Hellenistic period:

(323-31 BC)  the period from the death of Alexander to the battle of Actium; Greek cultural influence & power was at its peak in Europe, Africa & Asia; a prosperous culture with progress in art, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy & science.  At the same time a period of transition & decadence relative to the earlier Classical era.  Popular were: New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint and the philosophies of Stoicism & Epicureanism.  Science was advanced by the mathematician Euclid & the polymath Archimedes.  The religious sphere expanded to include new gods (e.g. Greco-Egyptian Serapis & eastern deities such as Attis & Cybele).

 

Lycurgus:

(900 - 800 BC) quasi-legendary lawgiver of Sparta (credted with the Great Rhetra), established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Delphi.  His reforms were directed towards the 3 Spartan virtues: equality (among citizens), military fitness & austerity.  His communalistic & militaristic reforms transformed Spartan society.  It is unclear if he was historical or legendary. 

 

Mount Taygetus: 

highest peak in the Taygetus mountain range of the Peloponnese, dominates the skyline & overlooks Sparta; one of the oldest names recorded in Europe, appearing in the Odyssey, & in mythology associated with the nymph Taygete.  

 

pre-Hannibalian Roman history: * see Endnote <A>

Between 753 BC and 264 BC Roman history is mix of legends, myth and truths.  It begins with the founding myth (Romulus & Remus), then  the legendary 7 kings; 2 of the last 3 kings were Etruscan (at least partially), namely Tarquinius Priscus (legends state he was the son of a Greek refugee & an Etruscan mother) and Tarquinius Superbus (the final king).  Their names refer to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia.

 

Tarquins:

family of kings expelled from Rome; the last Tarquin was Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (died 495 BC), reigning 535 BC until the 509 BC uprising ithat  established the Republic.  Son or grandson of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, 5th king of Rome.  He gained the throne through the murder of both his wife & elder brother after the assassination of his predecessor, Servius Tullius.  His reign is described as a tyranny that justified the abolition of the monarchy.

 

Brutus: * see Endnote <B>

leader of the revolt that established the Roman Republic & overthrew the last king; elected consul he was instrumental in expelling the king & leading the Roman people to take an oath renouncing kingship.  He restored the senate & protected the Republic from the exiled king.  He was killed at the Battle of Silva Arsia leading cavalry against the king’s forces.

 

Censor Appius Claudius:

(340– 273 BC) Roman politician from a wealthy patrician family; as censor instrumental in the construction of Rome's first aqueduct (Aqua Appia) and major road project (the Appian Way).  He sought support from the lower classes, allowing sons of freedmen to serve in the Senate, and extending voting privileges to landless men in the rural tribes.  In the Second Samnite War, he advocated the founding of Roman colonies throughout Latium & Campania to serve as fortifications against the Samnites & Etruscans.

 

Roman kings:

Early Rome was ruled by a king who possessed absolute power.  The first king & legendary founder of the city (753 BC) was Romulus; the senate was a weak oligarchy whose function was to administer royal wishes.   After Romulus kings were elected by a popular Assembly, rejecting or accepting candidates (who could be chosen from any source, even a rival city-state) nominated by a chosen member of the senate (called an interrex or regent).  Hereditary dynasties were not established & when the Tarquins attempted to impose a hereditary crown, revolution ensued, leading to the overthrow in 509 BC of Tarquinius Superbus.  

 

plebeian:

belonging or pertaining to the common people

 

constitution of Servius Tullius: * see Endnote <C>

the reforms of Rome’s legendary 6th king (ruled 575-535 BC); he came from servile origins, married a daughter of Rome's first Etruscan king; the constitutional basis for his accession is confused, he is said to have been the first Roman king to accede without election by the Senate, having gained the throne by popular support and also  the first to be elected by the Senate alone, without reference to the people. 

 

land law of Licinius:

a series of laws proposed by the tribunes of the plebs (commoners), one of whom was Licinius; they aimed to limit the interest rate of loans, restrict private ownership of land & stipulated that a pleb always be 1 of the 2 consuls.  First 2 passed in 368 BC after both proponents were elected & re-elected  9 consecutive years thereby preventing election of patrician (aristocratic) magistrates.  In 367 BC, the  3rd reform was passed; a 4th law was proposed regarding the priests (custodians of the sacred Sibylline Books).  This struggle dominated Roman politics for the first 2 centuries of the Republic, reflecting the conflict between the patricians & the plebeians.  

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Second Punic War: * see Endnote <D>

(218-211 BC) second major conflict between Carthage & Rome.  Initiated by Carthage in Spain, by Hannibal's invasion of Italy across the Alps.  He proceeded to defeat all Roman armies sent against him.  To counter him the Romans adopted a Fabian strategy, avoiding direct battles.  In Iberia Scipio Africanus ended Carthaginian rule, cutting Hannibal’s supplies.  The battle of Zama saw the final defeat of Hannibal & Cathage.

