Dictionary
CAESAR	100.00%
was for centuries the cognomen of the ancient patrician family of the Iulii. From the dictator Gains Iulius Caesar it passed to his adopted son Octavianus, the founder of the Roman empire, and was assumed by all the male members of the Julian dynasty, including the emperor. After this dynasty had died out, all the male members of the subsequent dynasties assumed it, to show that they belonged to the imperial house. But after the death of Hadrian in 138 A.D., the title of Caesar was only assumed by the princes whom the emperors had named as their successors, or chosen to be their colleagues in the government.
HIRTIUS	100.00%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A friend of Caesar, and one of his companions in arms. He completed Caesar's Commentarii on the Gallic War by adding an eighth book. According to the dedication to Cornelius Balbus prefixed to that book, he contemplated the continuation of Caesar's account of the Civil War to Caesar's death. This intention he never carried out, as he fell in battle at Mutina, 14th April, 43 B.C., when he was consul. Of the three works, the Bellum Alexandrinum, Bellum Africum, and Belum Hispaniense, which have come down to us with Caesar's Commentaries, the first may have been written by him. Of the other two, it has been conjectured that they were composed at his request, in preparation for his intended work on military commanders, and that having been found at his death among his papers, they were added, with his own writings, to the works of Caesar himself. (See CAeSAR.)
GERMANICUS CAESAR	100.00%
The son of Nero Claudius Drusus, adopted son of his uncle Tiberius, and grandson of Livia, the wife of Augustus. He was celebrated for his campaigns against the Germans. He was born 15 B.C., and died 19 A.D. Distinguished as much for culture as for military accomplishments, he was an orator and author as well as a general. Ovid, who dedicated to him the 2nd edition of his Fasti, praises his poetry. His paraphrase of the Phoenomena of Aratus in 725 lines, and three fragments (246 lines) of a paraphrase of the same writer's Prognostica, still survive. They are remarkable for knowledge, command of metre, and a pleasant style. The Phoenomena are dedicated to Tiberius, and described by the author himself as the work of a beginner. These poems used erroneously to be attributed to Domitian, who did not take the title of Germanicus until he was emperor. Three collections of scholia upon them, by no means without value, have also survived.
CAESAR	100.00%
Julius Caesar was born in 102 or 100 B.C., and was assassinated on March 15th, B.C. 44. He was famous no less as an orator and writer than as a general and statesman. Endowed with extraordinary natural gifts, he received a careful education under the superintendence of his mother Aurelia. In B.C. 77 he came forward as the public accuser of Dolabella, and entered the lists against the most celebrated advocates of the day, Cotta and Hortensius. From that time his fame was established as that of an advocate of the first rank. The faculties of which he bad given evidence he cultivated to their highest point under the tuition of the rhetorician Molo in Rhodes, and attained such success, that his contemporaries regarded him as an orator second only to Cicero. Indeed, Cicero himself fully recognizes his genius, awarding especial praise to the elegance and purity of his Latin. Caesar, however, left but few speeches in a finished state, and these have not come down to us. A number of writings give evidence of the many-sidedness of his genius and literary activity, but these are also lost. There were poems, which never attained much reputation, including, besides boyish effusions, some verses on his journey to Spain in B.C. 46. A treatise on Latin accidence, dedicated to Cicero, and entitled De Analogia, was written during his march across the Alps to his army in Gaul. The Anticatones, composed in his Spanish camp before the battle of Munda in B.C. 45, was a reply to Cicero's panegyric on Cato of Utica. A treatise on astronomy, De Astris, had probably some connection with the reform of the calendar introduced by him, as Pontifex Maximus, in B.C. 45. His two great works have, however, survived. These are his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 58-52 B.C., in seven books, and his Commentarii de Bello Civili, 49-48 B.C., in three books. The former was written down rapidly, at the end of 52 and begining of 51, in his winter quarters before Bibracte. The latter was probably composed in Spain after the conquest of the Pompeians in 45. The history of the Gallic War was completed after Caesar's death by Aulus Hirtius. This writer added an eighth book, which included the last rising of the Gauls in 51, and the events of the year 50 which preceded the Civil War. The book, as we now have it, is unfinished. There are three other anonymous books which continue the history of the Civil War. The Bellum Alexandrinum (War in Alexandria) is perhaps from the hand of Hirtius. The Bellum Africum (War in Africa) is written in a pompous and affected style [and has recently been assigned, but without sufficient reason, to Asinius Polliol. The Bellum Hispanum (Spanish War), is to be attributed to two different authors. Its style is rough, and shows that the writer was not an educated man.
