Petrarch 14th-century Italian scholar and poet Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo La Casa del Petrarca (birthplace) at Vicolo dell'Orto, 28 in Arezzo Francesco Petrarca (Italian: [franˈtʃesko peˈtrarka]; July 20, 1304 – July 18/19, 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was an Italian scholar and poet during the early Italian Renaissance who was one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited with initiating the 14th-century Italian Renaissance and the founding of Renaissance humanism.[1] In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarch's works, as well as those of Giovanni Boccaccio, and, to a lesser extent, Dante Alighieri.[2] Petrarch would be later endorsed as a model for Italian style by the Accademia della Crusca. Biography[edit] Youth and early career[edit] Petrarch was born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo July 20 in 1304. Petrarch spent his early childhood in the village of Incisa, near Florence.
Western Roman Empire Independently administered western provinces of the Roman Empire In historiography, the Western Roman Empire refers to the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used to describe the period from 395 to 476, where there were separate coequal courts dividing the governance of the empire in the Western and the Eastern provinces, with a distinct imperial succession in the separate courts. The terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire were coined in modern times to describe political entities that were de facto independent; contemporary Romans did not consider the Empire to have been split into two separate empires but viewed it as a single polity governed by two separate imperial courts as an administrative expediency. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, and the Western imperial court was formally dissolved in 480. Background[edit] History[edit] Tetrarchy[edit]
Renaissance humanism Revival in the study of Classical antiquity Renaissance humanism was a worldview centered on the nature and importance of humanity, that emerged from the study of Classical antiquity. This first began in Italy and then spread across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Renaissance humanists sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity, and thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions. Definition[edit] Very broadly, the project of the Italian Renaissance humanists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was the studia humanitatis: the study of the humanities, "a curriculum focusing on language skills However, in investigating this definition in his article "The changing concept of the studia humanitatis in the early Renaissance," Benjamin G. Origin[edit] Paganism and Christianity in the Renaissance[edit] Description[edit] Epicureanism[edit] Neo-Platonism[edit]
Latin obscenity Latin obscenity is the profane, indecent, or impolite vocabulary of Latin, and its uses. Words deemed obscene were described as obsc(a)ena (obscene, lewd, unfit for public use), or improba (improper, in poor taste, undignified). Documented obscenities occurred rarely in classical Latin literature, limited to certain types of writing such as epigrams, but they are commonly used in the graffiti written on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Among the documents of interest in this area is a letter written by Cicero in 45 BC (ad Fam. 9.22) to a friend called Paetus, in which he alludes to a number of obscene words without actually naming them. Apart from graffiti, the writers who used obscene words most were Catullus and Martial in their shorter poems. Medical, especially veterinary, texts also use certain anatomical words that, outside of their technical context, might have been considered obscene. Latin taboo words[edit] Cicero's letter ad Fam. 9.22[edit] Degrees of obscenity[edit]
Res publica Res publica is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning 'public affair'. It is the root of the word 'republic', and the word 'commonwealth' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however translations vary widely according to the context. 'Res' is a nominative singular Latin noun for a substantive or concrete thing – as opposed to 'spes', which means something unreal or ethereal – and 'publica' is an attributive adjective meaning 'of and/or pertaining to the state or the public'. Hence a literal translation is, 'the public thing/affair'.[1] In ancient Rome[edit] Public property[edit] Res publica usually is something held in common by many people. The state or commonwealth[edit] Taking everything together that is of public interest leads to the connotation that the 'res publica' in general equals 'the state'. The Roman Republic[edit] Public affairs or institutions[edit] Other uses[edit] Quotations[edit] Cicero[edit] When Cicero refers to the Greek authors (pointing at the "politeia" concept):
Renaissance of the 12th century The Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes at the outset of the high Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Western Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots. These changes paved the way for later achievements such as the literary and artistic movement of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century and the scientific developments of the 17th century.[1] Medieval renaissances[edit] The groundwork for the rebirth of learning was laid by the process of political consolidation and centralization of the monarchies of Europe.[2] This process of centralization began with Charlemagne (768–814) King of the Franks and later (800–814), Holy Roman Emperor. Historiography[edit] Charles H. British art historian Kenneth Clark wrote that Western Europe's first "great age of civilisation" was ready to begin around the year 1000. Legal historian Vanja Hamzić noted: Translation movement[edit] Arts[edit]
Tadeusz Stefan Zieliński Tadeusz Stefan Zieliński (Polish: [taˈdɛuʂ ʑɛˈliɲskʲi]; Russian: Фадде́й Фра́нцевич Зели́нский; near Uman, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire, September 14, 1859 – May 8, 1944, Schondorf, Upper Bavaria) was a prominent Polish classical philologist, historian, translator of Sophocles, Euripides and other classical authors into Russian. He was author of works on the history of ancient Greek culture and religion, classical education, and popularization of classical studies (published largely in Russian and German). He was professor at the University of St. Petersburg (1890–1922), then at Warsaw University for 17 years (1922–1939) in the interwar Poland, and recipient of honorary doctorates from the Jagiellonian University, Kraków (1930), and twelve western European universities. Between 1933–1939 Zieliński was a member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature.[1] His daughter became wife of Prof. Works[edit] Cicero im Wandel der Jahrhunderte. References[edit] Further reading[edit]
