SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AENEAS AND ODYSSEUS.

As we read along the Aeneids, we discover that Aeneas, in order to visit his father, has to undertake a trip in the underworld such as Odysseus when he met his mother Anticleia. In some ways the visits into the underworld by these two heroes are similar; however, the differences in the purposes as to why both poems were composed and the societies for which they were created means that the visits are intrinsically different. First of all both Homer and Virgil got inspired from older myths and legends when composing their epics and they adapted these stories to suit their thoughts and the audience to whom they were addressed.The trip of Odysseus is in the 11 book of the Iliad. Odysseus meets Tiresias who tells him what he will se in the Underworld but Tiresias does not mention any Ithaca, nor telemachuis and does not even predict the glory of Greece.In few words, the Odyssey is a poem about a man and his fate and no other political themes or propagandistic elements are narrated. On the other hand, the Aeneid wa s written down for a sole patron, Augustus, and it has political implications.Once Augustus ended the civil war and remained the only one to rule Rome,he began a large building project in the city and in its provinces. In addition, he surrounded himself with the major poets and writers of his time, such as Virgil and Horace and asked them to let the future generations know his achievements. Therefore, when Anchises describes that Rome will rule the world, the poem itself reveals that Aeneas is a vehicle of the Augustean propaganda during rome tour guide

To add weight to his poem,Vergil uses many similar scenes throughout his poem to those in Homer’s. For example, Odysseus meets his mother (who he does not know has died) in the Underworld. He tries to embrace her three times, and three times he folds his arms about nothing but air and begs her not to withdraw from his grasp. Aeneas meets his father in the Underworld and tries to embrace him three times, and three times folds his arms about nothing but air and begs him not to withdraw from his grasp. Aeneas cannot meet his mother in the Underworld, as she is a goddess.In conclusion, while Odysseus is struggling to arrive home and finds many obstacles on his way, Aeneas is destined by Vergil to be the father of the greatest nation in the ancient world.

THE MEANING OF THE ROMAN CITIZENSHIP

When we read about the pre-Sulla period in ancient Rome, we learn about the war that the Socii did to become Roman citizens. Roman citizens or naturalized citizens had a set of rights and rules that allowed them to be distinguished not only from the slaves but also from the citizens of other poleis.One of the main rights that a Roman citizen had was the right to vote in the Roman assemblies (Ius suffragii).In a city controlled almost in its entirety by the senate, being part of the assemblies meant to approve motions against the magistrates,vote for the elections of the tribunes and vote in the provocatio ad populum, that was the right to appeal by a Roman citizen. Another right that a Roman citizen had was the possibility to become leader of the state through several steps of the Cursus Honorum.Normally the future consul began his career as adiles or as a quaestor.The Jus Commerci was another prerogative of the Roman citizen. This right allowed the Romans to own property, to legally sign contracts and to own slaves.When a citizen got in trouble with the law and deserved to be sentenced to death, his citizenship allowed him to be put to death in a way that was not the same as slaves were put to death. In fact,if slaves and foreigners committed crimes, they were whipped and then crucified. A notable example of this is the crucifixion of saint Peter's during Nero's reign. Saint Peter's had come to Rome as a Jew to preach Christianity and was found responsible of the fire of 64 AD.Saint Paul, however,although he was an Ellenized Jew, he was a Roman citizen too, and when he was accused of venerating only one god rather than the 12 Olympians, he was sentenced to death. He was beheaded and not crucified, because Romans, contrary to our modern legal system, distinguished between Romans and non Romans when it was the moment to execute somebody.

DO THE TOMBS OF MARK ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA EXIST?

In the mid of 2009, a team of archaeologists led by the main superintendent to the Egyptian antiquities,Zahri Hawass, announced that, after a series of radar investigation, it may be possible in the next months to unearth the tomb of Mark Anthony and his wife Cleopatra VII.As we know from history, the couple was defeated in 31 BCE in Actium.After being humiliated by Augustus, they both committed suicide.

A common trait of Cleopatra and Mark Antony was that they were both loyal to Caesar. Both of them had met earlier during the reign of Caesar. When Cleopatra crossed the Mediterranean to see him, they both fell in love. There is no doubt that until Caesar's death they were just good friends. Later, he accepted her invitation to visit Egypt. With the relationship between these two powerful people growing, the Romans were wary of the emergence of the Egyptians as a powerful force. Also, they didn't appreciate their love affair, but despite all the threats, Cleopatra and Antony married at Anatolia, Syria in 36 BC.After that they got married Augustus considered Mark Anthony a rebel because he divorced his Roman wife,Octavia, sister of Octavian, the future Augustus

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The site where the archaeologists believe that the couple was buried is 30 miles far from Alexandria and is the temple of Taposiris Magna. Hawass has discovered a 400 feet tunnel beneath the temple; the tunnel was decorated with statues of Cleopatra and many coins bearing her face.In addition, a few months ago Hawass teams has discovered a bust of Mark Anthony and a mask that could have been modeled from the funeral mask of Mark Anthony.Further excavations will be conducted in November 2010 and archaeologists feel themselves optimistic that they are on the way to make one of the most important discoveries from the past that can be compared to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamon.