SOSIGENES	42.52%
A Greek mathematician from Egypt, who assisted Caesar in the correction of the Roman calendar in 46 B.C. (CP. CALENDAR.)
AUGUSTALES	42.39%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A religious association at Rome, formed for the maintenance of the worship paid to the deified Caesars. (See MUNICIPIUM and SODALITAS.)
GRANIUS LICINIANUS	42.06%
A Roman historian, who probably flourished in the 2nd century A.D. He was the author of a work compiled in the style of annales, ending with the death of Caesar. Some considerable fragments have been found in modern times of books 28-36, covering the history of the years 163-78 B.C.
CICERO	37.74%
Quintus Tullius Cicero, the younger brother of Marcus, was born in B.C. 102. He was praetor in 62, and legatus to Caesar in Gaul and Britain from 54-62 B.C.. In the civil war he took the side of Pompey, but was pardoned by Caesar. In 43 he was made an outlaw, at the same time as his brother, and in 42 was murdered in Rome. Like Marcus, he was a gifted man, and not unknown in literature, especially as a writer of history and poetry. In 54 B.C. , for example, when engaged in the Gallic campaign, he wrote four tragedies in sixteen days, probably after Greek models. We have four letters of his I besides a short paper addressed to his brother in 64 B.C. , on the line to be taken in canvassing for the consulship.
IMPERATOR	34.14%
A Roman title, originally the designation of each separate possessor of an independent command (imperium). In the course of time it became customary to assume the title after a man had gained his first great victory, usually after having been greeted as imperator either by the soldiers on the battlefield, or by the decree of the senate. Under the Empire the title, which was seldom conferred by Augustus, was granted for the last time by Tiberius 22 A.D. It was usually followed by a triumph, and ceased when the triumph was over. As a permanent title, it was first assumed by Caesar, whose adopted son and heir Octavian bore it as an inherited cognomen, and from the year B.C. 40 onwards, according to a custom that arose at that time, substituted it for his previous proenomen Gains, thus becoming Imperator Caesar, instead of Caesar Imperator. His immediate successors, Tiberius, Ca1igula, and Claudius abstained from using this proenomen; Nero used it frequently, but it first became permanent with Vespasian. The emperors also took the title Imperator, in its earlier signification, after a victory won by themselves or on their behalf.
AUREUS	31.67%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A Roman coin of the imperial period, originally weighing 1/40 of a Roman pound, and worth from the time of Julius Caesar to Nero, 25 denarii, or 100 sestertii; from 23 to 20 shillings. (See COINAGE.)
