crusade captured Constantinople in 1204. As a result a short-lived feudal kingdom was founded, (the Latin Empire) and Byzantine power was permanently weakened.

Three Byzantine successor states were left - the Empire of Nicaea, Epirus, and Trebizond. The first, controlled by the Palaeologan dynasty, managed to reclaim Constantinople in 1261 and defeat Epirus, reviving the empire but giving too much attention to Europe when the Asian provinces were the primary concern. For a while the empire survived simply because the Muslims were too divided to attack, but eventually the Ottomans overran all but a handful of port cities. The empire appealed to the west for help, but they would only consider sending aid in return for reuniting the churches. Church unity was considered, and occasionally accomplished by law, but the Orthodox citizens would not accept Roman Catholicism. Some western mercenaries arrived to help, but many preferred to let the empire die, and did nothing as the Ottomans picked apart of the remaining territories.

Constantinople was initially not considered worth the effort of conquest, but with the advent of cannons, the walls, which had been impenetrable except by the Crusaders for over 1000 years, no longer offered protection from the Ottomans. The Fall of Constantinople finally came after a two-year siege by Mehmed II on May 29, 1453. By the end of the century the remaining cities, such as Trebizond and Mistra, had also fallen.

The Byzantine empire played an important role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world. Its most lasting influence, though, lies in its church. Early Byzantine missionary work spread Orthodox Christianity to various Slavic peoples, and it is still predominant among them and the Greeks. The start and end dates of the capital's independence, 395 to 1453, were originally the defined bounds of the Middle Ages.

See also List of Byzantine Empire-related topics, Roman Empire, Roman Emperors, Byzantine Emperors, Latin Empire, Empire of Nicaea, Byzantine currency, Byzantine architecture and Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Byzantine Empire."

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Catholicism

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Catholicism, from the Greek katholikos (καθολικος), meaning "general" or "universal", is a religious name applied to two strands of Christianity. In its general sense it is used by mainstream Christians who believe that they can claim to be part of the Apostolic Succession, in other words that they can claim a direct continuing link back to the early church of the Apostles.

In its narrower sense, it is used to refer to the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, the largest of the Christian denominations, or group of denominations, whose distinguishing characteristic is their acceptance of the authority of, and communion with, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, and who accept his authority on matters of faith and morals, and his assertion of "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church." [1] This denomination is often referred to as the Roman Catholic Church. Most people, both in and outside the Church, simply use the "Catholic Church" to refer to the Roman Catholic Church, even though there are other "Catholic" churches.

Meaning of "Catholicism"

The Creeds & Catholicism

The word Catholic appears in the main Christian creeds (prayer-like definitions of belief), notably the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. Christians of most denominations, including most Protestants, affirm their faith in "one holy catholic and apostolic Church." This belief refers to their belief in the ultimate unity of all churches under one God and one Saviour. However in this context the word Catholic is used by such believers in a definitionary sense (i.e. universal), not as the name of a religious body. In this usage it is usually written with a lower-case c, while upper-case C refers to the sense discussed in this article.

Catholicism

The majority of Christian faiths do not describe themselves as "Catholic". In Western Christianity the principal faiths who regard themselves as "Catholic", beside the Roman Catholic Church, are the Old Catholic Church, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, and some elements of Anglicanism ("High Church Anglicans" or "Anglo-Catholics"). These groups hold beliefs and practice religious rituals similar to Roman Catholicism, but differ substantially from Roman Catholicism on the issue of the Bishop of Rome's status, power and influence.

The several churches of Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy consider themselves to be the catholic church, in the general, universal sense of the word. The Orthodox churches generally see the Latin "Catholics" as being heretical schismatics who left the "true catholic and apostolic church" (See, Great Schism). The patriarchs of Eastern Orthodoxy are autocephalous bishops, which roughly means that each of them is independent of the direct oversight of another bishop; or, put another way, these Christians are not in communion with the Pope and do not recognise his claim to be the head of the universal Church as an earthly institution. There are also Eastern Rite Catholics whose liturgy is similar to that of the Orthodox, and also allow married men to be ordained as priests, but who recognize the Roman Pope as the head of their church.

Some groups call themselves Catholic but are questionably so: for instance the Liberal Catholic Church, which originated as a breakaway group from the Old Catholic Church, but incorporated so much theosophy that it had little doctrinally in common with Catholicism anymore.

Roman Catholicism

The main and largest Catholic denomination is the "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church", more commonly known as the "Roman Catholic Church". It is so named because its adherents are all in communion with the Pope and Bishop of Rome, and most parishes follow the Roman or Latin Rite in worship, although there are other rites.

In casual usage, when people speak of "Catholics" or "Catholicism," they usually but not always mean Roman Catholicism.

Anglo-Catholicism

The Anglican Communion, though one church, is in practice divided into two wings, "High Church Anglicans" also called the Anglo-Catholics and "Low Church Anglicans" also known as the Evangelical wing. Though all elements within the Anglican Communion recite the same creeds, Low Church Anglicans treat the word Catholic in the creed as a mere older word for universal, High Church Anglicans treat it as a name of Christ's church to which they, the Roman Catholic Church and others in the Apostolic Succession all belong.

Anglo-Catholicism holds beliefs and practice religious rituals similar to Roman Catholicism. The similar elements include a belief in seven sacraments, Transubstantiation as opposed to Consubstantiation, devotion to the Virgin Mary and saints, the description of their ordained clergy as "priests" - addressed as "Father" - the wearing of vestments in church liturgy, sometimes even the description of their Eucharistic celebrations as Mass. Their main source of difference with Roman Catholicism on the issue of the Bishop of Rome's status, power and influence. The development of the Anglo-Catholic wing of Anglicanism occurred largely in the nineteenth century and is strongly associated with the Oxford Movement. Two of its leading lights, John Henry Newman and Henry Edward Manning, both ordained Anglican clergymen, ended up joining the Roman Catholic Church, becoming cardinalss.

Though Catholicism as a term is generally taken to mean Roman Catholic, many Anglo-Catholics use the term to refer to them also, as part of the general (and not just Roman) Catholic Church. Indeed some Anglican churches, for example, St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, the "National Cathedral" of the Anglican Church of Ireland, refers to itself as part of the "Catholic Communion" and as a "Catholic Church" in notices in and around it.

History and Influence

The early Christian church became organized under five patriarchs, the bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome. The Bishop of Rome was recognized by the Patriarchs as "the first among equals," though his status and influence increased when Rome was the capital of the empire, with doctrinal or procedural disputes often referred to Rome for an opinion. But when the capital moved to Constantinople, his influence dwindled. While Rome claimed an authority descending from St. Peter (who died in Rome and was regarded as the first pope¹) and St. Paul, Constantinople had become the residence of the Emperor and the Senate. A series of complex difficulties (the fact that the bishop of Rome did not accept the emperor's claim of supremacy in ecclesiastical matters, doctrinal disputes, disputed Councils, and the evolution of the separate rites) led to the split in 1054 which divided the Church into the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East (Greece, Russia and much of the Slavic lands, Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, etc.); this is called the Great Schism. (Conversely, most Eastern Orthodox believe the split arose because the other patriarchs failed to recognize the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome in ecclesiastical matters, particularly regarding the addition of the filioque clause to the Nicene Creed.)

The next major split of the Catholic Church occurred in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation, during which many of the Protestant (protesting) denominations were formed.

Structure and Practice of the Roman Catholic Church

Organization by Office

Structurally Roman Catholicism is one of the world's most centralised religious faiths. Its head, the Pope, a quasi-absolute monarch, rules for life from Vatican City, an independent state in the centre of Rome known also in international diplomacy as the Holy See. He is selected by an elite group of Princes of the Church called Cardinals. The Pope alone selects and appoints all clergymen in the Church above the rank of priest. All members of the hierarchy are answerable to the Pope and to his papal court, called the Curia. Popes exercise what is called Papal Infallibility, that is the right to define definitive statements of Roman Catholic teaching on matters of faith and morals. In reality, since its declaration in the First Vatican Council in 1870, papal infallibility has only definitively been used once, by Pope Pius XII in the 1950s.

The Pope's authority comes from the belief that he is the lineal successor of St. Peter, and as such the Vicar of Christ on earth. The church has a hierarchical structure of offices or titles, in descending order:

• Pope, which is the bishop of Rome and also Patriarch of the West. Those who assist and advise him in leading the whole church are the Cardinals;
• Patriarchs are the heads of Catholic Churches other than the Latin Church. Some senior Roman Catholic archbishops are also called Patriarchs; among those possessing the title are the Archbishop of Lisbon and the Archbishop of Venice.
• Bishop (Archbishop and Suffragan Bishop): are the successors of the twelve apostles. They have received the fullness of sacramental orders;
• Priest (Monsignor is an honorary title for a priest, giving no extra sacramental powers); Initially there were no Priests per se. This position evolved from the suburban Bishops who were charged with distributing the sacraments but without full jurisdiction over the faithful.
• Deacon

There are also several more minor offices: Lector, Acolytes (since the Second Vatican Council, the office of Sub-deacon no longer exists). Religious orders have their own hierarchy and titles. These offices taken together constitute the clergy, and in the Western rite can only normally be occupied by unmarried men. However, in the Eastern rite married men are admitted as diocesan priests, but not as bishops or monastic priests; and on rare occasions married priests converting from other Christian groups have been permitted to be ordained in the Western rite. In the Western rite, married men may be ordained as permanent deacons but they may not remarry if their spouse dies or if the marriage is annulled.

The Pope is elected by the College of Cardinals from their ranks (the process of election, held in Sistine Chapel, is called a Conclave). Each Pope continues in office until death or until he resigns (which has happened only twice, and never since the Middle Ages).

Sacraments

The practice of the Catholic Church consists of seven sacraments (see also Catholic sacraments):

• Baptism,
• Confession,
• Eucharist,
• Confirmation,
• Holy Matrimony,
• Holy Orders, and
• Anointing of the Sick.

Within the Catholic faith, sacraments are gestures and words of Christ that impart sanctifying grace on the receiver. Baptism is given to infants and to adult converts who have not previously been validly baptised (the baptism of most Christian denominations is accepted as valid by the Catholic Church since the effect is thought to come straight from God regardless of the personal faith, but not intention, of the minister). Confession or reconciliation involves admitting sins to a priest and receiving penance (a task to complete in order to achieve absolution or forgiveness from God). The Eucharist (Communion), is the sacrifice of Christ, marked by partaking in the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ which are believed to replace in everything but appearance the bread and wine used in the ceremony. The Roman Catholic belief that bread and wine are turned into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is called transubstantiation. In the sacrament of Confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit conferred in baptism is "strengthened and deepened" (see Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 1303) by the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. In the majority Latin Rite church, this sacrament is presided over by a bishop, and takes place in early adulthood. In the Eastern Catholic Churches (see below) the sacrament is called chrismation, and is ordinarily performed immediately after baptism by a priest. Holy Orders is the entering into the priesthood and involves a vow of chastity; the sacrament of Holy Orders is given in three degrees: that of the deacon (since Vatican II a permanent deacon may be married before becoming a deacon), that of the priest, and that of the bishop. Anointing of the Sick used to be known as "extreme unction" or the "last rites"; it involves the anointing of a sick person with a holy oil blessed specifically for that purpose and is no longer limited to the seriously ill or dying.

Rites

The Catholic Church is actually a federation of 24 self-governing (sui juris) Churches in communion with each other under the leadership of the Pope. By far the largest Church is the Latin Church, popularly called the Roman Catholic Church. The other 23 Churches are in the collective called Eastern Catholic Churches. Each Eastern Catholic Church is led by a Patriarch, Major Archbishop, or Metropolitan (a chief Archbishop who does not hold the rank of Major Archbishop or Patriarch). The 24 Catholic Churches use among them six rites. The Roman rite is used only by the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church, and is used by the vast majority of Catholics (98%). There are also several Eastern Rites, which are used in parts of the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and by Catholic communities in other parts of the world that originate from there. There are also two other small Western rites, other than the Latin rite, the Ambrosian rite and the Mozarabic rite, which are used in a few places in Europe. In the Middle Ages there were many other Western rites, but almost all of them were replaced by the Latin rite by the Council of Trent. The Eastern rites originated with groups that left Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches to join the Roman Catholic church, but retained their own rites and traditions.

