Roman à clef

Previously Romans policy has been applying traditional measures to ensure the loyalty of its subjects and to prevent forbidden associations had been inspired to maintain peace and social equilibrium. This was not true for Constantine. His was more a succession of steps…

his death, his disciples continue to embrace the value of intimacy, meeting in small groups and stressing internal as opposed to external growth. As the Church amasses more followers and expands even further by becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, it begins to lose some of its original focus. Although through expansion the Church accumulates a greater number…

The use of rhythm through iambic pentameter plays an important part in understanding Marc Antony’s funeral oration in Julius Caesar. Much of the speech is representative of Antony’s thought process and the rhythmic variations allow the audience to connect with his train of thought. Determining the meaning of these rhythmic variations can be done by examining the iambic pentameter. For instance in Speaking Shakespeare, Patsy Rodenburg discusses the importance of counting syllables in each line to…

in his conquest against Rome. In 216BCE Rome appointed two consuls, Gaius Terenitus Varro and Lucius Amelius Paullus. Instead of commanding separate armies, Varro and Paullus were forced by the Roman senate to combine their separate forces into one penultimate force. They commanded eight enlarged roman legions made up of approximately 5,000 infantry and 300 cavalry as opposed to the more traditional 4,000 infantry and 200 horse. Once the allied forces of Rome are taken into account, Varro…

Rome’s first king, Romulus was believed to have been carried away into the sky, where he became a god. Romans were proud of their city that they were sure that the gods must have had a hand in its birth. (Chrisp, 2007 pg. 10) The Romans were proud of the works they had done especially their architecture. The Romans built some incredible buildings. According to the Encyclopedia, The origins of Roman architecture can be traced to the Etruscans, who migrated from Asia Minor to Italy in the 12th…

During the first two centuries of the Roman Empire the number of slaves increased dramatically. These slaves were mainly war captives, kidnapped and sold in Rome’s large slave trade. Slaves had no rights and the immoral Romans looked at slavery as part of everyday life. During the early Roman republic, debtors would be forced to work for landowners in order to work off their debt. When this practice was outlawed, slave labor was needed. Slavery was thus of immense economic importance. Slaves…

A tragic hero is commonly defined as a literary figure who, during the course of the plot, makes a deadly flaw that seals his fate and ultimately leads to his demise. Two classic examples can be found in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Brutus, the killer of Caesar, and the dictator of Rome himself. Marcus Brutus and Julius Caesar both serve as exceptional illustrations of tragic heroes because of their social relevance, their harrowing mistakes, and their cataclysmic deaths. It is…

“Beowulf- The Anglo-Saxon Hero” The Anglo-Saxon culture embraces virtues such as courage, strength, loyalty, cunning, and generosity. These virtues are exemplified by the epic hero Beowulf. Beowulf possesses each of these characteristics. Throughout the epic tale of Beowulf, the hero displays each of these virtues through his actions and adventures. The first of these characteristics is Beowulf’s strength. He is often referred to as “the strongest of the Geats”. Beowulf…

impacted the world’s most striking empire, Rome. Romans recognize them as the Etruscans. Etruscans, too, used others’ efforts to live and communicate within society: Etruscans borrowed their alphabet from the Greeks due to their frequent contact. But there was more to the Etruscans, they had expertise in metal, art, and architecture from whom…

tradition conspired to break down the Roman state that had functioned largely harmoniously since the end of the conflict of the orders and especially during the Middle Republic a time period ruled by the crisis of the Punic Wars. The Roman state and its Constitution was ruled not by any set of written down laws but by tradition and the power of prestige. The Late republic was marked for a general breakdown of this consensus and the creation of new conflicts within the Roman state. The optimates…