ASINIUS POLLIO	31.48%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A celebrated Roman poet, orator, and historian. He was born B.C. 75, and made his first public appearance by bringing an impeachment in B.C. 54; in the Civil Wars he fought on Caesar's side at Pharsalus and in Africa and Spain. After the murder of Caesar he at first inclined to the Republicans, but in B.C. 43 joined Antony, and on the break-up of the Triumvirate obtained Gallia Transpadana for his province. In the redistribution of lands there he saved the poet Vergil's paternal estate for him. After negotiating the Peace of Brundisium between Antony and Octavian, B.C. 41, he became consul in 40, conquered the Parthini in Dalmatia in 39, and celebrated a triumph. He then retired from political life, and devoted himself to the advancement of learning. He served the cause of literature not only by his own writings, but by setting up the first public library at Rome, and by introducing the custom of reading new works aloud to a circle of experts, before publication. (See RECITATIO.) He was himself a stern critic of others, as we see by his strictures on Cicero, Sallust and Livy, though it was remarked that he was not always so severe upon himself. He was especially celebrated as an orator; yet his speeches, in spite of careful preparation, were devoid of elegance, and, as Quintilian remarks, might be supposed to have been written a century earlier than Cicero's. He wrote tragedies also, in which the same stiffness and dryness are complained of. And he composed a history of the Civil Waxs in seventeen books, from the first Triumvirate to the battle of Philippi, which seems not to have been published in a complete form till after his death. Not one of his works has survived. [The history of Caesar's African campaign, Bellum Africum, has recently been attributed to him, but on insufficient grounds.] He died 80 years old, A.D. 4.
LABERIUS	30.68%
The originator and leading representative of the mime (q.v.) as a form of literature; born about 105 B.C. Being a Roman knight with a strong love of freedom, he roused the wrath of the dictator Caesar; accordingly in B.C. 45 the latter compelled him to appear on the stage at the age of sixty, and to compete with his rival Publilius Syrus. In the prologue to the piece, one of the most beautiful monuments of Roman literature which have come down to us, Laberius complains bitterly of the indignity put upon him. His appearing as an actor involved the loss of knightly rank, which in this case, however, was restored to him by Caesar. He died at Puteoli in 43. Apart from the prologue already mentioned, we have only unimportant fragments of more than forty of his mimes. These bear witness to the originality of his wit and the vigour of his style.
CAMPUS MARTIUS	29.01%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A plain lying to the north of Rome, outside the Pomerium, between the Tiber, the Quirinal and the Capitoline Hills. (See POMERIUM.) During the regal period it was part of the property of the Crown, and, after the expulsion of the kings, was dedicated to Mars. The northern part, on the banks of the Tiber, served as an exercise-ground for the Roman youth for athletics, riding, or military drill. The smaller part, next to the city, was used for the meetings of the Comitia Centuriata, and for holding the lustrum. In the midst of it stood an altar to Mars, which formed the centre of the ceremony of the lustrum, and of some other festivals held on the spot in honour of that deity. (See LUSTRUM.) Until the end of the republican age there was only one building on this part of the Campus, the Villa Publica. This was the residence assigned to foreign ambassadors and Roman generals on their return from war, to whom the senate granted audiences in the neighbouring temple of Bellona. But in B.C. 55 Pompeius erected in the Campus the first stone theatre built in Rome, with a great colonnade adjoining it. Here too Julius Caesar commenced his marble saepta, or inclosures for the Comitia Centuriate, with a great colonnade surrounding the ovile. (See COMITIA.) These were completed by Agrippa in 27 B.C. In B.C. 28, Octavianus Caesar added the Mausoleum, or hereditary burial-place of the Caesars, and Agrippa the Pantheon and the first Thermoe or Baths. Under the succeeding emperors a number of buildings rose here; for instance, Domitian's Race-course (Stadium) and Odeum. The rest of the Campus was left free for gymnastic and military exercises, the grounds being magnificently decorated with statues and colonnades. The altar survived until the last days of ancient Rome.