A listing of rites, with the Churches that use it, follows:

Roman

• Latin
• Ambrosian

Byzantine

• Albanian
• Belarussian
• Bulgarian
• Croatian
• Georgian
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Melkite
• Romanian
• Russian

• Ruthenian
• Slovak
• Serbian
• Ukrainian

Antiochene

• Maronite
• Malankarese
• Syriac

Chaldean

• Chaldean
• Syro-Malabarese

Armenian

• Armenian

Alexandrian

• Coptic
• Ge'ez

Historically, the church service in the Latin rite was conducted entirely in Latin, but local languages came into use with the Second Vatican Council (also called Vatican II), which occurred in 1962-5. Eastern rite Catholicism uses various languages, depending on the particular rite involved: Greek, Slavonic, Arabic, Romanian or Georgian in the Byzantine rite; Syriac in the Antiochene and Chaldean rites; Armenian in the Armenian rite; and Coptic or Ge'ez in the Alexandrian rite.

Organization by Region

The fundamental geographical and organizational unit of the Catholic Church is the diocese (in the Eastern Catholic Churches, the equivalent unit is called an eparchy). This is generally a defined geographical area, centered on a principal city, headed by a bishop. The primary church of a diocese is known as a cathedral from the cathedra or chair of the bishop that is one of the main symbols of his office. Within a diocese, a bishop exercises what is known as ordinary, or primary administrative authority. (Houses of some religious orders are semi-independent of the dioceses they are in; the religious superior of that order exercises ordinary jurisdiction over them.) While the Pope appoints bishops and reviews their performance, and a variety of other institutions govern or supervise certain activities, a bishop has a great deal of independence in administering a diocese. Certain dioceses, generally centered around large and important cities, are called archdioceses and are headed by an archbishop. In large dioceses and archdioceses, the bishop is often assisted by auxiliary bishops, full bishops and members of the College of Bishops who do not head a diocese of their own. Archbishops, suffragan bishops (usually shortened to just "bishops"), and auxiliary bishops are equally bishops; the different titles indicate what type (if any) of ecclesiastical unit they head. Many countries have vicariates that support their militaries (see military ordinariate).

Almost all dioceses were organized into groups known as provinces, each of which is headed by an archbishop. While provinces still exist, their role has largely been replaced by conferences of bishops, generally made up of all the dioceses of a particular country or countries. These groups handle a wide array of common functions, including supervision of liturgical texts and practices for the specific cultural and linguistic groups and relations with the governments in their area. The authority of these conferences to bind the actions of individual bishops is limited (traditional theologians consider this authority ultimately non-binding), however. Bishop's conferences started to appear early in the 20th century, and were officially recognized in the Second Vatican Council document Christus Dominus.

The College of Cardinals is the collection of Roman Catholic bishops who are special advisors to the Pope. Any priest can be appointed Cardinal, provided he "excelled in believe, moral and piety". If a cardinal is elected Pope who has not yet been ordained bishop he subsequently has to receive episcopal ordination. (C.f. Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis[1]) All cardinals under the age of 80 have the right to elect a new pope upon the a pope's death; the cardinals who may elect are almost always members of the clergy; however, the Pope has sometimes in the past awarded outstanding members of the Catholic laity (e.g., theologians) with membership in the College after they have passed electing age. Each cardinal is given some church or chapel (thus, cardinal bishop, cardinal priest, and cardinal deacon) in Rome to make him a member of the clergy of Rome. Many cardinals serve in the curia, which assists the Pope in Church administration. All cardinals who are not resident in Rome are diocesan bishops.

Dioceses are divided into local districts called parishes. All Catholics are expected to attend and support their local parish church. While the Catholic Church has developed an elaborate system of global governance, day to day Catholicism is lived in the local community, tied together in worship in the local parish. Local parishes are largely self supporting; a church, often in a growing or poor community, that is being supported by a diocese is known as a mission.

The Roman Catholic Church supports many orders (groups) of monks and nuns who are mainly non-priests living lives specially devoted to serving God. These are people who have grouped together under a certain system for the purpose of the perfection of virtue. This sometimes involves separation from the world for meditation and sometimes exceptional participation in the world, often in medical or educational work. Almost universally the Monks and Nuns take vows of poverty (no or limited personal ownership of property and money), chastity (no use of the sexual mechanisms), and obedience (to the superiors).

Distinctive doctrines

Catholics believe in the Trinity of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the divinity of Jesus, and the salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and through loving God above all things. Catholic views differ from Orthodox on several points, including the nature of the Petrine Ministry (the papacy), the nature of the Trinity and how that should be expressed in the Nicene Creed, and a juridical versus relational understanding of salvation and repentance. Catholics differ from Protestants in several points, including the necessity of penance, the meaning of communion, the composition of the canon of scripture, purgatory, and the means of salvation: Protestants believe that salvation is by faith alone (sola fide), while Catholics believe that faith is exhibited in good works. Stereotypically, this has led to a conflict over the doctrine of justification (the Reformation taught that "we are justified by faith alone"). Modern ecumenical dialogue has led to a number of consensus statements on the doctrine of justification between Roman Catholics and Lutherans, Anglicans, and others.

Liturgy and worship

The most important act of worship in the Roman Catholic Church is the Eucharistic liturgy, usually called the Mass. Mass is celebrated every Sunday morning in most Roman Catholic parishes; Catholics can however fulfill their Sunday devotion by attending a Mass on Saturday night. Catholics must also attend Mass on ten additional days every year, known as the Holy Day of Obligation. Additional Masses can be celebrated on any day of the liturgical year except for Good Friday. Most churches have daily Mass. The contemporary Mass is composed of two major parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In the Liturgy of the Word, readings from the Bible are done; and a homily (like the Protestant sermon) is spoken. At Masses on Sundays and feast days, the Nicene Creed, which states the orthodox beliefs of Catholicism, is professed by all Catholics present. The Liturgy of the Eucharist includes the presentation of the gifts of bread and wine, the Eucharistic Prayer, during which the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, and the communion procession.

The liturgical reform movement has been responsible over the past forty years for a significant convergence of Latin Rite worship practices with that of Protestant churches. One feature of the new liturgical views has been a "return to the sources" (ressourcement), claimed as resulting from the rediscovery of ancient liturgical texts and practices, along with many new practices. The post-conciliar (post-Vatican II) reforms of the liturgy included the use of the vernacular (local) language, a greater emphasis on the Liturgy of the Word, and the clarification of symbolism. The most visible feature of the reforms is the posture of the priest. In the past, the priest faced the altar, with his back to the congregation. The reforms have turned the priest to face the people, with the altar between. This symbolises the desire for the Mass to become more people centered. Critics however have complained about the nature of the post-Vatican II Mass (known sometimes as the Novus Ordo Missae). In 2003, it was revealed that the pre-Vatican II Tridentine Mass was again being celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica (though not on the main altar) and that Pope John Paul II had begun celebrating Tridentine Masses in his private chapel in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

Contemporary Catholicism

The Catholic Church, like most Christian faiths, has experienced a steep decline in its worldwide influence in western society in the late 20th century; its exclusively male leadership structure and rigid doctrinal beliefs on matters to do with human sexuality have less appeal to a more secular western world where diversity in sexual practices and gender equality are the norm. In places where it once played a primary role, such as Quebec, Ireland, and Spain, it holds only a fraction of its former influence. At the same time, however, Roman Catholicism is experiencing a dramatic rise in membership in Africa and parts of Asia. While western missionaries once served as priests in African churches, by the late 20th century a growing number of western nations began to recruit African priests to balance their dwindling numbers of local clergy.

Pressure on traditional mores and practices

• birth control & pre-marital chastity
• homosexuality
• celibacy of the ordained

Ordination of women

As a result of feminism and other social and political movements that have removed barriers to the entry of women into professions that were traditionally male strongholds, in latter quarter of the twentieth century many women sought ordination into the Roman Catholic priesthood.

The traditionalist Roman Catholic position is that women cannot be priests or bishops, on account of the doctrine of apostolic succession. Priests and bishops are successors to the Apostles, and because Jesus Christ chose only men to be the twelve apostles, only men can become priests and bishops. On May 22, 1994, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (Priestly Ordination) which reaffirmed the traditionalist position, and concluded:

Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Luke 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

Within Roman Catholicism itself, debate on the subject now focuses on whether this statement is meant to invoke papal infallibility and raise the rule that women cannot be Roman Catholic priests to the level of an irreformable dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. That disagreement as to the status reached to the heart of the Church. While some elements around Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger implied strongly that the statement had invoked infallibility, many other elements, notably the Vatican's own press office, explicitly stated it was not, and should not be seen as, an infallible statement. (Disagreements between Ratzinger and official Vatican policy are a regular occurance. His Dominus Iesus statement, for example, disagreed in tone and content with Pope John Paul II's own encyclical on ecumanism. While it was stated that the Pope agreed with and approved Ratzinger's document, a dissenting senior Vatican official discovered on meeting the Pope that John Paul II had not fully read Ratzinger's document.)²

Critics accused some of those attached to Ratzinger's Congregation of trying to make the document sound infallible to try to kill off the debate, in effect spinning a fallible document as infallible. Such an accusation has been made in the pact, notably Pope Paul's encyclical, Humanæ Vitæ about which one conservative curial cardinal stated "the Holy Father has spoken. The issue is forever closed." However the refusal of Pope John Paul's own press spokesman, himself a conservative, to describe the statement as "infallible" has led to a general though not universal presumption that the document is not so. In addition, the Vatican itself formally states that since 1870, only one infallible teaching has been issued by a pope, namely Pope Pius XII's 1950 statement about the bodily assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. By implication, neither Humanæ Vitæ nor Ordinatio Sacerdotalis are infallible.

What is missed in the debate is that "what has always been taught" is as infallible as a solemn definition that springs from the Pope's Infallible Magisterium. That which has always been taught by the Church is a part of its Universal Magisterium, which is as infallible as such solemn definitions as that used to define the Assumption of Mary.

Sexual abuse of children

Particular damage has been done to the institution and to its members' trust in it by acts of child sexual abuse by a small but persistent group of clergy. Allegations of abuse have been made against clergy in many parts of the world, with notorious cases hitting the headlines in Spain, Ireland, Canada and the United States. For the Church, the crisis has been two-fold. First, many Roman Catholics had an almost automatic sense of trust in the clergy. The revelation that this trust had been violated repeatedly fundamentally reshaped public attitudes towards the clergy. But secondly, the institution was damaged by the revelation that the Church's leadership seriously mishandled cases of abusers, using Canon Law and diocesan boundaries³ to help clergy avoid popular anger and even criminal sanction. For a full discussion, see Roman Catholic Church sex abuse allegations.

References

Notes

¹ Early lists of popes stated that the first pope was St. Linus. Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (Yale Nota Bene, 2002) Appendix A.

² ibid.

³ Technically each diocese operates separately of its neighbours, while religious orders in each diocese are not answerable to or under the control of the local bishop. As a result suspicions about the behaviour of secular priests (priests belonging to the diocese) were not always reported to other dioceses or to religious order-run schools or hospitals, while abuse by religious priests (priests belonging to a religious order) was not always relayed by his order to the diocese and its schools. The most notorious example involved Fr. Brendan Smyth, a Norbertine Order priest in Ireland, whose activities (known about since 1945) were not reported to diocesian clergy let alone the police. In 1994, Brendan Smyth pleaded guilty to a sample set of 17 charges of sexual abuse of children in Belfast from a far longer list. A number of dioceses, the Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh and Smyth's own order publicly blamed each other and accepted no responsibility themselves for the failure to stop Smyth over 47 years.

