In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber, also known as Liber Pater, was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome's plebeians and was part of their Aventine Triad. His festival of Liberalia became associated with free speech and the rights attached to coming of age. His cult and functions were increasingly associated with Romanised forms of the Greek Dionysus/Bacchus, whose mythology he came to share.
The gens Fabia was one of the most ancient patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens played a prominent part in history soon after the establishment of the Republic, and three brothers were invested with seven successive consulships, from 485 to 479 BC, thereby cementing the high repute of the family. Overall, the Fabii received 45 consulships during the Republic. The house derived its greatest lustre from the patriotic courage and tragic fate of the 306 Fabii in the Battle of the Cremera, 477 BC. But the Fabii were not distinguished as warriors alone; several members of the gens were also important in the history of Roman literature and the arts.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus sought to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when the aristocracy was converting to Christianity, and led an unsuccessful delegation of protest against Emperor Gratian's order to remove the Altar of Victory from the curia, the principal meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum. Two years later he made a famous appeal to Gratian's successor, Valentinian II, in a dispatch that was rebutted by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Symmachus's career was temporarily derailed when he supported the short-lived usurper Magnus Maximus, but he was rehabilitated and three years later appointed consul. After the death of Theodosius I, he became an ally of Stilicho, the guardian of emperor Honorius. In collaboration with Stilicho he was able to restore some of the legislative powers of the Senate. Much of his writing has survived: nine books of letters; a collection of Relationes or official dispatches; and fragments of various orations.
Sol Invictus was long considered to be the official sun god of the later Roman Empire. In recent years, however, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists and a growing group of revisionists.
The praetorian prefecture of Italy was one of four praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula, the Western Balkans, the Danubian provinces and parts of North Africa. The Prefecture's seat moved from Rome to Milan and finally, Ravenna.
Vettius Agorius Praetextatus was a wealthy pagan aristocrat in the 4th-century Roman Empire, and a high priest in the cults of numerous gods. He served as the praetorian prefect at the court of Emperor Valentinian II in 384 until his death that same year.
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus was a grammarian, a historian and a politician of the Roman Empire.
Lucius Aurelius Avianius SymmachussignoPhosphorius was an aristocrat of the Roman Empire, and father of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus.
Aconius CatullinussignoPhilomatius was a Roman senator who held high state offices under the emperor Constans.
Nonius Atticus was a politician of the Roman Empire.
The mysteries of Isis were religious initiation rites performed in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis in the Greco-Roman world. They were modeled on other mystery rites, particularly the Eleusinian mysteries in honor of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone, and originated sometime between the third century BCE and the second century CE. Despite their mainly Hellenistic origins, the mysteries alluded to beliefs from ancient Egyptian religion, in which the worship of Isis arose, and may have incorporated aspects of Egyptian ritual. Although Isis was worshipped across the Greco-Roman world, the mystery rites are only known to have been practiced in a few regions. In areas where they were practiced, they served to strengthen devotees' commitment to the Isis cult, although they were not required to worship her exclusively, and devotees may have risen in the cult's hierarchy by undergoing initiation. The rites may also have been thought to guarantee that the initiate's soul, with the goddess's help, would continue after death into a blissful afterlife.
The gens Coelia, occasionally written Coilia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The Coelii are frequently confounded with the Caelii, with some individuals called Caelius in manuscripts, while they appear as Coelius or Coilius on coins. The first of this gens who obtained the consulship was Gaius Coelius Caldus in 94 BC.
The gens Maevia, occasionally written Mevia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are known from the later Republic, although the family may possibly have been much older, and well into Imperial times. None of the Maevii ever obtained the higher offices of the Roman state. Their nomen is frequently confounded with the similar Maenius.
The gens Pantuleia, occasionally written Patuleia, was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned during the first century of the Empire. According to Tacitus, at least some of the Pantuleii were of equestrian rank, but few of them achieved any of the higher offices of the Roman state.
The gens Pescennia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Cicero, but it was not until imperial times that they came to prominence. The Pescennii were of equestrian rank. The most illustrious of the family was Gaius Pescennius Niger, an able general, who was proclaimed emperor in AD 193, only to be defeated and put to death by Septimius Severus the following year.
The gens Sallustia, occasionally written Salustia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Cicero, and from that time they attained particular distinction as statesmen and writers. The most illustrious of the family was the historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus, who wrote valuable works on the Jugurthine War and the Conspiracy of Catiline, which still exist.
Maijastina Kahlos is a Docent of Latin and Roman literature at the University of Helsinki and a Life Member of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. She specialises in migration and mobility in the late antique Mediterranean, everyday life in ancient Rome, and ancient religions.