Graeco-Roman

(c. 20 b.c.e.­c. 50 c.e.) philosopher and scholar The first-century c.e. Jewish author and philosopher Philo of Alexandria is an important figure for both Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. He was born  around 20 b.c.e. in Alexandria into one of the wealthiest and most distinguished Jewish families. Alexandria  had a thriving Jewish community and was known for  its intellectual vigor. In addition to his Jewish education,  therefore, Philo received schooling in the Greek custom,  including the philosophy of Plato, Middle Platonism,  Neoplatonism, and Stoicism, as well as Greek literature and rhetoric, all of which are evident in his work.  For example, he refers to God with the Greek term logos when discussing the divine creation of the world.The influence of Greek traditions on Judaism in Philo’s  work becomes in part representative of what is generally  known as Hellenistic Judaism in distinction from Palestinian Judaism...

Where linguistic evidence can give us very little help, however, is with chronology. We know the Slavic language family emerged relatively recently, but what does that mean? Some experts argue that the split with Baltic-speakers began only in the middle of the first millennium AD, at the precise moment when Slavic-speakers begin to appear in our sources. Others would place it much earlier – by maybe even a thousand or more years. This difference of opinion matters when it comes to trying to understand the Slavicization of Europe which unfolded after c.500 AD. If we should be envisaging very few Slavic-speakers at that date because the linguistic split was just beginning, so that Europe’s Slavic-speakers may have amounted to no more than the Sclavenes and Antae of Korchak and Penkovka fame, then the broad Slavic domination of Europe achieved by c.900 AD has to be accounted for from an extremely restricted demographic base. If, on the contrary, the Slavic linguist...

Who were the Venedi? by Edward Dawson & Peter Kessler,  Updated 22 March 2019 It is a truth universally acknowledged - or at least it should be - that if you place three academics in the same room, you'll get at least four opinions. This certainly is true when it comes to the complex subject of the Belgae and, in particular, the Veneti or Venedi. The relationship between the two is uncertain and is often very murky in historical sources. It seems that no archaeological evidence exists to prove the Venedi/Belgae relationship one way or the other. Despite - or probably because - the link cannot be archaeologically proven, several schools of thought exist when it comes to pinning down the Venedi and describing their perceived origins. Unfortunately, any origins that have been produced by these disparate schools of thought are largely exclusive of one another - they cannot be combined simply because the origin theories are mutually exclusive. The main characters In the ...

The worst sports disaster took place in 29 C.E. in a cheap wooden stadium in Fidenae, 8 miles north of Rome. It collapsed during a crowded gladiator game and killed at least 20,000 people. The Roman Senate responded by requiring that future stadiums be inspected and certified. Summary: Fidenae was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the Via Salaria, which ran between Rome and the Tiber. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria and Latium, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represented an extension of Etruscan presence into Latium. In the 8th century BC during the reign of Rome's first king, Romulus, the Fidenates and the Veientes were defeated in a war with Rome, according to legend. It may be that a colony was established there after the defeat as Livy afterwards describes Fidenae as a Roman colony. Fidenae and Veii were again defeated by Rome in the 7th century BC during the reign of Rome's third king Tullus Hostilius. In the early Roman republ...

"Ab Urbe condita" (related with Anno Urbis conditae: AUC or a.u.c.) is Latin for "from the founding of the City (Rome)", [Literally translated as "From the city having been founded".] traditionally set in 753 BC. It was used to identify the Roman year by a few Roman historians. Modern historians use it much more frequently than the Romans themselves did; the dominant method of identifying Roman years was to name the two consuls who held office that year. Before the advent of the modern critical edition of historical Roman works, AUC was indiscriminately added to them by earlier editors, making it appear more widely used than it actually was.Fact|date=July 2008 The regnal year of the emperor was also used to identify years, especially in the Byzantine Empire after Justinian required its use in 537. Examples of usage are principally found in German authors, for example Mommsen's "History of Rome". ignificance From Emperor Claudius onwards, Varr...

The camp described by Polybius is such as would be formed at the close of an ordinary day's  p246 march by a regular consular army consisting of two Roman legions with the full contingent of Socii. Each legion is calculated at 4200 infantry and 300 cavalry, the Socii  furnished an equal number of infantry and twice as many cavalry, so that the whole force would amount to 16,800 foot and 1800 horse. Choice of the Ground.— Although, as stated above, the general outline, the defences, and the internal economy of a camp were altogether independent of the nature of the ground, yet great importance was attached to the choice of a fitting situation which should admit of being readily laid out in the required form, which should afford no facilities for attack or annoyance, which should be convenient for procuring wood, water, and forage, and which the army might enter and quit without danger of surprise. Skill in the selection of such a spot (capere locum castris) was ever considered ...

CASTRA. It is well known that Roman armies never halted for a single night without forming a regular entrenchment, termed castra, capable of receiving within its limits the whole body of fighting men, their beasts of burden, and the baggage. So essential was this operation considered, that even when preparing for an immediate engagement, or when actually assailed by a hostile force, it was never omitted, but a portion of the soldiers were employed in constructing the necessary works, while the remainder were standing to their arms or resisting the enemy; and so completely was it recognised as a part of the ordinary duties of each march, that pervenire ad locum tertiis . . . quartis . . . septuagesimis castris are the established phrases for expressing the number of days occupied in passing from one point to another. Whenever circumstances rendered it expedient for a force to occupy the same ground for any length of time, then the encampment was distinguished as castra stativa (Liv. XXV...