See also

• Altar rails
• Beatification
• Christianity
• Crusade
• Ecumenical council
• History of Christianity
• Index Librorum Prohibitorum
• Inquisition
• Knights of Columbus
• List of religious topics
• Liturgical Year
• Mass
• Military Ordinariate
• Novus Ordo Missae
• Opus Dei
• Roman Catholicism's links with democracy and dictatorships
• Saint
• Santeria
• Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
• Traditional Catholicism
• Tridentine Mass
• Vatican City
• Witchhunt

Additional Reading

• Catechism of the Catholic Church - English translation (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000). ISBN 1574551108 [1]
• H. W. Crocker III, Triumph - The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church: A 2,000-Year History (Prima Publishing, 2001). ISBN 0761529241
• Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (Yale Nota Bene, 2002). ISBN 0300091656

External links

• The Holy See - The Vatican's Official Website
• Catechism of the Catholic Church
• Topical search engine for the Catechism
• New Advent
• Summa Theologica
• The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Catholic Answers (catholic.com)
• Apologia

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Catholicism."

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Latin

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Alternate meanings: See Latin (disambiguation)

Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire.

All Romance languages descend from a Latin parent, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. Moreover, in the Western world, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs, for more than a thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English in the late 19th. It remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, which includes being the official national language of the Vatican. It is also still used to furnish the names used in the scientific classification of living things.

Latin has an extensive flectional system, which mainly operates by appending strings to a fixed stem. Inflection of nouns and adjectives is termed "declension", that of verbs, "conjugation". There are five declensions of nouns, and four conjugations for verbs. The six noun forms (or "cases") are nominative (used for subjects), genitive (show possession), dative (indirect objects), accusative (direct objects, some prepositions), ablative (used with some prepositions), and vocative (used to address someone). In addition, there exists in some nouns a locative case used to express place (normally expressed by the ablative with a preposition such as IN), but this hold-over from Indo-European is only found in the names of lakes, cities, towns, similar locales, and a few other words.

Romance languages are not derived from Classical Latin but rather from Vulgar Latin. Latin and Romance differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress whereas Latin had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive.

Another major distinction between Romance and Latin is that Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings in most words (some pronouns being exceptions). Romanian is still equipped with several cases (though some, notably the ablative, are no longer represented).

Latin and English

English grammar is not a direct derivative of Latin grammar. Attempts to make English grammar fit Latin rules -- such as the contrived prohibition against the split infinitive -- have not worked successfully in regular usage. However, as many as half the words in English come to us through Latin, including many words of Greek origin, not to mention the thousands of French, Spanish, and Italian words of Latin origin that have also enriched English.

• Latin phonemes
• Latin declension
• Latin conjugation
• Latin lexicon
• List of Latin phrases
• Compound verbs in English consisting of Latin prefix and Latin verb
• List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names

See also

• Latin literature,
• Latin proverbs,
• List of Latin phrases,
• Brocards,
• Roman Empire,
• New Latin,
• Latin names of European cities,
• Latin names of European rivers.

External links

• The Perseus Project has many useful pages for the study of classical languages and literatures, including an interactive Latin dictionary.
• Ethnologue report for Latin
• Free online courses in Latin
  • http://www.sprachprofi.de.vu/latin
  • http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Latin
• The Latin Library contains many Latin etexts
• Textkit has Latin textbooks and etexts.

Please note that there is also a Latin Wikipedia

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Latin."

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Latin alphabet

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, as used by the English language consists of the following characters:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

The alphabet used for the Latin language had no J, U, or W.

History

The Latin alphabet derives mainly from the Etruscan alphabet. According to Hammarström (in Jensen 521), the letters for B, D, O, X hail from a Southern Italian Greek alphabet. However, there are Etruscan abecedaria with B, D, O, X (Sampson 108). Rix (203) claims that the sound values of those letters in Latin are to be attributed to Greek influence, the letters themselves were probably all present when the Romans took over the alphabet from the Etruscans (Wachter 33).

It is uncontested that the alphabet is mainly of Etruscan origin. The sound value of C proves that clearly. Etruscan had no voiced plosives, so this symbol - derived from the Greek gamma - came to stand for the unvoiced /k/ in Etruscan - as later in Latin. Jensen (521) notes that the letters C, K, Q were originally used in Latin according to Etruscan usage: C in front of /e, i/; K in front of /a/; Q in front of /u, o/. The letters thus stand for different allophones of /k/ (in the case of Latin, also /g/ and probably the phonemes /k_w/ and /g _w/ in the case of QU and GU). These spelling rules are due to the names of the letters: gamma or gemma; kappa; qoppa or quppa (Wachter 15). In Etruscan there was no /o/, so Q was used both in front of /o/ and /u/ in Latin. Y and Z were later additions taken from the Greek alphabet. G was created by Spurius Carvilius Ruga (who flourished around 230 BC) as a modification of C (Sampson 109). F (digamma) stood for /w/ in both Etruscan and Latin, but the Romans simplified the FH-/f/combination to F /f/. The semi-vowels /w, j/ and the vowels /u, u:, i, i:/ were written with the same letters, namely V and I respectively.

There was no 'U'; instead, there was the semi-vowel 'V'. There was no 'W', although 'V' was pronounced as the modern English 'W'. They didn't have the letter 'J', instead they had the semi-vowel 'I'.

Compare

• Greek alphabet
• Hebrew alphabet
• Cyrillic alphabet

See also

• Roman Naming Conventions

Use in other languages

In the course of its history, the Latin alphabet was used for new languages, and therefore, some new letters and diacritics were created, e.g.:

• the cedilla in ç (originally a little z written below the c) that symbolized /ts/ in Romance
• the hacek in Slavonic languages, used to mark palatalised versions of the base letter, e.g. č.
• the tilde in Spanish ñ or some Portuguese vowels (originally a little n written above the letter) used to mark the elision of a former N, and then later to mark nasalisation of the base letter.

Please see 'Alphabets derived from the Latin' for a more complete list.

W is a letter made up from two U's. It was added in late Roman times to represent a Germanic sound. U and J were originally not distinguished from V and I respectively. In Old English, thorn þ, edh ð and wynn ƿ - a Runic letter - were added. In modern Icelandic, thorn and edh are still used. The additional letters added in German are special presentations of earlier ligature forms (ae → ä, ue → ü or ſss → ß). French adds the circumflex to record elided consonants that were present in earlier forms and are often still present in the modern English cognate forms (Old French hostel → French hôtel = English hotel or Late Latin pasta → Middle French paste → French pâte and English paste).

Some Slavic languages use the latin alphabet rather than the Cyrillic. Among these, Polish uses a variety of ligatures with z to represent special phonetic values, and a dark l - ł - for a sound similar to w. Czech uses diacritics as in Dvořák. The Slavic regions which stayed with the Orthodox church generally use Cyrillic instead which is much closer to the Greek alphabet. Hausa uses three additional consonants: ɓ, ɗ and ƙ.

Collating in other languages

Alphabets derived from the Latin have varying collating rules:

• In French and English, characters with diaeresis (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ) are treated just like their un-accented versions. If two words differ only by an accent in French, the one with the accent is greater.
• In German umlaut (Ä,Ö,Ü) are treated generally just like their non-umlauted versions; ß is always sorted as ss. This makes the alphabetic order Arg, Ärgerlich, Arm, Assistent, Aßlar, Assoziation. For phone directories and similar lists of names, the umlauts are to be collated like the letter combinations "ae", "oe", "ue". This makes the alphabetic order Udet, Übelacker, Uell, Ülle, Ueve, Üxküll, Uffenbach.
• In the Swedish alphabet, "W" is seen as a variant of "V" and not a separate letter. It is however recognised and maintained in names, like in "William". The alphabet also has three extra vowels placed at its end (..., X, Y, Z, Å, Ä, Ö). The same alphabet and collating rules are used for Finnish.
• The same extra vowels as in Swedish are also present in the Danish and Norwegian alphabets but in a different order and with different glyphs (..., X, Y, Z, Æ, Ø, Å). Also, "Aa" collates as an equivalent to "Å". The Danish alphabet sees "W" as a variant of "V".
• Some languages have more complex rules: for example, Spanish treated (til 1997) "CH" and "LL" as single letters, giving an ordering of CINCO, CREDO, CHISPA and LOMO, LUZ, LLAMA. This is not true anymore since in 1997 RAE adopted the more normal usage, and now LL is collated between LI and LO, and CH between CE and CI. The only Spanish specific collating question is Ñ (eñe) as a different letter collated after N.
• In Dutch the combination IJ was formerly to be collated as Y (or sometimes, as a separate letter Y < IJ < Z), but is currently mostly collated as 2 letters (II < IJ < IK). Note that a word starting with ij that is written with a capital I is also written with a capital J, e.g. the town IJmuiden (mun. Velsen) and the river IJssel.
• The Hungarian language has accents, umlauts, and double accents. The accent is ignored in collating, and the double accent, which indicates a long umlaut vowel, is treated as equal to the umlaut.
• In Icelandic, Þ is added, and D is followed by Ð.
• Both letters were also used by Anglo-Saxon scribes who also used the Runic letter Wynn to represent /w/.
• Þ (called thorn; lowercase þ) is also a Runic letter, some scholars derive it from Latin D.
• Ð (called eth; lowercase ð) is the letter D with an added stroke.
• In Polish, specifically Polish letters derived from the Latin alphabet are collated after their originals: A, Ą, B, C, Ć, D, E, Ę, ..., L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ó, P, ..., S, Ś, T, ..., Z, Ź, Ż.
• In Czech, accented vowels are treated as their unaccented forms, but accented consonants (the ones with hacek) immediatelly follow their unaccented counterparts. The letter CH goes between H and I.
• In Esperanto, consonants with circumflex accents (ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ), as well as ŭ (u with breve), are counted as separate letters and collated separately (c, ĉ, d, e, f, g, ĝ, h, ĥ, i, j, ĵ ... s, ŝ, t, u, ŭ, v, z).
• In Tatar, there are 9 additional letters. 5 of them are vowels, paired with main alphabet vowels as hard-smooth: a-ä, o-ö, u-ü, í-i, ı-e. The four remaining are consonants: ş is sh, ç is ch, ñ is ng and ğ is gh.
• In Croatian and related South Slavic languages, the five accented characters and two conjoined characters are sorted after the originals: ..., C, Č, Ć, D, DŽ, Đ, E, ..., L, LJ, M, N, NJ, O, ..., S, Š, T, ..., Z, Ž.

References

• Jensen, Hans. 1970. Sign Symbol and Script. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. Transl. of Die Schrift in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. 1958, as revised by the author.
• Rix, Helmut. 1993. "La scrittura e la lingua" In: Cristofani, Mauro (hrsg.) 1993. Gli etruschi - Una nuova immagine. Firenze: Giunti. S.199-227.
• Sampson, Geoffrey. 1985. Writing systems. London (etc.): Hutchinson.
• Wachter, Rudolf. 1987. Altlateinische Inschriften: sprachliche und epigraphische Untersuchungen zu den Dokumenten bis etwa 150 v.Chr. Bern (etc.): Peter Lang.
• Biktaş, Şamil, 2003, Tuğan Tel.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Latin alphabet."

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Roman

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

simple:Roman The noun Roman means a citizen of Rome. The adjective Roman means pertaining or related to Rome.

• Roman Kingdom -- 753 B.C. to 509 B.C.
• Roman Republic -- 509 B.C. to 44 B.C.
• Roman Empire -- 44 B.C. to 476 A.D.

• Byzantine Empire -- "Eastern Roman Empire" 330 A.D to 1453 A.D.
• Holy Roman Empire -- ca 900 A.D. to 1806 A.D.