Roman graffiti Inscription on wall plaster Graffiti Samples[edit] Inscriptions cover a range of topics from poems, advertisements, political statements, to greetings. There are two forms of graffiti: painted inscriptions (usually public notices) and inscribed inscriptions (spontaneous messages). Pompeii[edit] Over 11,000 graffiti samples have been uncovered in the excavations of Pompeii. House of Maius Castricius[edit] Sample of poetry from stairwell of House of Maius Castricius, Pompeii This domestic residence shows that ancient graffiti was not limited to the public sphere, as graffiti is in modern day. One passage on the staircase reads: vasia quae rapui, quaeris formosa puella accipe quae rapui non ego solus; ama. quisquis amat valeat Which translates to: Beautiful girl, you seek the kisses that I stole. Outside the shop of Fabius Ululitremulus[edit] Three inscriptions referring to the opening line of the Aeneid An example here demonstrates a familiarity with Virgil and hexameter verse. Translating to:
John Locke John Locke FRS (/ˈlɒk/; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704), was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism".[1][2][3] Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence.[4] Life and work Locke's father, also called John, was a country lawyer and clerk to the Justices of the Peace in Chew Magna,[6] who had served as a captain of cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces during the early part of the English Civil War. Influence Constitution of Carolina
Age of Enlightenment 17th- to 18th-century European cultural movement The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was the intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and the 18th centuries.[1][2] The Enlightenment was preceded by and overlaps the Scientific Revolution and the work of Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Pierre Gassendi, and Isaac Newton, among others, as well as the rationalist philosophy of Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and John Locke. Some date the beginning of the Enlightenment to the publication of René Descartes' Discourse on the Method in 1637, with his method of systematically disbelieving everything unless there was a well-founded reason for accepting it, and featuring his famous dictum, Cogito, ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am"). The central doctrines of the Enlightenment were individual liberty and religious tolerance, in opposition to an absolute monarchy and the power of religious authorities. [edit]
Equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to horseback riding, derived from Latin equester and equus, "horse". Horseback riding[edit] Notable examples of this are: Equestrian sportsEquestrianism, the art of horseback ridingEquestrian order, one of the upper classes in ancient RomeEquestrian statue, a statue of a leader on horsebackEquestrian nomads, one of various nomadic or semi-nomadic ethnic groups whose culture places special emphasis on horse breeding and ridingEquestrian at the Summer Olympics, a division of Olympic Games competition Other[edit] The ship Equestrian, used to transport convicts from England to Australia, for example Alfred Dancey. Equestria may refer to Equestria, a suburb in Pretoria East, Republic of South AfricaEquestria, the fictional nation in which the television show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and its associated comic books, movies, and novels primarily take place
Juvenal ancient Roman poet Juvenal wrote at least 16 poems in the verse form dactylic hexameter. These poems cover a range of Roman topics. This follows Lucilius—the originator of the Roman satire genre, and it fits within a poetic tradition that also includes Horace and Persius. The Satires are a vital source for the study of ancient Rome from a number of perspectives, although their comic mode of expression makes it problematic to accept the content as strictly factual. At first glance the Satires could be read as a critique of pagan Rome. Life[edit] Juvenal's fictitious portrait (S. Details of the author's life cannot be reconstructed definitely. Traditional biographies, including the Vita Iuvenalis, give us the writer's full name and also tell us that he was either the son, or adopted son, of a rich freedman. It is impossible to tell how much of the content of these traditional biographies is fiction and how much is fact. The Satires and their genre[edit] Literary and cultural influence[edit]
Rostra The Rostra (Italian: Rostri) was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods.[1] Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between. It is often referred to as a suggestus or tribunal,[2] the first form of which dates back to the Roman Kingdom, the Vulcanal.[3][4] It derives its name from the six rostra (plural of rostrum, a warship's ram) which were captured during the victory at Antium in 338 BC and mounted to its side.[5] Originally, the term meant a single structure located within the Comitium space near the Forum and usually associated with the Senate Curia. It began to be referred to as the Rostra Vetera ("Elder Rostra") in the imperial age to distinguish it from other later platforms designed for similar purposes which took the name "Rostra" along with its builder's name or the person it honored. History[edit] Rostra Vetera[edit]
Louis XIV of France Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (Roi Soleil), was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who reigned as King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. Starting on 14 May 1643 when Louis was 4 years old, his reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in European history.[1][note 1] In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV's France was a leader in the growing centralisation of power.[2] Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin.[3] An adherent of the concept of the divine right of kings, which advocates the divine origin of monarchical rule, Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralised state governed from the capital. Early years[edit] Louis XIV as a young child, unknown painter "Nature was responsible for the first knots which tied me to my mother.