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Epaminondas:

(died 362 BC) Theban general & statesman, liberated Thebes from Spartan subjugation giving it a dominant position in Greek politics.  His victory at Leuctra broke Spartan military power & liberated the Messenian helots, the Peloponnesian Greeks enslaved under Spartan rule for 230 years.  He reshaped the political map of Greece, fragmented old alliances, created new ones & supervised the construction of entire cities.  He was also militarily influential and invented & implemented several major battlefield tactics.

 

Messenians and Arcadians: * see Endnote <E>

Inhabitants of the Peloponnese; rich Messenia was conquered by Sparta in the First Messenian War (743-724 BC). They were enslaved as helots, or serfs of the state.  A helot uprising triggered the Second Messenian War (685 to 668 BC) which was crushed.  Like Messenia, Arcadia was threatened by Spartan aggression in 550 BC but successfully resisted; following this defeat the Spartans changed tactics from conquest to alliance building from which the Peloponnesian League emerged.

 

Alexandrine romance-literature:

In the first centuries after Alexander's death, legends concerning him coalesced into a text known as the Alexander Romance & erroneously ascribed to the historian Callisthenes (known as Pseudo-Callisthenes). Most of the content is fantastical, including miraculous tales & encounters with mythical creatures such as Sirens or Centaurs. The oldest version is  the Historia Alexandri Magni, in Greek, dated 3rd century BC.  In a lost history of the king, Callisthenes described the sea in Cilicia drawing back from him in veneration.  Writing after his death, another participant, Onesicritus, invented a tryst between Alexander & Thalestris, queen of the Amazons.  When Onesicritus read this to his patron Lysimachus (one of Alexander's generals & later a king), he quipped "I wonder where I was at the time" (from Plutarch).

 

end of the Roman Republic:

the start of the crisis which was to end the Republic is dated from the election of Gracchus as tribune (134 BC), his land reforms & subsequent assassination (133 BC).  The definitive end of the Republic is linked to the assassination of Caesar (44 BC).  During this period the Republic was engulfed in waves of crisis: brigandage, war & civil war.  The nature of society was changing, with land reforms, the transformation in composition of the Roman army & expansion of Roman citizenship.  This latter was viewed as a catalyst, leading to internal dissension, disputes with Rome's Italian allies, slave revolts, and riots.

 

Varro:

(116 - 27 BC) Roman scholar &writer whose chronology attempted to produce a year-by-year timeline of Roman history up to his day.  It is based on the traditional sequence of the consuls of the Roman Republic, supplemented by inserting "dictatorial" and "anarchic" years. It is the accepted chronology (although erroneous in places) because it was inscribed on the arch of Augustus in Rome & although that arch no longer stands, a large portion of the chronology survived.

 

Nietzsche: * see Endnote <F>

(1844 -1900) German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, philologist, and Latin & Greek scholar whose work has exerted  huge influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history.  He is considered one of the father of existentialism.

 

Hellenistic literature: * see Endnote <G>

writing from 323-31 BC; most of it shows little originality or depth of thought. but what it lacked in quality was made up in quantity: the names of thousands of authors have been unearthed.  Most was trash comparable to our cheap novels; a very few met the high standards set by the Classical Greeks.  However this body of writing did have a major influence on later Roman writers.

 

Mommsen:

(1817- 1903) German classical scholar, considered greatest 19th century classicists; awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902 for his “A History of Rome"; his work ong Roman history remains fundamental for contemporary research.  He was also a prominent German politician as a member of the Prussian & German parliaments. His works on Roman law and law of obligations had a significant impact on German civil code.

 

Indian Culture: * see Endnote<H>

aka Vedic India, the Indo-Aryan Civilization, the originators of the Hindu religion, 1 of the 9 Higher Cultures Spengler identifies, covering the period of S. Asian history from the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilization until the second urbanization which began in 600 BC; It gets its name from the Vedas, liturgical texts containing details of life during this age and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period.

 

Brahman Nirvana:

In Hindu religion, a state of release or liberation: the union with the Brahman -meaning peace; described as brahma-nirvana meaning oneness with Brahman; an experience of blissful egolessness; the term is found in the Bhagavad Gita.

 

Buddhism: * see Endnote <I>

a religion and dharma (or "cosmic law and order") that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices lbased on teachings attributed to the Buddha.   It emerged in the 5th century BC from eastern India, in and around the Kingdom of Magadha (now in Bihar, India), and is based on the teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama.  The religion evolved as it spread from the NEregion of India through Central, East, and SE Asia.  As it spread its popularity declined in India during the Middle Ages.  At one time or another, it influenced most of the Asian continent.