Читать книгу The History of almost Everything. Practical guide of the eaters of Time - Lim Word - Страница 12

A little earlier than the beginning of our era. Octavian Augustus and Marcus Antonius divide Rome into the East and the West. Mark falls under the influence of Cleopatra, who does not mind becoming the queen of Rome itself, gets involved in the war with the Senate and Octavian Augustus. Alternating feasts with military preparations, he misses the blows of the metropolis, and, in the end, commits suicide. The charms of the thirty-nine-year-old Cleopatra do not work for the winner, the heiress of the pharaohs has to follow the example of Antony. She has four children; seventeen-year-old Caesarion, the son of Caesar, by order of Augustus, killed, two twins from Antony are brought up by Augustus’s sister, nothing is known about the fate of the fourth.

The emperor Tiberius, stepson and heir of Augustus, is allegedly strangled personally by his great-nephew, his successor, during an attack of illness. Having risen to the summit of power, Caligula builds bridges from ships, luxurious floating palaces, deals with senators – and he is loved by the people for the lack of hypocrisy. Zarezan own bodyguards. The new emperor, Claudius is memorable for Messalina, who has become the nominal image of a lascivious wife. His next wife is Agrippina, the middle sister of Caligula, who already has the son of Nero. Her plot reaches its goal; Nero becomes emperor. However, his reign does not like the mother, who is going to lead to power the son of Claudius and Agrippina, Britannica. Nero in time feeds the opponent with poisoned mushrooms. The mother tries to poison, too, but she takes the invention of the eastern king, Mithradates Evpator, in time, an effective antidote. Unable to drown the mother during the staged shipwreck (in the past hobby of Agrippina – diving for sea sponges), Nero directs the text to order the naval officer to stab it.

Nero’s policy of reducing taxes brought him popular popularity. But, after the death of Agrippina, the emperor falls into depression, loses his former administrative grip. Restoration of Rome after the fire, the construction of the Golden Palace an area of a kilometer and a half (with a giant pool-pond in the middle), digging a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, as well as constant orgies drain the treasury. Legions rise in the provinces, and on one remarkable morning Nero does not find in his palace any of the Praetorian guards. The emperor runs to the country house, realizing that everything is over, asks a freedman to help him commit suicide. The last phrase of Nero – “what an artist dies” – “Qualis artifeh pere”.

Next come the brutal but well-made emperors Titus and his son Vespasian (suppressed the uprising in Judea), Vespasian’s younger brother, Domitian, deified himself and family members, persecuted the Stoics and Christians, killed by his own servant for the execution of Nero’s assistant in suicide.

After the Emperor Galba, the “Golden Autumn of the Empire” comes, five worthy rulers come to power – Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, Lucius Ver and Marcus Aurelius. After them, the epoch of “soldier emperors”, chosen by the troops and the Praetorian guard, opens. The coming to power in 323 of Constantine the Great, the victorious competitor, one of such soldiers’ choices marks the transition of the state to Christianity. Forty years later, Julian (the Renegade) is trying to reanimate paganism, he calls on the priests of Jupiter to be as pious as the Christian priests, but these efforts prove to be useless. The last emperor – Romulus Augustul, still a boy, sent to the exile by the German leader Odoakr; He knows little about his fate, except that he may have become a monk. Year 476 is considered the last year of antiquity, although Odoakr ruled the remnants of Western Rome – Italy and part of Gaul by formal permission of the emperor of the Eastern Empire.

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1. The Roman Empire of its heyday (around 177 AD). Since 180, the death of the last worthy emperor of the era of the Golden Autumn of the Empire, Marcus Aurelius, in fact, the era of the legendary Antiquity, spectacular productions, is coming to an end. Rome is waiting for the extinction of the old institutions of power, a series of defeats, the loss of the sense of the existence of a superpower and a change of religion.

…Spartacus (Latin Spartacus), 110—70 years old. BC, the leader of the risen gladiators in the territory of modern Italy. No images; by the decision of the Senate, the Romans tried to forget memory (Damnatio memoriae – damnathio memorial) about such an amazing and unpleasant event for them.