• Epistle to the Romans -- Book of the Bible New Testament

See Rome, Latin language, and

• Roman alphabet (Latin alphabet)
• Roman architecture
• Roman calendar
• Roman Catholic Church
• Roman Colosseum
• Roman Emperors
• Roman hills -- Seven hills of ancient Rome
• Roman law
• Roman legion
• Roman Missal
• Roman mythology
• Roman numerals
• Roman road
• Roman Triumph
• Roman villa
• Roman surface
• Roman invasion of Britain
  • Roman Britain
  • Romano-British
  • Roman sites in the United Kingdom
  • List_of_Roman_place_names_in_Britain

Roman is a family of typographic fonts, the most famous and common of which is Times New Roman.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman."

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Roman architecture

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Romans adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture. Sometimes that approach is productive, and sometimes it hinders understanding by causing us to judge Roman buildings by Greek standards.

See also: Pantheon, Opus

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman architecture."

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Roman Britain

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Roman Britain is the term applied to the historical period when Britain was under Roman rule, usually considered AD 44 to 410.

Julius Caesar made two campaigns to Britain, the first in 55 BC, and the next the following year. While not resulting in the conquest of any territory, they still brought at least part of the island within the influence of Rome.

Caligula planned his own campaign against the British in AD 40, but its execution was bizarre: according to Suetonius, he drew up his troops in battle formation facing the English Channel and ordered them to attack the standing water. Afterwards, he had the troops gather sea shells, referring to them as "plunder from the ocean, due to the Capitol and the Palace."

The actual Roman invasion of Britain had to wait until the reign of Claudius, in the year 44. The Roman troops defeated the British under Caratacus, and captured his capital Camulodunum or Colchester. Caratacus refused to submit, and retreated deeper into unconquered Britain, coming to the domain of the Ordovices in 47. He incited this tribe to fight the Romans, and they lost the ensuing battle. Once again Caratacus fled, this time to Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes. Cartimandua prudently surrendered Caratacus to the Romans, who brought him in chains to Rome. Thus ended the first phase of the conquest.

For the first twenty years, the Roman rule was oppressive, and this treatment forced Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, to revolt. The Trinovantes and Catuvellauni joined, and the alliance assaulted the Roman colony at Camulodunum, looting and burning the town as well as slaying every man, woman and child they found. The governor Suetonius Paullinus, upon reaching London from his campaigning in the western part of the province, found the town indefensible with the few troops he had. As a result, Paullinus was forced to abandon the city and took only those who could afford to leave in time to retreat with him, leaving some behind. The Fourteenth legion joined him at a battlefield of his choosing, and the combined Roman forces crushed the revolt. Boudicca took her life shortly afterwards.

For much of the history of Roman Britain, there was a large number of soldiers garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the this province. As a side-effect of this, a number of future emperors served as governors of this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

In the following years the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. The governor Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the 20th legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in AD 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in what is today northern Scotland. This marked the high tide mark of Roman territory in Britain; shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans retired to a more defensible line along the Forth-Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers of the Empire.

Twice in the second century, there were military crises in the province. The first incident was towards the end of Trajan's reign (117), which was handled by Q. Pompeius Falco. The second crisis was in 155 - 7, when the Brigantes revolted. This rebellion was suppressed by governor Julius Verus.

When Hadrian reached Britain on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known as Hadrian's Wall to be built from the Tyne to the Solway Firth, which became the northern frontier of the province. This frontier was briefly extended forward to the Forth-Clyde isthmus in the reign of Antoninus Pius, where the Antonine Wall was built, from around 142 to the reign of Severus.

The usurpation of Albinus demonstrated the two major political problems posed by Roman Britain. First, in order to maintain its security, it had three legions stationed there, which would provide an ambitious man with weak loyalties a powerful base for rebellion -- which Albinus dutifully abused. Second, any rebellious official who used this resource must needs strip the island of its garrison to march on Rome and seize the throne, leaving the island defenseless to attackers -- which is what Albinus did in 196.

Following Albinus' defeat, Septimius Severus tried to solve this problem by dividing the existing province into two: Upper and Lower Britain. While this kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century, the revolt of Carausius (286-97) forced Constantius Chlorus, upon its suppression, to further divide the island into four provinces:

• Maxima Caesariensis: from Upper Britain
• Britannia Prima: from Upper Britain
• Flavia Caesariensis (based on London): from Lower Britain
• Britannia Secunda: from Lower Britain

Constantius remained in Britain for the rest of the time he was part of the Tetrarchy, dying in Eburacum, present-day York, in 306. Constantine had managed to be by his side at that moment, and assumed his duties in Britain. Unlike the earlier usurper Albinus, he was able to successfully use his base in Britain as a starting point on his march to the imperial throne.

For a few years, the British provinces were loyal to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following his death. Following his defeat and death in the Battle of Mon Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notarary Paul Catena to hunt down Magnentius' supporters. Paul's investigations deteriorated into a witch hunt, which forced the vicarus Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paul instead suspected Martinus of treason, the vicarus found himself forced to physically attack Paul with a sword with the aim of assassinating him, but at the end committed suicide.

In the fourth century, Britain was also subjected to increasing outside attacks, the Saxons from the east, and the Irish from the west. A series of forts were built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when a general assault of Saxons, Irish, and Attacotti combined with a general revolt of the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain supine in 367. This crisis was settled by Count Theodosius, father of future emperor Theodosius I.

Another usurper, Magnus Maximus, attempted to repeat Constantine's success by raising the standard of revolt in Seguntium in 383, and bringing the troops across the Channel with him. His rebellion was ended in 388, but this time not all of the troops were returned to Britain by an empire that had suffered a great loss of life in the Battle of Adrianople in 378, and now was scrambling to find sufficient manpower to defend all of its borders.

The archaeological records of the final decades of Roman rule show undeniable signs of decay. Urban and villa life had grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the fourth century, pottery shards are not present in levels dating past AD 400, and coins minted past 402 are rare. So when Constantine III became Emperor in 407, and crossed the channel with the remaining units of the British garrison, effectively Roman Britain ended. The inhabitants were forced to look to their own defenses and government -- a fact made clear in a rescript the emperor Flavius Augustus Honorius sent them in 410.

The Legacy

During their occupation of Britain, the Romans built an extensive network of roads many of which are still in use today. The Romans also built water and sewage systems.

Britain is also noteworthy as having the largest European region of the former Roman Empire which currently speaks neither:

• a Romance language (as say, Romania, which although located in an area controlled by the Roman Empire about half of the time as Britain, speaks Romanian, which is decended from Latin), nor
• a language decended from the pre-Roman inhabitants (such as the Basque-speaking regions of Spain and France.)

For what is known of the process that introduced English to much of this former province, see the article Anglo-Saxons.

See also : History of Britain, List of Roman place names in Britain, Romano-British, Roman sites in the United Kingdom, UK topics

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman Britain."

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Roman Empire

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Roman Empire, successor of the Roman Republic, controlled the Mediterranean world and much of Northern Europe after 31 B.C The last Roman emperor in the western half of the empire was deposed in 476. The eastern part of the empire continued without interruption, but with gradually shrinking territory, until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks (See Byzantine Empire). Successor states in the west (the Frankish kingdom and the Holy Roman Empire) and the east (the Russian czars) used titles adopted from Roman practices well into the modern period.

The Roman Empire's influence on government, law, architecture, and many other aspects of life remains inescapable. See also: Roman culture

The rise of Augustus

As the Roman Republic (509 B.C - 31 B.C) came to an end, Gaius Octavius, great-nephew of Julius Caesar, solidified his position by his defeat of his only rival for power, Mark Antony, in the battle of Actium the following year. He had his work cut out for him; years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near-lawlessness. Moreover, Rome was not prepared to accept the control of a despot.

Octavius (or Octavian) was clever. First, he disbanded his armies, and held elections. Octavian was chosen for the powerful position of Consul. In 27 B.C, he officially returned power to the Senate of Rome, and offered to relinquish his own military supremacy and hegemony over Egypt. Not only did the senate turn him down, he was also given control of Spain, Gaul and Syria. Shortly thereafter, the Senate gave him the name Augustus.

Augustus knew that the power he needed to rule absolutely could not be derived from his Consulship, however. In 23 B.C, he renounced this office in favor of two other powers. First, he was granted the office of a tribune, which allowed him to convene the senate at will and lay business before it. Since the tribuneship was an office traditionally associated with the people, this consolidated his power further. Second, he received new authority in the form of an "Imperial" power, which gave him supreme authority in all matters pertaining to territorial governance. 23 B.C. is the date on which Augustus is usually said to have assumed the mantle of Emperor of Rome. He more typically used a civilian title, however, Princeps, or "First Citizen."

As Emperor, Augustus organized the affairs of his empire with aplomb; it is largely due to his genius that the Roman Empire lasted for as long as it did. He established standardized minting and taxation; he created a civil service structure consisting of knights and freedmen (former slaves). He also provided retirement benefits for soldiers.

He was a master propagandist, and his patronage of the Roman writers Horace, Livy and (especially) Virgil allowed him to cement his position through use of poetry and prose. His use of games and special events to celebrate himself and his family cemented his popularity.

Augustus also founded the world's first fire brigade, and created a regular police force for Rome.

In fact, Augustus's control of power throughout the Empire was so absolute that it allowed him to name his successor, a custom which had been abandoned and derided in Rome since the foundation of the Republic. At first, indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, who had been married to Augustus's daughter Julia. However, he died of food poisoning in 23 B.C. Reports of later historians that this poisoning, and other later deaths, were caused by Augustus's wife Livia Drusilla are inconclusive at best.

After the death of Marcellus, Augustus married his daughter to his right hand man, Marcus Agrippa. This union produced three children, Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, and Postumus Agrippa (so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died). Augustus's intent to make the first two children his heirs was apparent when he adopted them as his own children. Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons (Livia's children from her first marriage) Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and Tiberius Claudius, after they had conquered a large portion of Central Europe.

After Agrippa died in 12 B.C, Livia's son Tiberius divorced his own wife and married Agrippa's widow. Tiberius shared in Augustus's tribunical powers, but shortly thereafter went into retirement. After the early deaths of both Gaius and Lucius in AD 4 and AD 2. respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome, where he was adopted by Augustus.

On AD August 19, 14, Augustus died. Shortly thereafter, the senate voted him into the pantheon of Roman gods (or deified him). Postumus Agrippa and Tiberius had been named co-heirs. However, Postumus had been banished, and was put to death around the same time. Who ordered his death is unknown, but the way was clear for Tiberius to assume the same powers that his stepfather had.

The heirs of Augustus: the Julio-Claudian Line

Tiberius

The early years of Tiberius's reign were peaceful and relatively benign. Tiberius secured the power of Rome and enriched the treasury. However, Tiberius's reign soon became characterized by paranoia and slander. In 19, he was blamed for the death of his nephew, the popular Germanicus. In 23, his own son Drusus died. More and more, Tiberius retreated into himself. He began a series of treason trials and executions. He left power in the hands of the commander of the guard, Aelius Sejanus. Tiberius himself retired to live at his villa on the island of Capri in 26, leaving Sejanus in charge. Sejanus carried on the persecutions with relish. He also began to consolidate his own power; in 31, he was named co-consul with Tiberius and married Livilla, the emperor's niece. At this point, he was hoist by his own petard; the Emperor's paranoia, which he had so ably exploited for his own gain, was turned against him. Sejanus was put to death, along with many of his cronies, the same year. The persecutions continued apace until Tiberius's death in 37.

