panem et circensus:

Latin for “Bread and circuses", a figure of speech for a superficial means of appeasement; the generation of public approval, not through public service but through diversion, the mere satisfaction of the immediate  requirements of a populace.  Juvenal coined the phrase to decry the selfishness of the common people & their neglect of wider concerns.  It also implies the erosion of civic duty in the minds of the commoner.

 

Crassus:

(115–53 BC) Roman general & politician, lifelong ally to Caesar; served under Sulla during in civil war, amassed huge fortune in real estate speculation; victory over Spartacus led to his political elevation; shared consulship with Pompey joining with him & Caesar to form First Triumvirate.  In 56 BC both men again served jointly as consuls.  Appointed Governor of Roman Syria;  from here he invaded the Parthian Empire. This campaign was a disaster, ending in his defeat & death at the Battle of Carrhae.

 

triumvir:

Latin for a political regime dominated by 3 powerful individuals known as triumvirs; formal or informal; the 3 are notionally equal but rarely the case in reality.

​

Gauls:

Celtic peoples inhabiting Gaul in the Iron Age & the Roman period (from the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD).  By 4th century BC, they occupied western & central Europe, controlled routes along the Rhône, Seine, Rhine & Danube rivers; soon expanded into Northern Italy, Balkans, Transylvania & Galatia; although never united under a single ruler, the tribes were capable of uniting in large-scale military operations; reached the peak of their power in the early 3rd century BC.

​

Parthians:

(247 BC-224 AD) major Iranian political & cultural power in ancient Iran & Iraq.  Founded by Arsaces I of Parthiamid, 3rd century BC; greatly expanded by Mithridates I (171–138 BC) who seized Media & Mesopotamia from Seleucids.  At its peak it stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates to eastern Iran; located on Silk Road trade route between Roman Empire & Han Empire of China, became center of trade & commerce.

 

Syrians:* see Endnote 54

reference to the Syrian War, a conflict between the Romans and the Seleucid Empire (192–188 BC); the Romans won a decisive victory.

 

.Celts: * see Endnote 55

Indo-European people in Iron Age and Medieval Europe who spoke Celtic languages & had cultural similarities.  The Romans knew the Celts in France as Gauls.  Their territory included the Low Countries, the Alps and present-day northern Italy. 

 

Samnites:

ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, south-central Italy. Allied with Rome against the Gauls in 354 BC, but later enemies, they were soon involved in a series of wars until eventually defeated by Rome (290 BC).  They later helped Pyrrhus & Hannibal (280–275 BC and 218-201 BC) against Rome; also fought from 90 BC (Social War) & later in the civil war (82 BC) as allies of Carbo against Sulla.  After defeating them Sulla conducted an ethnic cleansing campaign & they disappeared from history.

​

Appian Way:

one of the earliest & strategically important Roman roads of the republic, connecting Rome to Brindisi, in SE Italy; main route for military supplies & first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome; named after Appius Claudius Caecus, the Roman censor who began & completed the first section in 312 BC.

​

Maecenas:

(68- 8 BC) ally, friend & political adviser to Octavian (first Emperor of Rome as Caesar Augustus) as well as an important patron for the new generation of poets, including both Horace and Virgil; served as culture minister to the Emperor but in spite of his wealth and power he chose not to enter the Senate, remaining of equestrian rank.  He is a byword for a wealthy, generous and enlightened patron of the arts.

 

Maecenas’s renowned park:

famous gardens built by Maecenas, first gardens in Rome of the Hellenistic-Persian garden style, sited on the Esquiline Hill, atop the Servian Wall and its adjoining necropolis; contained terraces, libraries and other aspects of Roman culture. Maecenas was the first to construct a warm swimming bath in Rome.

​

parvenu:

a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance, position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionally appropriate manners, dress or surroundings.

 

Periclean Age: * see Endnote 56

(480-404 BC) period of Athenian political hegemony, economic growth & cultural flourishing; began in 478 BC following defeat of the Persian invasion with the formation of the Delian League, a coalition led by Athens; aimed to insure the liberated Asian Greek cities were free of Persian control.  

 

Sistine Chapel:

the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City; restored by Pope Sixtus IV, 1477-1480, served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity; famous for the frescos that decorate the interior.  Michelangelo painted the ceiling (1508-1512), under the patronage of Pope Julius II, and between 1535- 1541, he painted The Last Judgment for Popes Clement VII and Paul III.

 

Michelangelo:

(1475-1564) Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance born in Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.  His works  (painting-The Last Judgment, sculpture- the Pietà, David and architecture-St. Peter's Basilica western end & dome) rank among the most famous.