In the youth of great Rome, (fifth-second century BC), slaves (servus) are quite rare, sometimes they have the status of family members. The second-first centuries BC, the beginning of a new era, are marked by an increase in the number of prisoners of war, as well as debtors from provinces unable to pay a high Roman tax, usurious interest, and also receiving an appropriate stigma. Over time, the ratio of the number of free people to servants in Italy is 2.5: 1, in the whole of Rome about 10: 1, and the situation of the latter is substantially deteriorating. Still, in many cases slaves have a hope of improving their situation, a free certificate from the master, his family name and further, practically unlimited movement on the social ladder. At least two emperors of Rome, at the beginning of their career, were ordinary slaves. Such an institution of ascent allows you to cut off unnecessary national ambitions (i-de marcoman, cimbri, volsk, frank, etc., my tribe is the best, the rest are worthless) and create – a trader, architect, military leader, teacher – patriots of great Rome.

The price of a slave in the first century BC. is 4—400 denarii, depending on the degree of success of the last war. At the same time, the daily salary of a legionary is 1 denarius, (otherwise, 4 sesterces or 16 asses at a time), including bonuses; for this amount you can buy 20 loaves of bread, or, at your option, 4 liters of ordinary wine, or a liter of beautiful Falern.

If you count on gold, whose price, as an opportunity to purchase basic material goods, surprisingly, almost unchanged, the soldier earns 35,000 rubles a month (2016).

Gladiator games last until the reign of the last emperor of the integral Roman Empire – Flavius Theodosius (370—395). The very institution of slavery comes to naught gradually, with a general softening of the morals of slaveholders and lawyers – usually taking the side of oppressed servs. But, alas, the baton of this low phenomenon is intercepted by serfdom. Under Diocletian (284—305) a law is issued, attaching peasants – both colonies (tenants) and landowners, as well as artisans (blacksmiths, merchants) or to the place of residence, or to a certain profession that is now inherited.

2, 2a. Gaius Julius Caesar (Latin Gaius Iulius Caesar), 100—44 BC. Ancient Roman statesman, dictator, great pontiff (lit. “The builder of bridges”), high priest. Representative of the patrician class. In his youth he avoids the unleashed Sulla, the civil war, and also the execution, as a relative of one of the enemies of this dictator. It is not known for certain whether Gaius Julius participated in suppressing the uprising of Spartacus; according to some reports, he, a military tribune (one of six in the legion, ruling for two months), prepared recruits. 63 BC. – thanks to connections, popularity and money, young Caesar becomes a great pontiff. 60 BC. – the creation of a triumvirate (“union of three husbands”); Pompeii-Crassus-Caesar. 58 BC. – the beginning of the Gali war; it kills about a million Gauls (including civilians). 49 BC. – the beginning of the civil war in ancient Rome; Caesar and ambition, against Pompey and the corrupt Republic. 45 BC. – Battle of Mund (Spain), the hardest of all, conducted by Caesar. The 30,000 rebellious Pompeians are killed, the dictator for the first time in history holds a triumph after the victory of the Romans over the Romans. In the same year on coins for the first time appears the image of a living person – of course, Caesar.

44 BC. – Guia Julia is murdered by conspirators, led by Mark Brutus (possibly the illegitimate son of the dictator), the body burns the people – at the stake from their own mourning clothes, judges’ chairs, benches, etc., after which the Civil War in a bloodless country flares up with renewed vigor.

2a. Guy Julius Caesar, the only authentic, lifetime sculpture, quite different from the generally accepted images of a relatively young Caesar (2).

3. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, the adopted son of Caesar, his successor, who finally won the Civil War, the first virtual Roman emperor.4. Guy Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula), 12—41 gg. AD, the second emperor, by definition of Lucius Seneca “boundless depravity combined with unlimited power.” Eight months after the ascension to the throne, the initially peaceful Caligula becomes ill, perhaps encephalitis, having recovered, she becomes an insane dictator. Favorite expression – “Let them hate, if only they should be afraid” – Oderint, dum metuant (observer, doom mit (y) guy). In 41, the conspirators surround the emperor in one of the underground passages from the theater to the baths. The last thing that Caligula hears – the formula used in the sacrifice – hoc age – “Do this” (ok aje) – after that gets a sword in the chest from his bodyguard.

Together with Caesar, Praetorians kill his wife and two-year-old daughter.

5. Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, 37—68, the Roman emperor, the last of the Julius-Claudian dynasty, the persecutor of Christians, nicknamed them “Antichrist.”