TERENTIUS	27.34%
Marcus Terentius Varro Reatinus (i.e. a native of Reate in the Sabine territory). The most learned of the Romans; born 116 B.C. of an ancient senatorial family. He devoted himself to study at an early age, under the direction chiefly of the learned antiquarian and philologist Aelius Stilo, without however withdrawing from public life either in time of peace or war. He held the public offices of tribune, curule aedile, and praetor. In 67 he was lieutenant to Pompey in the war against the pirates; in 49 he again held a command under Pompey in the province of Spain beyond the Iberus, but was taken prisoner by Caesar after the capitulation of Ilerda. Although he afterwards rejoined Pompey, Caesar received him into favour, and he returned to Rome in 46 B.C., where he is said to have had the superintendence of the great library which Caesar destined for the public use. In spite of his abstaining henceforward from taking any active part in public affairs, he was prescribed by Antony in 43, and only narrowly escaped with his life. Pardoned by Octavianus, he lived till the year 27, full of vigour and literary activity to the last. Varro's learning comprised all the provinces of literature known at that time, and in productivity he was equalled by no Romans, and only a few Greeks. According to his own statement, he had composed 490 books before his 78th year; the total number of his works, either in prose or verse, theoretical or practical, exceeded 70, in more than 600 books. Of these, the three books on agriculture (Rerum Rusticarum Libri), written in the form of a dialogue in his 80th year, in which he treats the subject exhaustively, drawing from his own experience as well as from more ancient sources, are the only ones that have been completely preserved. Further, of the original 25 books on the Latin language (De Lingua Latina) dedicated to Caesar, in which he systematically treats, under the head of etymology, inflexions and syntax, only books v-x exist, in a mutilated condition. This work was followed by a number of other grammatical writings. It is only through a series of extant titles of his works that we know of his literary and historical studies, which were especially directed to dramatic poetry, and in particular to the comedies of Plautus, as well as of his researches into the history and antiquities of his own nation. His principal work, of which much use has been made by later writers, the Antiquitatas Rerum Humanarum et Divinarum, in 41 books. This was the most important of his writings on these subjects, as it gave a complete account of the political and religious life of the Romans from the earliest times. The 15 books, entitled Imagines or Hebdomades, published about B.C. 39, contained 700 portraits of celebrated Greeks and Romans, in sets of seven in each group, with epigrams written beneath them. His nine Disciplinarum Libri gave an encyclopaedia of the arts pertaining to general culture (grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music, architecture, medicine). His 76 Libri Logistorici included shorter popular treatises of a historical and philosophical nature, described by titles appropriate to their contents, borrowed from the names of well-known persons (e.g. Sisenna de Historia). Among Varro's numerous and varied poetical works we will only mention, as the most original, the 150 books of Menippean Satires (Saturoe Menippeoe), which were completed before 45 B.C., a species of composition which he introduced into Roman literature in imitation of the Cynic Menippus of Gadara. In these Satires, written alternately in prose and different kinds of verse, he treats of philosophical questions, especially those relating to morality, science, etc., chiefly with the view of exposing the failings of the age. Only a number of titles and fragments of this work have been preserved.
DIADEM	25.74%
The white fillet round the brow which was the emblem of sovereignty from the time of Alexander the Great. Caesar refused it when offered him by Antonius, and it was not, in consequence, worn by the Roman emperors, except in a few cases. But when the seat of government was removed to Byzantium, Constantine adopted the Greek emblem of royalty.
CURIA	24.95%
The name of the thirty divisions into which the three tribus of the Roman patricians were divided for political and religious objects. Every curia contained a number of gentes, supposed to be exactly ten, and a president, curio, whose duty it was to look after its secular and religious business. At the head of all the curioe stood the Curio Maximus, who was charged with the notification of the common festivals Fordicidia and Fornacalia (see these words). The separate curiones were chosen by their respective curive, and the Curio Maximus was elected by the people in special comitia out of the number of curiones. For its special sacrifices every curia had its place of meeting, bearing the same name, with a hearth and dining-hall where the members met to feast and sacrifice. The plebeians seem to have been admitted to the sacrifices, which were offered on behalf of the whole people, and were paid for at the expense of the state (see further, COMITIA CURIATA). The term curia was also applied to certain houses intended for holding meetings, as, for instance, the official residence of the Salli on the Palatine, and especially the senate-house, Curia Hostilia, built by king Hostilius on the comitium, and burnt down 52 B.C. In its place Faustus Sulla, the son of the Dictator, erected the Curia Cornelia. Caesar interrupted the progress of this work to set up the Curia Iulia in its place. Then the senate met in the Curia Pompei, in the entrance-hall of Pompey's theatre, where Caesar was murdered. The Curia Iulia was not begun till 44 B.C., shortly before Caesar's death, and was consecrated in 29 by Augustus. (See plan of Roman Fora, under FORUM.)