Caligula

At the time of Tiberius's death, most of the people who might have succeeded him had been brutally murdered. The logical successor (and Tiberius's own choice) was his grandnephew, Germanicus's son Gaius (better known as Caligula). Caligula started out well, by putting an end to the persecutions and burning his uncle's records. Unfortunately, he quickly lapsed into illness. The Caligula that emerged in late 37 may have suffered from epilepsy, and was more probably insane. He ordered his soldiers to invade Britain, but changed his mind at the last minute and had them pick sea shells on the northern end of France instead. It is believed he carried on incestuous relations with his sisters. He had ordered a statue of himself to be erected in the Temple at Jerusalem, which would have undoubtedly led to revolt had he not been dissuaded. In 41, Caligula was assassinated by the commander of the guard Cassius Chaerea. The only member left of the imperial family to take charge was another nephew of Tiberius's, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, better known as the emperor Claudius.

Claudius

Claudius had long been considered a weakling and a fool by the rest of his family. He was, however, neither paranoid like his uncle Tiberius, nor insane like his nephew Caligula, and was therefore able to administrate with reasonable ability. He improved the bureaucracy and streamlined the citizenship and senatorial rolls. He also proceeded with the conquest and colonization of Britain (in 43), and incorporated more Eastern provinces into the empire. In Italy, he constructed a winter port at Ostia, thereby providing a place for grain from other parts of the Empire to be brought in inclement weather.

On the home front, Claudius was less successful. His wife Messalina cuckolded him; when he found out, he had her executed and married his niece, Agrippina the younger. She, along with several of his freedmen, held an inordinate amount of power over him, and very probably killed him in 54. Claudius was deified later that year. The death of Claudius paved the way for Agrippina's own son, the 16-year-old Lucius Domitus, or, as he was known by this time, Nero.

Nero

Initially, Nero left the rule of Rome to his mother and his tutors, particularly Lucius Annaeus Seneca. However, as he grew older, his desire for power increased; he had his mother and tutors executed. During Nero's reign, there were a series of riots and rebellions throughout the Empire: in Britain, Armenia, Parthia and Judaea. Nero's inability to manage the rebellions and his basic incompetence became evident quickly and in 68, even the Imperial guard renounced him. Nero committed suicide, and the year 69 (known as the Year of the Four Emperors) was a year of civil war, with the emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian ruling in quick succession. By the end of the year, Vespasian was able to solidify his power as emperor of Rome.

The Flavian Emperors

Vespasian

Vespasian was a remarkably successful Roman general who had been given rule over much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He had supported the imperial claims of Galba; however, on his death, Vespasian became a major contender for the throne. After the suicide of Otho, Vespasian was able to hijack Rome's winter grain supply, placing him in a good position to defeat his remaining rival, Vitellius. On December 20, 69, some of Vespasian's partisans were able to occupy Rome. Vitellius was murdered by his own troops, and the next day, Vespasian was confirmed as Emperor by the Senate.

Vespasian was quite the autocrat, and gave much less credence to the Senate than his Julio-Claudian predecessors. This was typified by his dating his accession to power from July 1, when his troops proclaimed him emperor, instead of December 21, when the Senate confirmed his appointment. He would, in later years, expel dissident senators.

Vespasian was able to liberate Rome from the financial burdens placed upon it by Nero's excesses and the civil wars. By increasing tax rates dramatically (sometimes as much as doubling them) he was able to build up a surplus in the treasury and embark on public works projects. It was he who first commissioned the Roman Colosseum; he also built a forum whose centerpiece was a temple to Peace.

Vespasian was also an effective emperor for the provinces. His generals quelled rebellions in Syria and Germany. In fact, in Germany he was able to expand the frontiers of the empire, and a great deal more of Britain was brought under Roman rule. He also extended Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of Spain.

Another example of his monarchical tendencies was his insistence that his sons Titus Flavius and Domitian would succeed him; the imperial power was not seen as hereditary at this point. Titus, who had some military successes early in Vespasian's reign, was seen as the heir presumptive to the throne; Domitian was seen as somewhat less disciplined and responsible. Titus joined his father in the offices of censor and consul and helped him reorganize the senatorial rolls. Upon Vespasian's death in 79, Titus was immediately confirmed as Emperor.

Titus

Titus's short reign was marked by disaster: in 79, Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii, and in 80, a fire decimated much of Rome. His generosity in rebuilding after these tragedies made him very popular. Titus was very proud of his work on the vast amphitheater begun by his father. He held the opening ceremonies in the still unfinished edifice during the year 80, celebrating with a lavish show that featured 100 gladiators and lasted 100 days. However, it was during Domitian's reign that the Colosseum was completed. Titus died in 81, at the age of 41; it was rumored that his brother Domitian murdered him in order to become his successor.

Domitian

Domitian did not live up to the good name left for the family by his father and elder brother. While his offenses may have been exaggerated by hostile later generations, it is clear that he did not like to share power. It had become accepted by Domitian's time that the emperor would simultaneously hold many of the magistracies established during Republican times (for instance the censorship and the tribunate), but it was still customary for other politicians to have those powers as well. Domitian wanted to claim authority for himself alone, causing him to alienate the Senate as well as the people.

See also: Roman Emperors, Five good emperors, Pax romana, Byzantine Empire, Roman currency, Roman place names and Byzantine Emperors.

Ancient Historians of the Empire

Writing in Latin

Livy - his history is of the Roman Republic, but he wrote during the reign of Augustus

Suetonius

Tacitus

Ammianus Marcellinus

Writing in Greek

Eusebius of Caesarea

Sozomen

Latin Literature of the Empire

Apuleius

Augustine of Hippo

Horace

Virgil

18th and 19th century histories

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (1776 - 1788)

Modern histories of the Roman Empire

• J.B. Bury, A History of the Roman Empire from its Foundation to the death of Marcus Aurelius (1913)
• M.I. Rostovteff, Economic History of the Roman Empire (2nd ed., 1957)
• A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284-602 (1964)
  

nds:Römsche Riek simple:Roman Empire

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman Empire."

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Roman invasion of Britain

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Roman invasion of Britain: Britain was the target of invasion by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire several times during its history.

Julius Caesar: 55 BC

In 55 BC, Julius Caesar landed on the coast, in what was intended as a reconnaissance mission. During his campaigns in Gaul, as recorded in Gallic Wars, he had determined that the Gauls were receiving aid from Britain. Towards the end of the summer, he decided that it would be useful to get some reliable information about the people, localities and harbours of the island, since little useful information was available from the Gauls or the merchants who visited it. First he sent out Caius Volusenus in a ship of war to investigate the coast, while in the meantime assembling a fleet of ships and settling an uprising by the Morini tribe of Gaul. Within days he received ambassadors from British tribes, promising that they would give hostages and submit to the Romans. He received them favourably and sent them back with Commius of the Atrebates, whom he thought would be influentual in Britain. Volusenus reported back after five days.

Caesar's fleet comprised about 80 transport ships for two legions. He also had ships of war and 18 ships of burden for his cavalry. Caesar sailed for Britain with the legions, but did not land immediately, since the British forces had gathered on the hills overlooking the shore and his cavalry had been delayed. After waiting at anchor for several hours, he sailed about seven miles to a place with an open shore. However the British, making heavy use of cavalry and chariots, were able to follow the progress of the fleet and attacked the Romans as they attempted to land. The Romans were disadvantaged by the need to disembark in deep water due to the size of the ships, while the British attacked from the shallows. However the British were eventually driven back with projectiles fired from the ships of war and the Romans managed to land and drive them off. The Romans established a camp and received ambassadors, and meeting again Commius who had been seized on arrival. Caesar demanded hostages: however a storm forced his still delayed cavalry back to the continent and many of his ships were damaged on the beach. With the Romans presumed to be disheartened and short of provisions, the British took the opportunity to renew the attack, ambushing one of the legions as it foraged near the Roman camp, making use of a form of cavalry attack that was novel to the Romans. However they were relieved by the remainder of the Roman force and the British were dispersed once again. After several days of storms, the British regrouped with larger forces. On attacking the Romans they were once again defeated, with a large number killed in retreat and the Romans laying waste to the surrounding area. Once again the British sent ambassadors, this time Caesar demanded double the number of hostages, to be delivered to Gaul (only two tribes eventually made good this promise). With the equinox drawing near, the Romans returned to Gaul.

Julius Caesar: 54 BC

In 54 BC, Caesar returned with a larger force. After taking hostages and receiving promises of tribute, Caesar returned to Rome.

Aulus Plautius: AD 43

The main (and most successful) invasion, occurred during the reign of the emperor Claudius. In AD 43, Aulus Plautius was appointed by Claudius as the general in charge of 4 Roman legions to invade Britain. The four legions were:

• Legio II Augusta, commanded by Vespasian (who became Emperor 25 years later)
• Legio IX Hispana
• Legio XIV Gemina
• Legio XX Valeria Victrix

These totalled about 20,000 men. In addition there were also about the same number of auxiliaries in the invasion force.

The main landing is thought to have been at Richborough in modern Kent in Southeast England; an increasing number of archaeologists are questioning the evidence for this, and believe that at least part of the force may have come via another route, eg. the Solent. British resistance was led by the sons of King Cunobelinus (Cymbeline in Shakespeare's play), Togidumnus and Caratacus. Emperor Claudius visited Britain briefly to take charge of the capture of Cunobelinus's capital, Camulodunum (modern Colchester). It is said he brought an elephant with him. After this defeat, Caratacus fled to the Welsh mountains and continued the fight against the invaders.

Britain was never fully conquered. The Roman occupation reached the River Clyde-River Forth area in AD 142 where the Antonine Wall was contructed before retreating to the earlier and more defensible Hadrian's Wall in the River Tyne-Solway Firth frontier area. This being previously constructed around AD 122.

Further Reading

• The Great Invasion, Leonard Cottrell, Coward-McCann, New York, 1962, hardback. Was published in the UK in 1958.
• Tacitus, Histories and Annals
• Tacitus, De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae
• A.D. 43, John Manley, Tempus, 2002.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman invasion of Britain."

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Roman law

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Roman law is the legal system of the Roman republic and Roman Empire, from its earliest days to the time of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Emperor Justinian I after the fall of Rome itself.

Roman law is the foundation of many legal systems of the world.

• Common law was originally based on Roman law, before it developed into a tradition of its own in England, from where it expanded to the United Kingdom, apart from Scotland, to the United States, apart from Louisiana, and to most former British colonies.

• By contrast, so-called Civil law systems are more directly based on Roman law; the legal systems of most countries in continental Europe and South America fall into this category, frequently through the Napoleonic Code. These are sometimes called Latin systems (or "operating jure latino").

Roman law has its beginnings in the code known as the Twelve Tables (449 BC). From there, Roman law became highly advanced for its time, developing, over the centuries, many of the legal institutions that are taken for granted today.

For example, it was Roman law that developed the differentiation between contract and tort; previously (as in ancient Greek law), contract violations were simply a kind of tort. Also, the differentiation between possession (which is a factual state: someone has something) and property (which is a right; later formulated as the right to do whatever one wishes with something) was developed in Roman law, most visible in the rei vindicatio, the action of the owner against the possessor to release a piece of property. Finally, the origins of today's concept that contracts are valid when there is a meeting of the minds can be found in the Roman rules about credits, which could be freely agreed on and were called stipulatio.

Roman law also developed the concepts of one law for the citizens and another law for foreigners – the beginnings of private international law.

The Emperor Justinian arranged for the re-organisation of most of Roman law in his Codex and his Pandectae, a fifty book set which took three years to compile and was completed in 533. The emperor also ordered the production of a textbook, Iustiniani Institutiones (the Justinian teaching manual), during the early 530s. It was intended as an overview of Roman law for legal students and consisted of just four books. Justinian's work was completed by Pandectae (or Digesto), Institutiones and Codex are part of the Corpus Juris Civilis. This has been called the most influential law work ever written as it has been on the reading list for legal students in countries using Civil law for nearly 1500 years so far.

See also: List of Roman laws

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman law."