NOTES ON THE TABULARIUM IN ROME

When we read about the civil wars in Republican Rome, we come across the strong personality of Sulla who invaded Rome because the command of the war to Mithridates was assigned to Marius, a homo novus, and not to him.When Sulla took over the government of Rome as dictator, there is a building in Rome that carries his signature: the Tabularium. The tabularium was built in 80 BC and was the place where the senatusconsulta, deeds, treaties and laws were kept.The construction of the Tabularium has to be seen as an interesting political move of the dictator. In fact,before the construction of the Tabularium, the main laws of Rome were preserved under the foundations of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome guide since the Tarquins had began this tradition during the kings' age. In my opinion, when he moved the archives from the temple to the Tabularium, he intended to appear as a new benefactor and a person endowed almost of divine powers.

In support of this opinion, the history of Rome mentions that Sulla was the first to extend the pomerium of the city, which was a religious act normally performed by the Pontifex Maximus because it recalled the sacred plowing of the ditch dug by Romulus after having seen the vultures.Therefore, the position of the Tabularium near the largest and oldest temple of Rome indicates the willingness of Sulla to become an entity closer than any other Roman to the god themselves.Interesting to note about the evolution of the building in the centuries. In 1144 the Tabularium became a medieval fortress and in the renaissance time, it will have one of his sides embellished by the architecture of Michelangelo.Since 1944 the Tabularium and its later extensions are the offices of the Mayor of Rome.

THE PERSISTENCE OF THE ROMAN ARMY IN THE SIEGE OF MASADA.

The Roman army had fought numerous battles, but one deserves a special mention because of the patience and persistence of the Roman army. The ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus ended his monumental account of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (the Jewish War) with the story of a mass suicide at Masada, located on the Dead Sea.According to Josephus, some 960 Jewish rebels holding out on top of Masada – the last stronghold to remain in Jewish hands after Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. – chose to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Roman troops besieging the fortress.For the Jews was unconceivable to become part of an rome tour guide based on polytheism. The Roman siege brought the Romans to build eight camps that housed approximately 8000 troops and a circumvallation (siege) wall, still are clearly visible encircling the base of the mountain.After having surrounded the fortress with a wall, the Romans decided to build a ramp in order to have a direct access to the fortress.The ramp consisted of a slope of 375 feet built using natural bedrock. The ramp was completed in 2 months and in 73 AD the Roman army breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram. However, when the army entered the fortress, its 960 inhabitants had already committed suicide to avoid slavery.Interesting to note that because Judaism strongly discourages suicide, Josephus reported that the defenders killed each other in turn until the last man, who was the only one to commit suicide.Before the arrival of the Romans, Masada was fortified and embellished by Herod the great who transformed the citadel into his winter palace and place to go in the occurrence of a revolt.

DID EVER ROME HAD A COLOSSAL STATUE?

Yes, Rome had a colossal statue that was high 100 feet and this statue represented the emperor Nero as Helios and had a crown of sun rays over his head. The Colossal statue of Nero is linked to the terrible fire that burned 80% of Rome in 64 AD. Some Latin sources say that it was Nero that commissioned the fire in order to rebuild Rome more splendid and looking as the Greek cities; some others said that Nero blamed the Christians for the fire. Recentsreexaminations of the sources prefer to argue that the fire of 64 AD burst from one of the wooden shops located in the bottom arcades of the Circus Maximus. We have also to remember that a big part of Rome at Nero's time was still in wood and the houses had no firewalls and had the last storey on wood.This said,with the rubble from the fire, Nero decided to build his own new residence in the valley that is between the Palatine and the Esquiline and in doing so, he decided to enhance the richness of his new mansion with a lake and a colossal statue that showed himself as new enlightened ruler. The bronzed statue of Nero was then called " Colossus" because it was similar to the Colossus of Rhodes (now lost) and in the early medieval art marked the area of the Colosseum.The Colossal statue of Nero suffered a partial damnatio memoriae: at his death, the Senate decreed to remove any facial similarity with the emperor; the statue survived until the end of the Roman empire as a generic colossal statue dedicated to the Sun- Helios, as the attached picture shows.

ALEA IACTA EST

During my tours of Rome, I use to describe the famous episode of the passage of the Rubicon river by Caesar and his legion at the moment of traveling to occupy Rome.The Greek writer reports that Caesar had a moment of hesitastion before crossing the Rubicon and had a strange dream: he dreamt to have an incest with his mother. Plutarch describes with many details how Caesar was torn apart by whether or not acting for his own glory or if he was offending Rome and its citizens. Plutarch wrote in Greek the famous sentence attributed To Caesar but in the history of the Latin Literature the sentence "alea iacta est" which means "the dice have been cast" was written by Suetonius. The phrase recalls also to my mind the etymology of an adjective that is currently used in the English vocabulary:"aleatory" which means, "subject to random" and " uncertain".Julius Caesar decided to return back to Rome after 10 years of campaign abroad, because he had discovered that the triumvirate did not work anymore. Crassus was dead since 53 BC in Parthia, killed by an arrow,and Pompey was created by the manipulated senate," consul sine collega". If Pompey broke the consitution of Rome, Caesar felt himself in full right to do the same and to chase his enemy. Pompey will be defeated in the battle of Pharsalus by Caesar and during his flight to Egypt, he was assassinated by Ptolomeus XIII, brother of Cleopatra and his head was offered on a silver platter to Julius Caesar, who was horrified by the cruelty of the Egyptians.Julius Caesar then fell in love with Cleopatra and had a son, Cesarion who was killed by Octavian during the second triumvirate.There is only one portrait of the son of Caesar and Cleopatra and is preserved in the British museum in London.