JULIANUS	22.54%
Flavius Claudius, " the Apostate." Born at Constantinople A.D. 331; he was the son of Julius Constantius, a brother of Constantine the Great. In spite of his early monastic education, he was so strongly prepossessed against the Christian religion owing to the murderous deeds of his own family, the persecutious he suffered at the hands of his cousin Constantius, and his own intercourse with the most renowned Sophists both in Nicomedia and at Athens, that, on his elevation to the imperial throne in 361, he attempted to drive out Christianity, and to restore Paganism on the foundation of Neo-Platonic philosophy. His attempts were however cut short by his death in the war against the Persians. We still possess eight essays written by him in Greek, in the form of speeches; seventy-eight letters of the most varied contents, valuable as throwing light on his character and his aims; and two satirical writings: (i) The Caesars, or the Banquet, a brilliant criticism on the Roman emperors, from Caesar downwards, in the form of Varro's Menippean satires; (ii) the Misopogon (Beard-Hater), a satire directed against the inhabitants of Antioch, who had cast ridicule on his beard and his philosophic garb. Of his work directed against the Christians and their religion, which he composed in Antioch before the expedition against the Persians, only extracts and fragments survive. Julian is one of the cleverest, most cultivated and elegant writers of the period after the birth of Christ.
BRUTUS	21.37%
The well-known friend of Cicero, and murderer of Caesar. He was bom in 85 B.C., and died by his own band after the battle of Philippi, B.C. 42. As an orator and a writer on philosophy he held a prominent position among his contemporaries. Two books of correspondence between Brutus and Cicero have come down to us, the authenticity of which is disputed. There is also a collection of seventy letters in Greek, purporting to represent correspondence between Brutus and the Greek cities of Asia Minor ; but this is no more than the patchwork of a rhetorician.
TIMOMACHUS	19.78%
SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS	19.16%
The Roman historian, born about 75 A.D. He lived during the time of Trajan as an advocate and teacher of rhetoric in Rome, in close intimacy with the younger Pliny, to whose influence he owed many favours. Under Hadrian he was appointed private secretary to the emperor; but in 121 he fell into disgrace, and appears thenceforth to have devoted his life to learned studies and to varied research. He died about the middle of the 2nd century. Like Varro, he collected notes on all kinds of subjects, history, literature, antiquities, philology, physical sciences, and worked them up in numerous writings (some of them apparently in Greek). Amongst these an encyclopaedic work called Prata, in at least ten books, occupied a prominent position; and just as he himself frequently quoted Varro, so he in his turn was frequently quoted by later writers. Apart from titles and fragments the following works of his are still intact: (1) The lives of the first twelve emperors (De Vita Coesarum) in eight books books i-vi treating of one emperor each, from Caesar to Nero; vii, of Galba, Otho, Vitellius; viii, of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. This work contains an abundance of more or less important facts about the public and private life of the emperors, grouped in a systematic manner and expressed in clear and simple language. (2) Of his literary and historical work, De Viris Illustribus, which apparently included the Roman poets, orators, historians, grammarians, and rhetoricians down to the time of Domitian, we possess the lives of Terence and Horace, and a fragment of that of Lucan, besides extracts made by the grammarian Diomedes and by St. Jerome from the book De Poetis. From the book De Historicis, we have a fragment of the biography of the elder Pliny, and the greater part of the chapter De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus. In the beginning of the 3rd century, under the reign of Alexander Severus, his work on the Lives of the Caesars was continued by Marius Maximus, who treated of the emperors from Nerva to Elagabalus.