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Constantine I (272-337), also known as Constantine the Great and Saint Constantine, was the son of Emperor Constantius. His father sent him east to serve under Emperors Diocletian and Galerius, spending some time in the court of the latter. After his father died in 306 CE, Constantine was proclaimed his successor and emperor by his army at Eboracum (York).<br/><br/> He at first remained officially neutral in the efforts of Emperor Galerius to defeat the usurper Maxentius, but after Galerius' death, Constantine was dragged into the conflict. He eventually defeated Maxentius in 312 CE, and then fought against his erstwhile ally, Emperor Licinius, for sole control of both western and eastern portions of the Roman Empire. Licinius was defeated in 324 CE, and Constantine became emperor of a united empire.<br/><br/> Constantine enacted many reforms strengthening the empire, ending the tetrarchy system and restructuring government. He became the first emperor to claim conversion to Christianity, and he called the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, overseeing the profession of the Nicene Creed. He renamed Byzantium to Constantinople after himself, which would become the new capital. He died in 337 CE.
'The School of Athens', or <i>Scuola di Atene</i> in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.<br/><br/> The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and 'The School of Athens' the second painting to be finished there, after 'La Disputa', on the opposite wall. The picture has long been seen as Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.
'The School of Athens', or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.<br/><br/> The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and 'The School of Athens' the second painting to be finished there, after 'La Disputa', on the opposite wall. The picture has long been seen as Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.
Italy: Central detail from 'The School of Athens', featuring Greek philosophers Plato (red robe) and Aristotle (blue robe). Raphael (1483 - 1520), painted between 1509–1511 (Apostolic Palace, Vatican City).<br/><br/> 'The School of Athens', or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.
'The School of Athens', or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.<br/><br/> The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and 'The School of Athens' the second painting to be finished there, after 'La Disputa', on the opposite wall. The picture has long been seen as Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.
'The School of Athens', or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.<br/><br/> The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and 'The School of Athens' the second painting to be finished there, after 'La Disputa', on the opposite wall. The picture has long been seen as Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.
Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BCE) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire œuvre is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years
Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BCE) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire œuvre is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years
Socrates (Greek: ΣωκρΞ¬της, c. 469 – 399 BCE) was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claim that Plato's dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity.<br/><br/> Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who also lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. It is Plato's Socrates that also made important and lasting contributions to the fields of epistemology and logic, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains strong in providing a foundation for much western philosophy that followed.
Licinius I (Latin: Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius Augustus; c. 263–325) was a Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the <i>Edict of Milan</i> that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Chrysopolis, before being executed on the orders of Constantine I.
Trajan (18 September 53 – August 8, 117 CE) was Roman emperor from 27 January 98 CE – 8 August 117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate <i>optimus princeps</i> ('the best ruler'), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.<br/><br/> Trajan is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean world.
Natural son and heir of Emperor Vespasian, Titus was a member of the Flavian dynasty, the first Roman emperor to succeed his own biological father. Titus, like his father, had earned much renown as a military commander, especially during the First Jewish-Roman war.<br/><br/> When his father left to claim the imperial throne after Nero's death, Titus was left behind to end the Jewish rebellion, which occurred in 70 CE with the siege and sacking of Jerusalem. The Arch of Titus was built in honour of his destruction of the city. He was also known for his controversial relationship with the Jewish queen Berenice.<br/><br/> Under his father, her served as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, and he was known as a good emperor after his accession. As emperor, he is most endearingly known for his completion of the Colosseum, started by his father, and his efforts in relieving the destruction caused by eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and a fire in Rome in 80 CE. Titus only served for two years before dying of a fever in 81 CE, and was deified by the Roman Senate before being succeeded by his younger brother, Domitian.
Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, he became step-son of Octavian (later to become Augustus, first emperor of Rome) after his mother was forced to divorce Nero and marry him.<br/><br/> Tiberius would eventually marry Augustus' daughter from his previous marriage, Julia the Elder, and later be adopted by Augustus, officially becoming a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar.<br/><br/> In relations to the other emperors of this dynasty, Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.<br/><br/> Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest generals, with his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, creating the foundations for the empire's northern frontier. However, he came to be known as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him <i>tristissimus hominum</i>, 'the gloomiest of men'.
Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, he became step-son of Octavian (later to become Augustus, first emperor of Rome) after his mother was forced to divorce Nero and marry him.<br/><br/> Tiberius would eventually marry Augustus' daughter from his previous marriage, Julia the Elder, and later be adopted by Augustus, officially becoming a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar.<br/><br/> In relations to the other emperors of this dynasty, Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.<br/><br/> Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest generals, with his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, creating the foundations for the empire's northern frontier. However, he came to be known as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him <i>tristissimus hominum</i>, 'the gloomiest of men'.
Caesar Augustus (63 BCE – 14 CE), also known as Octavian, was the first and among the most important of the Roman Emperors.<br/><br/> Augustus' most visible impact on everyday culture is the eighth month of the year, which was renamed in Augustus' honor in 8 BCE because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, occurred during this month.
Tiberius (16 November 42 BCE – 16 March 37 CE) was a Roman Emperor from 14 CE to 37 CE. Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Claudian, Tiberius was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Octavian, later known as Augustus, in 39 BCE, making him a step-son of Octavian.
