Posts Tagged ‘Roman history’
Listing…
From The New Yorker, The Hundred Best Lists of All Time.
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As we rankle at the rankings, we might note that this was the Feast Day of the Ass in ancient Rome. The festival honored Vesta, the daughter of Chronos (Time) and Rhea (Earth), and legendary founder of the Vestal Virgins, a cult of six virginal women priestesses who were charged with keeping alive the flame burning in their temple at the center of Rome. The celebration was named as it was in honor of the donkey that saved Vesta’s honor: As told by Propertius, the young Vesta was being sought by the “horned” Priapus, who approached one night as she lay sleeping. Her ass’s loud braying awakened her in time to defend herself from his advances.
“In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality”*…
“Enough of symbolism and these escapist themes of purity and innocence.” 8½ (1963)
From If We Don’t, Remember Me, “a gallery of living movie stills”…
“I just hate all these extroverted, obnoxious, pseudo-bohemian losers.” Ghost World (2001)
* Alfred Stieglitz
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As we find our inner stillness, we might recall that it was on this date in 43 BCE that Rome’s greatest orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero was executed (his head and hands were amputated) for his Philippics, a series of speeches attacking Mark Antony and calling for a restoration of the Republic. Sic semper prōtestor.
Caveat emptor…
From Least Helpful, “Daily Dispatches from the Internet’s Worst Reviewers”…
As we hone our critical faculties, we might recall that it was on this date in 193 that Didius Julianus (Marcus Didius Severus Julianus Augustus) out-bid his rivals in an auction to become Emperor of Rome; the sale was held by the Praetorian Guard, which had just assassinated the prior Emperor, Pertinax. The method of his ascension and his bone-headed moves on taking power (e.g., arbitrarily devaluing Roman currency) precipitated the Roman Civil War of 193-197… but Julianus didn’t live to see the outcome; he was murdered in his palace three months after acceding to the throne, and succeeded by Septimus Serverus.
Didius Julianus (source)
(Not) all roads lead to Rome…
click here for larger, interactive version
In about 300 CE, Imperial cartographers created a road map of the Roman Empire; hundreds of years later, medieval artisans copied it, creating the Tabula Peutingeriana…
Now, René Voorburg and a team of like-minded enthusiasts have re-copied the Tabula. Using a set of techniques described here, they have mashed it up with Google Maps to create Omnes Viae: Tabula Peutingeriana— replete with Iter Vestrum (“Your Trip”), a handy route-planning tool…
As readers will see, while during the time of the Roman Republic, all roads did lead to Rome, imperial expansion– which began with the Empire in 44 BCE– rendered that kind of “hub and spoke” transit architecture impractical. The Tabula dates from relatively early in the Empire. Soon after, Constantine became Caesar and created Constantinople as an Eastern capital; in another 50 years, the Empire was divided… and the roads became even more decentralized. The Western Empire collapsed in 473, and the roads pictured in the section of the Tabula pictured above became past of a larger network of European roads. The Eastern Empire lasted until 1453, when it fell to the Ottoman Turks; and its roads became part of that burgeoning empire’s network.
As we feel an inexplicable craving for polenta, we might wish a mysterious Happy Birthday to Agatha Christie; she was born on this date in 1890. Dame Agatha published 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (featuring creations like Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple), along with a number of successful plays. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time– her novels have sold over four billion copies– and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any type. And according to Index Translationum, she is the most translated individual author (at least 103 languages), with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her play The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on November 25, 1952 and is still running– at more than 24,000 performances, the longest-ever initial run of a stage play.
Being dense…
The nifty site PerSquareMile.com points out that, if the entire world’s population lived in a single city with the density of New York, it would fit into the state of Texas. But if that “city” had the density of Houston, it would cover the entire Mid West (and then some)…
to enlarge, click the image above– or here— and again
[TotH to Flowing Data]
As we reconcile ourselves to looking even harder for parking, we might recall that it was on this date in 30 BCE that Mark Antony won a small victory over the invading forces of Octavian (AKA, Octavius– the future Augustus) in the Battle of Alexandria during the Final War of the Roman Republic. But Antony suffered significant desertion from his ranks; when Octavian attacked again the following day, Antony’s navy demurred. Antony committed suicide (followed several days later by his consort, Cleopatra)… and with Antony, the Republic died a final death: with his Triumverate partner dead, Octavian ( known as Augustus after 27 BC ) became uncontested ruler of Rome, accumulating all of Rome’s administrative, political, and military authority. When Augustus died in 14 AD, his political powers passed to his adopted son Tiberius; the Roman Principate had begun.
His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear’d arm
Crested the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
There was no winter in’t; an autumn ’twas
That grew the more by reaping: his delights
Were dolphin-like; they show’d his back above
The element they lived in: in his livery
Walk’d crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
As plates dropp’d from his pocket.Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2; William Shakespeare
Mark Antony (source)
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