LatinusLatinus (Latinus; Ancient Greek: Λατῖνος, Latînos, or Λατεῖνος, Lateînos) was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology. He is often associated with the heroes of the Trojan War, namely Odysseus and Aeneas. Although his appearance in the Aeneid is irreconcilable with his appearance in Greek mythology, the two pictures are not so different that he cannot be seen as one character. In Hesiod's Theogony, Latinus was the son of Odysseus and Circe who ruled the Tyrrhenians, presumably the Etruscans, with his brothers Ardeas and Telegonus.
Di PenatesIn ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates (ˈdiː pɛˈnaːteːs) or Penates (pᵻˈneɪtiːz ) were among the dii familiares, or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. They were thus associated with Vesta, the Lares, and the Genius of the pater familias in the "little universe" of the domus. Like other domestic deities, the Penates had a public counterpart.
Callisto (mythology)In Greek mythology, Callisto (kəˈlɪstoʊ; Καλλιστώ kallistɔ̌ː) was a nymph, or the daughter of King Lycaon; the myth varies in such details. She was believed to be one of the followers of Artemis (Diana for the Romans) who attracted Zeus. Many versions of Callisto's story survive. According to some writers, Zeus transformed himself into the figure of Artemis to pursue Callisto, and she slept with him believing Zeus to be Artemis.
QuadrigaA quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin quadrigae, a contraction of quadriiugae, from : four, and : yoke. In Latin the word quadrigae is almost always used in the plural and usually refers to the team of four horses rather than the chariot they pull. In Greek, a four-horse chariot was known as τέθριππον .
PalestrinaPalestrina (ancient Praeneste; Πραίνεστος, Prainestos) is a modern Italian city and comune (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon the ruins of the ancient city of Praeneste. Palestrina is the birthplace of composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Palestrina is sited on a spur of the Monti Prenestini, a mountain range in the central Apennines.
Dii ConsentesThe Dii Consentes, also known as Di or Dei Consentes (once Dii Complices), is an ancient list of twelve major deities, six gods and six goddesses, in the pantheon of Ancient Rome. Their gilt statues stood in the Roman Forum, and later apparently in the Porticus Deorum Consentium. The gods were listed by the poet Ennius in the late 3rd century BCE in a paraphrase of an unknown Greek poet: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus Mars, Mercurius, Iovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo Livy arranges them in six male-female pairs: Jupiter-Juno, Neptune-Minerva, Mars-Venus, Apollo-Diana, Vulcan-Vesta and Mercury-Ceres.
RobigaliaThe Robigalia was a festival in ancient Roman religion held April 25, named for the god Robigus. Its main ritual was a dog sacrifice to protect grain fields from disease. Games (ludi) in the form of "major and minor" races were held. The Robigalia was one of several agricultural festivals in April to celebrate and vitalize the growing season, but the darker sacrificial elements of these occasions are also fraught with anxiety about crop failure and the dependence on divine favor to avert it.
Bellona (goddess)Bellona (bɛlˈloːna) was an ancient Roman goddess of war. Her main attribute is the military helmet worn on her head; she often holds a sword, spear, or shield, and brandishes a torch or whip as she rides into battle in a four-horse chariot. She had many temples throughout the Roman Empire. She is known for her temple outside of Rome being the official decision making centre in regards to war and for her bloodlust and madness in battle. Her iconography was extended by painters and sculptors following the Renaissance.
NumenNumen (plural numina) is a Latin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows: Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (divina mens), a god "whose numen everything obeys," and a "divine power" (vis divina) "which pervades the lives of men." It causes the motions and cries of birds during augury. In Virgil's recounting of the blinding of the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, from the Odyssey, in his Aeneid, he has Odysseus and his men first "ask for the assistance of the great numina" (magna precati numina).
SceptreA sceptre (or scepter in American English) is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia, signifying sovereign authority. The Was and other types of staves were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt. For this reason they are often described as "sceptres", even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the 2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos. Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff.