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Roman mythology

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Roman mythology is the set of beliefs, rituals, and other observances concerning the supernatural held or practiced by the ancient Romans from early periods until Christianity finally completely supplanted the native religions of the Roman Empire.

The original religion of the early Romans was so modified by the addition of numerous and conflicting beliefs in later times, and by the assimilation of a vast amount of Greek mythology, that it cannot be reconstructed precisely. Because extensive changes in the religion had already taken place before the literary tradition began, its origins were in most cases unknown to the early Roman writers on religion, such as the 1st century BC scholar Marcus Terentius Varro. Other classical writers, such as the poet Ovid in his Fasti (Calendar), were strongly influenced by Hellenistic models, and in their works they frequently employed Greek beliefs to fill gaps in the Roman tradition.

Gods of the Roman People

The Roman ritual practice of the official priesthoods clearly distinguishes two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the de novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see List of Di Indigetes), and their names and nature are indicated by the titles of the earliest priests and by the fixed festivals of the calendar; 30 such gods were honored with special festivals. The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually at a known date and in response to a specific crisis or felt need. Early Roman divinities included, in addition to the di indigetes, a host of so-called specialist gods whose names were invoked in the carrying out of various activities, such as harvesting. Fragments of old ritual accompanying such acts as plowing or sowing reveal that at every stage of the operation a separate deity was invoked, the name of each deity being regularly derived from the verb for the operation. Such divinities may be grouped under the general term of attendant, or auxiliary, gods, who were invoked along with the greater deities. Early Roman cult was not so much a polytheism as a polydemonism the worshipers' concepts of the invoked beings consisted of little more than their names and functions, and the being's numen, or "power", manifested itself in highly specialized ways.

The character of the indigetes and their festivals show that the early Romans were not only members of an agricultural community but also were fond of fighting and much engaged in war. The gods represented distinctly the practical needs of daily life, as felt by the Roman community to which they belonged. They were scrupulously accorded the rites and offerings considered proper. Thus, Janus and Vesta guarded the door and hearth, the Lares protected the field and house, Pales the pasture, Saturn the sowing, Ceres the growth of the grain, Pomona the fruit, and Consus and Ops the harvest. Even the majestic Jupiter, the ruler of the gods, was honored for the aid his rains might give to the farms and vineyards. In his more encompassing character he was considered, through his weapon of lightning, the director of human activity and, by his widespread domain, the protector of the Romans in their military activities beyond the borders of their own community. Prominent in early times were the gods Mars and Quirinus, who were often identified with each other. Mars was a god of young men and their activities, especially war; he was honored in March and October. Quirinus is thought by modern scholars to have been the patron of the armed community in time of peace.

At the head of the earliest pantheon were the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus (whose three priests, or flamens, were of the highest order), and Janus and Vesta. These gods in early times had little individuality, and their personal histories lacked marriages and genealogies. Unlike the gods of the Greeks, they were not considered to function in the manner of mortals, and thus not many accounts of their activities exist. This older worship was associated with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who was believed to have had as his consort and adviser the Roman goddess of fountains and childbirth, Egeria, who is often identified as a nymph in later literary sources. New elements were added at a relatively early date, however. To the royal house of the Tarquins was ascribed by legend the establishment of the great Capitoline triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, which assumed the supreme place in Roman religion. Other additions were the worship of Diana on the Aventine Hill and the introduction of the Sibylline books, prophecies of world history, which, according to legend, were purchased by Tarquin in the late 6th century BC from the Cumaean Sibyl.

Inclusion of Other Deities

The absorption of neighboring local gods took place as the Roman state conquered the surrounding territory. The Romans commonly granted the local gods of the conquered territory the same honors as the earlier gods who had been regarded as peculiar to the Roman state. In many instances the newly acquired deities were formally invited to take up their abode in new sanctuaries at Rome. In 203 BCE, the cult object embodying Cybele was removed from Phrygian Pessinos and ceremoniously welcomed to Rome. Moreover, the growth of the city attracted foreigners, who were allowed to continue the worship of their own gods. In this way Mithra came to Rome and his popularity in the legions spread his cult as far afield as Britain. In addition to Castor and Pollux, the conquered settlements in Italy seem to have contributed to the Roman pantheon Diana, Minerva, Hercules, Venus, and other deities of lesser rank, some of whom were Italic divinities, others originally derived from the Greek culture of Magna Graecia. The important Roman deities were eventually identified with the more anthropomorphic Greek gods and goddesses, and assumed many of their attributes and myths.

Rome as a deity

The presence of some temples dedicated to Roma, gave rise to the idea there was a deity by this name.

It is instead only an allegory, rhetorically representing the symbolic personification of the State, first appeared in Rome (269 BC) on coins (nummus), just like in Locri (Calabria) in 204 BC. External peoples might have given Roma divine attributes, but this is only an hypothesis. Emphasising this allegory, temples were erected in Smirne (195 BC) and some sort of cult is reported in Ephesus, Sardi and Delo. A confusion might also be caused by the divinity of emperor: being Augustus a sort of demi-god, what was dedicated to him was a kind of religious celebration, partially directed on town's personality.

Religious Festivals

The Roman religious calendar reflected Rome's hospitality to the cults and deities of conquered territories. Roman religious festivals known from ancient times were few in number. Some of the oldest, however, survived to the very end of the pagan empire, preserving the memory of the fertility and propitiatory rites of a primitive agricultural people. New festivals were introduced, however, to mark the naturalization of new gods. So many festivals were adopted eventually that the work days on the calendar were outnumbered. Among the more important of the Roman religious festivals were the Saturnalia, the Lupercalia, the Equiria, and the Secular Games.

Under the empire, the Saturnalia was celebrated for seven days, from December 17 to December 23, during the period in which the winter solstice occurred. All business was suspended, slaves were given temporary freedom, gifts were exchanged, and merriment prevailed. The Lupercalia was an ancient festival originally honoring Lupercus, a pastoral god of the Italians. The festival was celebrated on February 15 at the cave of the Lupercal on the Palatine Hill, where the legendary founders of Rome, the twins Romulus and Remus, were supposed to have been nursed by a wolf. Among the Roman legends connected with them is that of Faustulus, a shepherd who was supposed to have discovered the twins in the wolf's den and to have taken them to his home, in which they were brought up by his wife, Acca Larentia. See founding of Rome.

The Equiria, a festival in honor of Mars, was celebrated on February 27and March 14, traditionally the time of year when new military campaigns were prepared. Horse races in the Campus Martius notably marked the celebration.

The Secular Games, which included both athletic spectacles and sacrifices, were held at irregular intervals, traditionally once only in about every century, to mark the beginning of a new saeculum, or "era". They were supposed to be held when the last person who had witnessed the previous Secular Games died, marking the beginning of a new era. The tradition, often neglected, was revived as a spectacle by Augustus and honored by the poet Horace with a series of odes.

Roman Temples

The numbers and architecture of Roman temples also reflect the city's receptivity to all the religions of the world. The oldest Roman temples reflect Etruscan temples, like the great temple on the Capitoline Hill, dedicated in 509 BC to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, the Capitoline Triad. Like its Etruscan models the temple was raised on a high podium and could only be approached by steps across the front of the building in contrast to the common arrangement for Greek temples, whose steps run around all four sides. The facade also differed from Greek models -- the columned porch was deeper than those of most Greek temples -- 6 columns deep -- and was only on the front of the building. The interior was divided into several large rooms for the cult statues. The temple of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius, built of Egyptian materials and in the Egyptian style to house the Hellenized cult of the Egyptian deity Isis, is typical of the heterogeneity of later Roman religious monuments. The most noteworthy temples of Rome were the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built between AD 117 to 138 by Emperor Hadrian and dedicated to all the gods; this building replaced a smaller temple built by the general and statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The Pantheon became a Christian church in 607 and is now an Italian national monument, the burial place of Raphael and several of the kings of united Italy.

Decline of the Roman Religion

The transference of the anthropomorphic qualities of Greek gods to Roman religion, and perhaps even more, the prevalence of Greek philosophy among well-educated Romans, brought about an increasing neglect of the old rites, and in the 1st century BC the religious importance of the old priestly offices declined rapidly. Many men whose patrician birth called them to these duties had no belief in the rites, except perhaps as a political necessity, and the mass of the uneducated populace became increasingly interested in foreign rites. Never-the-less, the positions of pontifex maximus and augur remained coveted political posts. Julius Caesar used his election to the position of pontifex maximus to influence the membership of the priestly groups.

A thorough reform and restoration of the old system was carried out by Emperor Augustus, who himself became a member of all the priestly orders. Even though the earlier ritual had little to do with morality, being mainly a businesslike relation with unseen powers in which humans paid proper service to the gods and were rewarded by security, it had promoted piety and religious discipline and thus was fostered by Augustus as a safeguard against internal disorder. During this period the legend of the founding of Rome by the Trojan hero Aeneas became prominent because of the publication of Virgil's Aeneid.

In spite of the reforms instituted by Augustus, the Roman religion in the empire tended more and more to center on the imperial house, and eventually the emperors were deified after death. Such deification began even before the establishment of the empire, with Julius Caesar. The emperors Augustus, Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus were also deified, and after the reign (AD 96-98) of Marcus Cocceius Nerva, few emperors failed to receive this distinction.

Under the empire, numerous foreign cults grew popular and were widely extended, such as the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis and that of the Persian god Mithras, which was similar to Christianity in some respects. Despite persecutions extending from the reign of Nero to that of Diocletian, Christianity steadily gained converts, and it became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Constantine I, who ruled as sole emperor from AD 324 to 337. All the pagan cults were prohibited in AD 392 by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.

Related topics

• Roman/Greek equivalency in mythology
• List of Di Indigetes
• Roman religion
• Arria
• Greek mythology
• Greek religion

External links

• http://www.romansonline.com
• Timeless Myths

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman mythology."

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Roman numerals

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The sytem of Roman numerals is a numeral system originating in ancient Rome. It is based on certain letters which are given values:

• I or i for one,
• V or v for five,
• X or x for ten,
• L or l for fifty,
• C or c for one hundred,
• D or d for five hundred,
• M or m for one thousand.

When describing members of a list, first A, B, C, D tend to be used, then 1, 2, 3 then i, ii, iii, iv

Throughout the centuries, there has been variation in some of its symbols — specifically in the subtractive notation (which uses, e.g. IV to denote 4 instead of IIII) has entered universal use only in modern times. For example, Forme of Cury, a manuscript from 1390, uses IX for 9, but IIII for 4. Another document in the same manuscript, from 1381, uses IV and IX. A third document in the same manuscript uses IIII, IV, and IX.

The Romans themselves didn't seem to bother that much about what was the correct formation of a number; constructions such as IIX for eight have been discovered. In many cases, there seems to have been a certain reluctance in the use of subtractive notation.

Some rules regarding Roman numerals state that a symbol representing 10^x may not precede any symbol larger than 10^{x + 1}; use XCIX not IC for 99.

Clock faces typically show IIII for 4 o'clock and IX for 9 o'clock — using the subtractive principle in one case and not in the other. It has been said that the reason 4 o'clock is IIII (and not IV), is because IV is the first two letters of IVPITER, the supreme god of the Romans.

Use of Roman numerals today is mostly restricted to ordinal numbers, such as volumes or chapters in a book or the numbers identifying monarchs (e.g. Elizabeth II). The BBC uses them to denote the year in which a programme was made. Sometimes they are written using lower-case letters (thus: i, ii, iii, iv, etc.), particularly if numbering paragraphs or sections within chapters. Undergraduate degrees at British universities are generally graded using I, IIi, IIii, III for first, upper second, lower second and third class respectively.

