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| a sacred open space located just inside the wall surrounding the four hills—the Esquiline, the Palatine, the Quirinal, and the Capitoline—of the early city. In most Italian walled cities, such spaces, which ran along the complete length of the city walls, were originally left clear to facilitate the maneuvering of defenders in times of attack. This space was later invested with religious significance, being dedicated to the gods in gratitude for their protection, and building and planting upon it remained forbidden. actually i think the space always had religious significance, but i could be wrong.... |
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| Servian/Republican city walls: |
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| was supposedly constructed by King Servius Tullius in the 6th century B.C. but is thought, on the basis of archaeological study of the building material, to date from 378 B.C., instead. The wall ran from the Tiber to the Capitoline Hill to the Quirinal, to the valley between the Quirinal and the Pincian, towards the Esquiline, to the valley between the mons Oppius and the Caelian, along the cliffs on the south and southeast of the Caelian, then probably along the southwest side of the Palatine, then south of the forum Boarium and to the Tiber at the Sublician Bridge (pons Sublicius). The Servian has 12 gates. |
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the unofficial title used by the Roman emperors from Augustus (reigned 27 bc–ad 14) to Diocletian (reigned ad 284–305). Thus this period in Roman history is known as the principate (principatus), whereas the government of the empire under Diocletian and his successors is known as the dominate, from dominus (“lord,” or “master”)
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| was an ancient city of Etruria. renowned for the marble from the neighboring mountains of Carrara, |
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| A porous limestone used in masonry construction |
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| Roman poet. He is believed to have been born into a wealthy family, to have become an army officer, and to have grown embittered by his failure to receive a promotion. He is chiefly known for his 16 Satires, indignant attacks on human brutality and folly, particularly the corruption of Roman society under Domitian and his more humane successors Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian. |
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(born c. AD 38/41, Bilbilis, Hispania — died c. 103) Roman poet. Born in a Roman colony in what is now Spain, Martial went to Rome as a young man. There he associated with such figures as
Seneca, Lucan, and Juvenal and enjoyed the patronage of the emperors Titus and Domitian. His early poetry, some marred by gross adulation of Titus, was undistinguished. He is renowned for his 12 books of epigrams (86 – 102?), a form he virtually created. Pointed and often obscene, they provide a picture of Roman society during the early empire that is remarkable both for its completeness and for its accurate portrayal of human foibles.
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any member of a group of citizen families who, in contrast to the plebeians, formed privileged nobility. They attempted to hold on to magistracies, priesthoods, and legal and religious
knowledge, and the great civil struggle of the Roman republic was the effort of the plebeians to achieve equality and break the patrician monopoly. Gradually the patricians lost their monopoly — except in a few areas, such as selected priesthoods and the office of interrex — and in the late republic (1st century BC) the distinction lost political importance. After 27 BC, patrician rank was necessary for ascent to the imperial throne. After Constantine's reign (AD 337), the term became an honorary title with no particular power.
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| In ancient Rome, a knight. In early Rome, the equites (in full, equites equo publico, "horsemen with mounts provided at public expense") were of the senatorial class. They were the most influential members of the Comitia Centuriata. By the early 4th century BC, non-senators could be equites, providing their own horses. Augustus reorganized them as a military class, removing them from politics; qualifications were free birth, good health and character, and wealth. In the 1st century AD, equites were permitted civil careers, and they became particularly involved in financial administration |
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| A ceremonial purification of the entire ancient Roman population after the census every five years. |
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| the act of manumitting, or of liberating a slave from bondage |
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| was a plebeian who was sponsored by a patron benefactor |
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| is a line of city walls built between 271 and 275 in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus. The walls enclosed all the seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and, on the right bank of the Tiber, the Trastevere district. The river banks within the city limits appear to have been left unfortified although they were certainly fortified along the Campus Martius. |
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| A hinge or pivot, used in ancient construction to hang a door. also the north-south street in all the Roman cities (as opposed to the decumanus) |
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| One of a group of ancient Roman religious officials who foretold events by observing and interpreting signs and omens Opus quadratum masonry: The Romans adopted Etruscan stone construction based on the arch and built many spectacular examples of what they called opus quadratum, or structures of cut stone blocks laid in regular courses. Most of these were public works in conquered provinces |
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| was born Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in 63 B.C. He was the great nephew of Julius Caesar.Octavian eventually became the first Emperor of Rome, under the adopted name ofAugustus Caesar, and ruled from 27 B.C. - A.D. 14. He was known for ending nearly 100 years of civil wars in the Republic, and bringing Rome into imperial greatness, prosperity, and peace. This period was known as the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace. |
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A variety of limestone deposited by springs; usually banded; commonly coarsely cellular; used as building stone, esp. for interior facing and flooring; some varieties are sold as marble in the building trade.
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| were frequently cheaply made apartment houses or tenements up to 6 or 7 stories high. They were fire traps, with no running water. After the great fire under Nero, the emperor restricted their height. Even if the insulae didn't burn, they might collapse from bad construction. Light came from openings we refer to as windows, although they would not have contained panes of glass. |
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| Roman biographer. Little is known about his life except that he was briefly the private secretary of Emperor Hadrian. |
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| right to contract marriage |
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| Plebeians were the working class of Ancient Rome. |
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| The law forced Roman senators into large-scale farming and pushed the equites into the business of international shipping. The enormous farms of Roman senators are said to have created conditions leading to the rise of the Gracchi in 133 BC, during the late Roman Republic |
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| Freedmen(liberti/libertini): |
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| men and women who had been slaves but had bought their freedom or been manumitted. They were not fully free because they had various restrictions on their rights and owed certain duties to their former masters, who now became their patrons, but they could become citizens if their former masters were citizens and they had been formally manumitted; they were not, however, eligible for public office. This was the one class it was not possible to leave, though the class encompassed only one generation. The next generation, their freeborn children, became full citizens (i.e., members of the commons, though there was a social stigma attached to being a freedman's son) and could even become equestrians if rich enough. Freedpeople had low social status, and most were probably fairly poor, but it was possible for them to achieve some success in a trade, and a few might even become wealthy. They had no special distinction of dress, though their names indicated their status as freedpeople. |
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Tomb of Eurysaces and his wife Atistia. Eurysaces was a freed slave who made his fortune as a baker. The tomb, built in 30 BC, is shaped like a baking oven and a relief shows Eurysaces supervising his slaves making bread.
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the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. Assisted his client with his protection and regular gifts; the client dedicated his vote whenever the patron or his associate was up for election.
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| an east-west-oriented road in a Roman city, castra (military camp), or colonia. The main decumanus was the Decumanus Maximus, which normally connected the Porta Praetoria (in a military camp, closest to the enemy) to the Porta Decumana (away from the enemy). |
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the area in the middle of the town used for public business
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