6. Flavius Aetius, commander of the Western Roman Empire, 390—454, according to historians-contemporaries “The Last (Great) Roman”. The winner of Atilla in a two-day battle at the Cataluun Fields, in 451 (180,000 killed on both sides). Three years later, the Emperor Valentinian the Third, fearing the ambitions of his best diplomat and commander (he wants to extradite his daughter for the son of the ruler), kills Aetius right in the palace, at the audience. A year later, Rome, the former great capital, is captured and robbed by vandals (Vends). Twenty years later, the entire Western Roman Empire is fragmented into a number of barbarian kingdoms.

7. Roman legion (legionis – military collection) of the heyday of the Empire. Modern reconstruction. The army consists of 5—7 thousand, later about 4,5 thousand infantry and auxiliary units. Heavy cavalry (equities) – 300 people, divided into divisions (turmas) for 30 people. Archers – 200 people; They act from the flanks, releasing arrows along the line of raised shields. Great – from the lat. velox – “fast” – several hundred fighters – irregular infantry, usually recruited from local allied tribes, or the youngest legionaries. Armament is a round shield, with a diameter of 90 cm, a “Parma”, a helmet, several darters of the “Gasta velitaris”, a length (with an iron tip of 30 cm) 120 cm and a short (50 cm.) Roman sword – “gladius”. The highest glamor of a daring warrior is a wolf’s hide over his helmet. The main defense against arrows, and other weapons – their own agility. In a free, open formation, evading enemy jets with jumps, they are ordered to throw their spears into the formation of the enemy and quickly retreat for the ranks of the heavily armed infantry.

The first line, in fact, built for the battle of the legion – hastati (Roman hastati, spearmen), soldiers aged 20—25 years, who so need combat experience. Arms – chain mail, or, in the era of the Empire – plate armor, rectangular shield scoot, sword of gladia, dagger pugio, two two-meter dart – piluma.

The second line is principles, (Latin princeps – the first). Warriors in the prime of life, 25—35, sometimes 40 years. Giving the young men the opportunity to gain experience, they let the gastata into the intervals between maniples and continue the battle to the victorious end.

On the third line there are triarius (triarius, lat. “Third”) soldiers of 40—45 years old, veterans, the main reserve of the legion. Their main armament is long percussion javelins.

The army is governed by six tribunes (people’s representatives) and, as a rule, a representative of the tribal aristocracy – the legate.

The Legion in the Republic epoch consists of 30 manipuli (“handful” or “hand”), two centurions (centum – one hundred) in each. Despite the name, the century has 60 to 120 people. Manipuls are combined into ten cohorts (Latin cohors, “fenced place”) for 360 people. One of the cohorts (First) is considered praetorian, elite, has a doubled composition.

During the time of the Empire, the manipulation of the tactical unit disappears, leaving a cohort of 6 centurions.

Turned out of the marching legion follows the battlefield with a complex system – manipuli or centurions, staggered. So it’s easier to move around on rough terrain. Then squares composed of fighters are converted into three lines. “Brothers” toss the pilus, sometimes turning the enemy to flee this one with a dagger volley, close shields and draw swords…

8. Classic armor of the Roman legionary of the era of the heyday of the Empire “Segment of the Segment”. The picture is redrawn from the illustration of the book of the Italian historian Peter Konolli, a professional artist, for the author’s article in the children’s magazine “Lefty”.

9.10. Contours of details, fastenings and decorative elements, made on own reconstruction “Segmental Segments”. The size of the cage in the figure of armor of 15 mm., Decorative elements and fasteners (including the belt “balteus” not shown here) is 4 mm. Shoulder plates are fastened with folding hinges with figured overlays. The parts are jointed by screws 3 mm, and, after fitting – with rivets.

1 – a strap for the front strap, 2 – a circle for the decorative element (8), 3,4 – straps for the fastening straps, 5 – the arrow for the apron (4), 6 – the apron badge (40), 7 – the lower badge of the apron (4 ), 8 – plates that cover the belt of the belt (12), 9 – fastenings on the plates 14 and 15, at an angle (6), 10 – elements of the joints of the shoulder and waist parts of the armor: wire hooks on top of them, 11 – fasteners on the plates 16 and 17, and below, except for the lower two rows (16), 12 – skipping, illustrator error, 13 – looping (16), 14 – front loop for the hook of the waist part of the armor (2), back hook loop (4).