The "modern" Roman numerals, post-Victorian era, are shown below:

Roman	Arabic	Notes
none	0	There was no need of using a Zero
I	1
II	2
III	3
IV	4	IIII is still used on clock and card faces
V	5
VI	6
VII	7
VIII	8
IX	9
X	10
XI	11
XII	12
XIII	13
XIV	14
XV	15
XIX	19
XX	20
XXX	30
XL	40
L	50
LX	60
LXX	70
LXXX	80
XC	90
C	100	This is the origin of using the slang term "C-bill" or "C-note" for "$100 bill".
CC	200
CD	400
D	500
CM	900
M	1000
ↀ	1000	conjoined C and D, alternative to M
MCMXLV	1945
MCMXCIX	1999	Note that there are no short cuts, the I can only precede V or X.
MM	2000
MMM	3000
ↁ	5000
ↂ	10000
Ↄ	Reversed 100	Used in combination with C and I to form large numbers

An accurate way to write large numbers in Roman numerals is to handle first the thousands, then hundreds, then tens, then units.
Example: the number 1988.
One thousand is M, nine hundred is CM, eighty is LXXX, eight is VIII.
Put it together: MCMLXXXVIII.

Unicode has a number of characters specifically designed as Roman numerals. They range from U+2160 (Ⅰ) to U+2183 (Ↄ).

Example (requires a font, such as Arial Unicode MS, that contains the necessary characters):

ⅯⅭⅯⅬⅩⅩⅩⅧ or ⅯⅭⅯⅬⅩⅩⅩⅤⅠⅠⅠ (MCMLXXXVIII)

See also

Numeral system, Arabic numerals, Armenian numerals, Babylonian numerals, Chinese numerals, Greek numerals, Hebrew numerals, Indian numerals, Mayan numerals.

External link

• Mathworld on Roman Numerals
• Converter of Google:
  • Convert to Roman numerals (replace "123" with the number, under 5000)
  • Convert from Roman numerals (replace "IV" by the Roman number in capitals)

    Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman numerals."

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Roman religion

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Ancient Roman religion was a combination of several different practices and sets of beliefs.

Originally, the Romans had a peasant religion, in which many gods and goddesses were each responsible for specific, limited aspects of the universe. For example, there were different gods for ploughing, for horses, and for cattle. Early in the history of the Roman Republic, foreign gods were imported, especially from Greece, which had a great cultural influence on the Romans after they conquered it. In addition, the Romans connected some of their indigenous deities with Greek gods and goddesses.

Some important ones, with the Greek equivalents in brackets, were Jupiter (= Zeus), Juno (= Hera), Minerva (= Athene), Mars (= Ares), Vesta (= Hestia), Saturn (= Kronos), Vulcan (= Hephaistos), Cupid (= Eros), and Neptune (= Poseidon).

As the Roman Empire expanded, and included people from a variety of cultures, there were more and more gods. The legions brought home cults originating from Egypt, Britain, Iberia, Germany, and Persia. The cults of Cybele and Mithras were particularly important.

Along with this, the ancient Roman beliefs and practices continued, especially in and around Rome itself. This included the worship of the lares and penates (spirits specific to a family, with altars in the home), festivals such as the Lupercalia and Saturnalia, and a complex system of lucky and unlucky days.

Related topics

• Roman mythology
• Greek religion
• Greek mythology
• College of Pontiffs

External link

More information about Roman Gods and myths

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman religion."

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Roman Republic

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

See also Roman Republic (19th century).

The Roman Republic traditionally lasted as a representative government of Rome and its territories from 509 BC until the establishment of the Roman Empire, typically placed at 44 BC or 27 BC.

The city of Rome stands on the Tiber River very near the west coast of Italy. It marked the northernmost border of the territory in which the Latin language was spoken and the southern edge of Etruria, the territory in which the Etruscan language was spoken.

Government Institutions

The Romans observed two principles for their officials: annuality or the observation of a one-year term and collegiality or the holding of the same office by at least two men at the same time. The supreme office of consul, for instance, was always held by two men together, each of whom exercised a power of mutual veto over any actions by the other consul. If the Roman army took the field under the command of the two consuls they alternated days of command. Most other offices were held by more than two men - in the late Republic there were 8 praetors a year and 20 quaestors.

The dictators were an exception to annuality and collegiality, and the censors to annuality. In times of emergency (always military) a single dictator was elected for a term of 6 months to have sole command of the state. On a regular but not annual basis two censors were elected: every five years for a term of 18 months.

The legion formed the backbone of Roman military power.

History of the Republic

The Legendary Founding of Rome - 753 BC

The Romans were very much convinced that their city was founded in the year 753 BC. Rome has often been said to have been started by Romulus and Remus. It was then, tradition had it, ruled by kings for several centuries.

The Foundation of the Republic - 509 BC

Livy's version of the establishment of the Republic states that the last of the Kings of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (superbus, "the proud") had a thoroughly unpleasant son, Sextus Tarquinius, who raped a Roman noblewoman named Lucretia. Lucretia compelled her family to take action by gathering the men, telling them what happened, and killing herself. They then were compelled to avenge her, and led an uprising that drove the royal house, the Tarquins, out of Rome to take refuge in Etruria.

Lucretia's husband Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus and Lucius Junius Brutus gained election as the first two consuls, the chief officers of the new Republic. (The Marcus Junius Brutus who assassinated Julius Caesar claimed descent from this first Brutus).

The early consuls took over the roles of the king with the exception of his high priesthood in the worship of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at the huge temple on the Capitoline Hill. For that duty the Romans elected a Rex sacrorum or "king of holy things." Until the end of the Republic the accusation that a powerful man wanted to make himself king remained a career-shaking charge. (Julius Caesar's assassins claimed after they acted that they were preserving Rome from the re-establishment of an explicit monarchy.)

Patrician and Plebeian

The people of Rome were divided into patricians and plebeians. These words have taken on such different connotations of wealth and ordinariness in modern English that they must be examined in their Roman context. The two classes were ancestral and inherited. One's class was fixed by birth rather than by wealth, and though patricians had in the early Republic monopolized all political offices and probably most of the wealth, there are always signs of wealthy plebeians in the historical record, and many patrician families had lost both wealth and any political influence by the later Republic. One could move from one class to the other by adoption, as did the political operator Clodius, who managed to have himself adopted into a plebeian branch of his own family for political purposes in the late Republic, but this rarely occurred. By the 2nd century BC the classifications had meaning predominantly in religious functions - many priesthoods remained restricted to patricians.

The relationship between the plebeians and the patricians sometimes came under such a strain that the plebeians would secede from the city - they literally left the city, took their families and movable possessions, and set up camp on a hill outside the walls. These secessions happened in 494, 450, and around 287 BC. Their refusal to co-operate any longer with the patricians led to social changes on each occasion. In 494 BC, only about 15 years after the establishment of the Republic, the plebeians for the first time elected two leaders, to whom they gave the title Tribunes. The "plebs" took an oath that they would hold their leaders 'sacrosanct' or inviolate during their terms of office, and that the united plebs would kill anyone who harmed a tribune. The second secession led to further legal definition of their rights and duties and increased the number of tribunes to 10. The final secession gave the vote of the Concilium Plebis or "Council of the Plebeians" the force of law - we call this a "plebiscite".

The end of the Republic - 133-31 BC

Rome's military and diplomatic successes around the Mediterranean resulted in new and unaccustomed pressures on the structures of the old city-state. While factional strife had become a traditional part of Roman life, the stakes were now far higher; a corrupt provincial governor could enrich himself far beyond anything his ancestors imagined possible, and a successful military commander needed only the support of his legions in order to rule vast territories. In addition, small landowners were displaced in favor of large slave-run estates, resulting in large numbers of unemployed urbanites.

Beginning with the agrarian reform of Tiberius Gracchus in 133, the political convulsions became more and more severe, resulting in a series of dictatorships, civil wars, and temporary armed truces during the next century. Much of the political record of this period has survived, and we are able to understand it in some depth.

Gracchus' reform was simply to put more land in the hands of veterans, but ominously, his Senatorial opponents responded to his political machinations by killing him in the street. His younger brother Gaius Gracchus continued the reform efforts, promoted the extension of the franchise to all the cities of Italy, and established the equites as a new force in Roman politics.

A conservative reaction brought power back to the Senate, but they prosecuted the Jugurthine War of 112-105 so poorly, on top of a Slave War in Sicily, and losses at the hands of Germanic tribes, of whom the Cimbri destroyed consular armies at Arausio in 105. Rome was saved by Marius, who held multiple consulships 103-101 while defeating the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae (102) and the Cimbri near Vercellae in the following year. But Marius' military reforms had resulted in an army of proletarian volunteers with no special love for the Senate, and Marius' political allies used the army to threaten the Senate into passing laws reducing the Senate's power. Marius curbed his own allies, and took himself into lesser positions.

Again the Senate proved itself unequal to its role, and failed to deal with the growing discontent of the allies in Italy. After the reformer Livius Drusus was assassinated in 91, almost all of the Italian allies of Rome rebelled in what the Romans called the Social War (allies = Socii, related to the English "associates"). The Romans were only able to end the war in 88 by granting citizenship to all Italians living south of the Po River.

At the same time, Mithridates VI of Pontus overran Bithynia, the latest of several provocations which, this time, forced Rome to act. But Marius and Sulla contended over the command of the army, ending with Sulla marching on Rome with several legions, outlawing his opponents and passing laws favoring the Senate. Sulla then went to Greece, defeated Mithridates at Chaeronea in 86, then returned in 83 to overthrow Marius' ally Cinna. In the following year, Sulla secured appointment as dictator and used the post to reduce the power of the tribunes and the army, although the changes did not long survive his voluntary retirement in 79.

The Spartacist Rebellion - 73 - 71 BC

Large-scale agriculture in the Italian peninsula came to depend on slavery in the latifundia system, and was rocked by a severe slave revolt led by Spartacus that lasted from 73 BC to 71 BC

Spartacus was a Thracian slave, and was trained as a gladiator. In 73 BC he and some of his comrades rebelled at Capua and fled towards mount Vesuvius. The rebel numbers quickly grew to about 70000, comprising mainly Thracian, Gaul and German slaves.

Initially, Spartacus and his second in command Crixus succeeded in defeating several legions sent against them piecemeal. Once a unified command was established under Licinius Crassus who had six legions, the rebellion was crushed in 71 BC. About 10000 slaves fled the battlefield.

The fleeing slaves were intercepted by Pompey who was returning from Spain, and 6000 were crucified along Via Apia from Capua to Rome. Although Crassus did most of the fighting against the rebels, Pompey claimed the victory. This was a source of tension between the two men.

In the final analysis, once the Romans found the right leadership the rebels were quickly defeated. This does not subtract from the achievement Spartacus, who was able to unite a band of slaves into a fighting force capable of defeating several legions.

The whole incident showed the weakness of the Senate and the regime of the late Roman Republic.

The end of the Republic

In the end, the Roman world became too large and complicated for the structures of the republic to cope, and after a period of civil war ended by the Battle of Actium (31 BC), Augustus Caesar established the Roman Empire.

• political bodies of the Republic

Roman Senate

various other Roman assemblies

• political institutions of the Republic

Dictator

Consul

Praetor

Aedile

Quaestor

Tribune

Censor

Pontifex Maximus

Princeps Senatus

Lictor

Cursus honorum

• figures of the Republic

Early Republic

Lucretia

Lucius Junius Brutus

Cincinnatus

Appius Claudius the Censor

Samnite wars 327 - 290 BC

Punic wars

Hannibal - see Carthage

Scipio Africanus Major

Scipio Aemilianus

Cato the Censor

Late Republic

Ahenobarbus family

Julius Caesar

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus

C. Marius

L. Cornelius Sulla

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus

Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Spartacus

Latin Literature of the Republic

Catullus

Cicero

Plautus

Terence

Ennius

Fabius Pictor

Naevius

References

William G. Sinnigen & Arthur E. R. Boak, A History of Rome to 565 A.D. (Macmillan)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Roman Republic."