In Greek as well as Roman mythology, Hygieia (also Hygiea or Hygeia), was the daughter of the god of medicine, Asclepius, and Epione. She was the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness and hygiene.
In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue (<i>thiasos</i>), and sometimes considerably older, in which case he may be referred to as a Papposilenus.<br/><br/> The original Silenus resembled a folkloric man of the forest with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse.[1] The later sileni were drunken followers of Dionysus, usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses, and having the legs of a human.
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena. Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have only fought for just reasons, and would not fight without a purpose.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 – 7 December 43 BCE) was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and was one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.<br/><br/> His influence on the Latin language was so immense that the subsequent history of prose in not only Latin but European languages up to the 19th century was said to be either a reaction against or a return to his style.
Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Renaissance.
Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Renaissance.
Pope Alexander VI, born Roderic Llançol i de Borja (1 January 1431 - 18 August 1503), was Pope from 11 August 1492 until his death. He is the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, because he broke the priestly vow of celibacy and had several legitimately acknowledged children. Therefore his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate. However, two of Alexander's successors, Sixtus V and Urban VIII, described him as one of the most outstanding popes since St. Peter.
Pope Alexander VI, born Roderic Llançol i de Borja (1 January 1431 - 18 August 1503), was Pope from 11 August 1492 until his death. He is the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, because he broke the priestly vow of celibacy and had several legitimately acknowledged children. Therefore his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate. However, two of Alexander's successors, Sixtus V and Urban VIII, described him as one of the most outstanding popes since St. Peter.
Thought to be a portrait of Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519), the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985), sometimes referred to as Henry Cabot Lodge II, was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See (as Representative).<br/><br/> He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.
Claudius was the first Roman emperor to be born outside of Italy, and he was ostracised and exempted from public office for much of his life due to slight deafness and being afflicted with a limp. It was his infirmity that would save him from the noble purges that occurred during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula, as he was not seen as a serious threat.<br/><br/> Due to being the last surviving man of the Julio-Claudian family, Claudius was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard after their assassination of Caligula. Despite his only previous experience being sharing a consulship with his nephew Caligula in 37 CE, he proved to be a capable administrator, as well as an ambitious builder across the Empire. The conquest of Britain began under his reign, and his seeming vulnerability meant that Claudius often had to shore up his position, usually through the deaths of rival senators and nobles.<br/><br/> He was succeeded after his death in 54 CE by his adopted son, Nero.
Frederick I Barbarossa (1122 – 10 June 1190) was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. He became King of Italy in 1155 and was finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155.<br/><br/> Two years later, the term 'sacrum' (i.e. 'holy') first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire. He was then also formally crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178. He got the name Barbarossa from the northern Italian cities he attempted to rule. Barbarossa is 'red beard' in Italian—a mark of both their fear and respect. In German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart which has the same meaning.
The School of Athens, or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.<br/><br/> The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens the second painting to be finished there, after La Disputa, on the opposite wall. The picture has long been seen as Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.
The School of Athens, or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.<br/><br/> The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens the second painting to be finished there, after La Disputa, on the opposite wall. The picture has long been seen as Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.
Matilda of Tuscany (Italian: Matilde, Latin: Matilda, Mathilda) (1046 – 24 July 1115) was an Italian noblewoman, the principal Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy.<br/><br/> She is one of the few medieval women to be remembered for her military accomplishments. She is sometimes called la Gran Contessa (the Great Countess) or Matilda of Canossa after her ancestral castle of Canossa.
The Vatican estimates the number of Vietnamese 'martyrs' at between 130,000 and 300,000. The Vietnamese Martyrs fall into several groupings, those of the Dominican and Jesuit missionary era of the 17th century, those killed in the politically inspired persecutions of the 19th century, and those martyred during the Communist purges of the 20th century.
Isaiah (Hebrew: יְשַׁגְיָהוּ, Greek: αΌ¨σαΐας, Δ’saïās) was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah. Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed (although not the earliest) of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus refer to the book of Isaiah.
John of Montecorvino, or Giovanni da Montecorvino in Italian (1246 – 1328), was an Italian Franciscan missionary, traveler and statesman, founder of the earliest Roman Catholic missions in India and China, archbishop of Peking, and Patriarch of the Orient.
Letter of Güyük Khan of the Ilkhanate to Pope Innocent IV, persian version, brought to Europe by John de Carpini. Ink on paper, dated 11 November 1246.<br/><br/> Guyuk's enthronement on 24 August 1246, near the Mongol capital at Karakorum, was attended by the Franciscan friar and envoy of protested Mongol attacks on Catholic kingdoms of Europe, Guyug stated that these people had slain Mongol envoys in the time of Genghis Khan and Ogedei Khan. He also claimed that 'from the rising of the sun to its setting, all the lands have been made subject to the Great Khan', proclaiming an explicit ideology of world conquest.<br/><br/> The Khagan wrote a letter to Pope Innocent IV on the relations between the Church and the Mongols. 'You must say with a sincere heart: "We will be your subjects; we will give you our strength". You must in person come with your kings, all together, without exception, to render us service and pay us homage. Only then will we acknowledge your submission. And if you do not follow the order of God, and go against our orders, we will know you as our enemy'.
Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War. The characteristic zouave uniform included short open-fronted jackets, baggy trousers and often sashes and oriental headgear.