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Rome

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Alternate meanings: See Rome (disambiguation)

Rome (Roma) is the capital city of Italy. It is located on the Tiber river, in the central part of the country near the Tyrrhenian Sea, at 41°50'N, 12°15'E. The Vatican City, located in an enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (see also under Roman Catholicism).

Rome was the seat of the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.

Photograph of the Roman Colosseum in Rome, Italy

By tradition, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BC, by Romulus, who killed in the process his twin brother named Remus. This date was the basis for the Roman calendar and the Julian calendar (Ab urbe condita). Romulus and Remus were allegedly sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, king of Albalonga. The boys were abandoned to save them from the hate of Amulius, a pretender to Albalonga's throne, and taken care of by a she-wolf, even today one of the symbols of Rome. Romulus later killed Remus and became the first ruler of Rome. See also founding of Rome

Rome was built on the Sun hill, which was later named Palatine, and extended to include the seven hills:

• Palatine,
• Aventine,
• Capitoline,
• Quirinal,
• Viminal,
• Esquiline and
• Caelian,

after the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (see also Roman mythology).

There is a mnemonic device used to recall the names of the seven hills: Can Queen Victoria Eat Cold Apple Pie?

The Roman civilisation developed the Latin language, its official language and one of the fundamental elements in linguistics, and the source of the Romance languages. It is to this day the official language of the Catholic Church and the Vatican.

''This is a simulated-color image of Rome
that was taken by NASA satellite Landsat 7
(Larger version)

Rome timeline

• 753 BC - The founding of Rome
• 509 BC - End of Roman Kingdom, constitution of the Roman Republic
• 451 BC - With the publishing of the Laws of the 12 Tables, the Roman law is born
• 390 BC Rome is sacked by the Gauls. All historical records are destroyed, putting the period between 753-390 in the realm of legend.
• 343 BC-146 BC - Roman expansion and conquest of Italian peoples (Etruscans, Samnites, Tarentini), African peoples (Carthage), Hellenic peoples (Macedones, Greeks), Asian peoples (Syrians, Rhodenses, Pergamus), Gaulish peoples (Ligures, Caenomanes, Veneti), and Iberiann peoples (Lusitani, Celtiberians).
• 133 BC-123 BC - Democratical reformations by Gracchi
• 44 BC - Julius Caesar murdered
• 31 BC-AD 14 - Age of Augustus, end of civil wars (pax romana) and transformation of the republic into the Roman Empire
• 64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire starts on July 18 in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
• 96-192 - greatest territorial extension of the Empire, under Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and the Antoninii
• 395 - Death of Theodosius the Great, division of the Empire, Rome becomes the capital city of Western Roman Empire
• 410 - Visigoths sack Rome
• 454 - Following the death of Valentinian III, the Vandals invade Rome, extensively looting it, and carry off several of Valentinian's surviving family as hostages
• 800 - On Christmas, Charlemagne is crowned Imperator of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III
• 1095 - First Lateran Council, Roman curia made sole responsible of the papal election
• 1144 - Founding of the Comune (town council) of Rome
• 1347 and 1354 - Popular government by Cola di Rienzo, while popes are in Avignon
• 1527 - Rome is sacked by Lansquenets
• 1798-1799 - The first Roman Republic
• 1848-1849 - The second Roman Republic (led by Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi), Pope Pius IX out of town
• 1870 - Bersaglieri, selected troops of Sardinian army, enter Rome by Porta Pia
• 1871 - Rome is the capital city of Italy, the Italian unification is complete, the House of Savoy rules the kingdom of Italy
• 1929 - With the Lateran Pacts (Concordato), Italy and Vatican settle respective borders, attributions, competences. The Holy See loses its temporal power outside Vatican City
• 1942 - During World War II Rome is bombed by the Allies for the first time in the war on July 19.
• 1946 - The king leaves Italy, that becomes a republic, most of the royal patrimony in the town is attributed to the city Council

History

Rome was the seat of the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.

A picture of the Roman Colosseum

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome soon became the capital city of the Papal States, the territorial entity ruled by the Papacy that would last until 1870, when Italy was unified by the former king of Sardinia. During this long period Rome became the worldwide centre of Christianity and increasingly developed a relevant political role that made it one of the most important towns of the Old Continent. In art, although Florence became the center of humanism and the Rinascimento (Renaissance), Rome was the center of baroque, and architecture deeply affected its central areas.

In the 16th century a central area was delimited around Portico d'Ottavia, for the creation of the famous Roman Ghetto, an area which the Jews were forced to live in.

Some of the most famous views of Rome in the 18th century were etched by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. His grand vision of classic Rome inspired many to visit the city and examine the ruins themselves.

Map of downtown Rome during the time of the Roman Empire
(larger image)

The Roman urban form reflects the stratification of the succeeding epochs, with a wide historical center; this today contains many areas from Ancient Rome, very few areas from Quattrocento (mainly around piazza Farnese), and lots of churches and palaces from baroque times. The historical centre is identified as within the limits of ancient imperial walls. Some central areas were reorganised after the unification (1880-1910 - Roma Umbertina), and some important additions and adaptations made during the fascism, with the discussed creation of Fori Imperiali and the founding of new quartieri (among which Eur, San Basilio, Garbatella, Cinecittà and, on the coast, the restructuring of Ostia) and the inclusion of bordering villages (Labaro, Osteria del Curato, Quarto Miglio, Capannelle, Pisana, Torrevecchia, Ottavia, Casalotti). These expansions were needed to face the huge increase of population due to the centralisation of the Italian state.

During WWII Rome suffered some heavy bombings (notably at San Lorenzo) and battles (Porta San Paolo, La Storta) and was considered an "open town" (as in the film by Roberto Rossellini).

After the war Rome continued to expand, mainly for a similar reason of increased number of inhabitants (this time due to the development of the state administrations and the progressive turning of general national economy from mainly agricultural to modern industrial schemes), with the creation of new quartieri and suburbs; the current estimated number of inhabitants is appr. 3,5 millions, but it has been estimated that in working time more than 5 million people are in the town. They were 138,000 in 1825, 244,000 in 1871, 692,000 in 1921, 1,600,000 in 1961.

Rome organised the 1960 Summer Olympics, using many ancient sites, such as the Villa Borghese and the Thermae of Caracalla as venues or surroundings.

Many of the monuments of Rome were restored by the Italian state and by the Vatican for the 2000 Jubilee.

The Grande Raccordo Anulare, the round motorway that surrounds most part of it, is more than 80 km long.

Being the capital city of Italy, Rome hosts all the principal institutions of the nation, like the Presidency of the Republic, the government (and its single Ministeri), the Parliament, the main judicial Courts, and the diplomatic representatives of all the countries for the states of Italy and the Vatican City (curiously, Rome also hosts, in the Italian part of its territory, the Embassy of Italy for the Vatican City, a unique case of an Embassy within the boundaries of its own country). Many international institutions are based in Rome, notably cultural and scientific ones, or humanitarian like the FAO.

See Also: Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, Roman Empire

Modern Rome

Rome is today one of the most important touristic destinations of the world, due to its immense heritage of archaeological and artistic treasures, as well as for its unique traditions and the beauty of its views and its "villas" (parks). Among the most interesting resources, plenty of museums (i.e., Musei Capitolini, the Vatican Museums, Galleria Borghese, and a great many others), churches, historical buildings, the monuments and ruins such as the Roman Forum or the Catacombs.

Senatus Populusque Romanus

It is commonly identified by several proper symbols, including the Colosseum, the she-wolf (Lupa), the imperial eagle, and the symbols of Christianity. The famous acronym S.P.Q.R recalls the ancient age and the unity between Roman Senate and population.

It is called "The Urbs", "caput mundi" (head of the world), "Città Eterna" (eternal city), and "Limen Apostolorum" (the threshold of the apostles).

The town's colors are yellow and red (garnet).

Rome has two own holidays, on April 21 (the founding of Rome), and on June 29 (the patron Saints, Peter and Paul). Other dates too are locally important, like December 8 (the Immaculate Conception) and January 6 (Epiphany).

Among the hundreds of churches, Rome contains the five Major Basilicas of the Catholic church: San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's Basilica), San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul outside the Walls), Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence outside the Walls), and San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran), the see of Roman diocese and the spirtual centre of the entire Catholic Church. The Bishop of Rome is the Pope, helped by a vicar (usually a cardinal) for his pastoral activity.

Other monuments and sites

• Appian way
• Arch of Constantine
• Arch of Septimius Severus
• Arch of Titus
• Circus Maximus
• Pantheon
• Spanish Steps
• Tarpeian Rock
• Trajan's Column
• Trevi Fountain
• Basilica of Our Lady at the Heavenly Altar
• Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels
• Basilica of the Sacred Immaculate Heart of Mary
• St. Agnes Outside the Walls Basilica
• St. Camillus of Lellis Basilica
• St. Charles at the Corso Basilica
• St. Mark's Basilica
• St. Pancras Basilica
• St. Peter in Chains Basilica

Transportation

Rome has a modern day airport formally named Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport, but more commonly known as Fiumicino.

Proverbs about Rome

• When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
• All roads lead to Rome.
• Rome wasn't built in a day.

During its long history, Rome has always had a scarcity of native inhabitants, so by tradition a "true" Roman is one whose family has lived in Rome for no less than 7 generations: this is the original "Romano de Roma" (in Romanesco, the local dialect of Italian).

External links

• Quattrocento
• some quick facts about Rome
• Satellite image of Rome at NASA's Earth Observatory
  

nds:Rom

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Rome."

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Synonyms within Context: Roman

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Modern Usage: Roman

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Commercial Usage: Roman

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Image Slideshow: Roman

Photos: Roman More pictures...

Illustrations: Roman More pictures...

Computer Images: Roman More pictures...

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Photo Album: Roman

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Dr. Nancy Roman. Credit: NASA.		Front page of "Liber methaurorum / Alberti Magni Ordinis Predicatorum..." published in 1494. Albertus Magnus was a Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian. Credit: Treasures of the Library.
	Roman Vegetius' impractical vision of a leather helmet and umbilical for war. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).		Crossing of the cultures - Roman Catholic shrine on Yapese money wheel. Credit: Small World.
	Ornamental Plaster and cast-iron details. Measured drawing delineated by Harry Weir and A.H. Town, February 1934. (Reproduction Number: HABS, MS-17-6, sheet 7 of 7) Completed in 1840, D'Evereux is an excellent example of the Greek Revival style, an architectural style popular throughout the United States, and especially in the South, before the Civil War. The style is loosely based on the architecture of ancient Greece. The builders of D'Evereux applied Greek and Roman architectural motifs to everything from the ironwork of the servants' quarters to the woodwork and the ceilings of the main house. Many of the architectural ornaments, such as the ones shown here, were inspired by ancient urns, buildings, and other artifacts found at the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Credit: Library of Congress.		Roman seats in the Louvre Museum. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	[Physician bandaging a wounded Roman soldier]. Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Roman Catholic church services on the ship's after deck, while she was at Algiers, Algeria, circa 1944. Note the use of the U.S. Ensign and signal flags as a backdrop, and the cruiser's aircraft catapults flanking the ceremonies. Credit: NAVY.
	Roman Doric entablature and column on pedestal. Elevation study. Credit: Library of Congress.		Roman presenting gift to woman in modern dress watched by crowd of people dressed in costumes from other ages. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Roman
 

"Roman Ruins 3" by Mark Cianfrani Commentary: "Roman Ruins."	"Ancient Roman Bath" by William J. Ray Commentary: "Another view of that ancient Roman bath dating back over 2,000 yrs."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Familiar Quotations: Roman

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Usage Frequency: Roman

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Name Usage Frequency: Roman

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Derived & Related Names: Roman

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Usage in Company Names: Roman

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Expressions: Roman

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Modern Translation: Roman

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Ancestral Language Translations: Roman

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