This article contains summaries and commentaries of the 100 stories within Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron.
Valeria Messalina was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Her notorious reputation probably resulted from political bias, but works of art and literature have perpetuated it into modern times.
The Mali Empire was an empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of its language, laws, and customs.
Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (cives), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women held no direct political power, those from wealthy or powerful families could and did exert influence through private negotiations. Exceptional women who left an undeniable mark on history include Lucretia and Claudia Quinta, whose stories took on mythic significance; fierce Republican-era women such as Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, and Fulvia, who commanded an army and issued coins bearing her image; women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, most prominently Livia and Agrippina the Younger, who contributed to the formation of Imperial mores; and the empress Helena, a driving force in promoting Christianity.
The Mossi are a Gur ethnic group native to modern Burkina Faso, primarily the Volta River basin. The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, constituting 52% of the population, or about 11.1 million people. The other 48% of Burkina Faso's population is composed of more than 60 ethnic groups, mainly the Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Bissa and Fulani. The Mossi speak the Mòoré language.
The Wolof people are a West African ethnic group found in northwestern Senegal, the Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania. In Senegal, the Wolof are the largest ethnic group (~39.7%), while elsewhere they are a minority. They refer to themselves as Wolof and speak the Wolof language, in the West Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages.
Marriage in ancient Rome was a fundamental institution of society and was used by Romans primarily as a tool for interfamilial alliances. Roman marriage was a monogamous institution: Roman citizens could have only one spouse at a time but were allowed to divorce and remarry. This form of monogamy in Greco-Roman civilization may have arisen from the relative egalitarianism of democratic and republican city-states. Early Christianity embraced this ideal of monogamous marriage, and perpetuated it as an essential element in many later Western cultures.
Sexual attitudes and behaviors in ancient Rome are indicated by art, literature, and inscriptions, and to a lesser extent by archaeological remains such as erotic artifacts and architecture. It has sometimes been assumed that "unlimited sexual license" was characteristic of ancient Rome, but sexuality was not excluded as a concern of the mos maiorum, the traditional social norms that affected public, private, and military life. Pudor, "shame, modesty", was a regulating factor in behavior, as were legal strictures on certain sexual transgressions in both the Republican and Imperial periods. The censors—public officials who determined the social rank of individuals—had the power to remove citizens from the senatorial or equestrian order for sexual misconduct, and on occasion did so. The mid-20th-century sexuality theorist Michel Foucault regarded sex throughout the Greco-Roman world as governed by restraint and the art of managing sexual pleasure.
Kouroukan Fouga, or Kurukan Fuga, was the constitution of the Mali Empire created after the Battle of Krina (1235) by an assembly of nobles to create a government for the newly established empire, according to the Epic of Sundiata. According to oral tradition of the griot poets of Mali and Guinea, the Kouroukan Fouga established the federation of Mandinka clans under one government, outlined how it would operate and established the laws by which the people would live. The name Kurukan Fuga is a toponym, translating to "clearing on granite/lateritic rock", referring to the plain near the town of Ka-ba where the narrative has Sundiata Keita present the charter.
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. They are the third-largest ethnic group in Senegal, making up 15% of the Senegalese population. They are also found in northern Gambia and southern Mauritania.
The Kingdom of Sine was a post-classical Serer kingdom along the north bank of the Saloum River delta in modern Senegal. The inhabitants are called Siin-Siin or Sine-Sine.
The Serer religion, or a ƭat Roog, is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog. In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox, Kopé Tiatie Cac, and Kokh Kox.
The Story of Film: An Odyssey is a 2011 British documentary film about the history of film, presented on television in 15 one-hour chapters with a total length of over 900 minutes. It was directed and narrated by Mark Cousins, a film critic from Northern Ireland, based on his 2004 book The Story of Film.
Lingeer was the title given to the mother or sister of a king in the Serer kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, and previously the Kingdom of Baol; and the Wolof kingdoms of Cayor, Jolof, Baol and Waalo in pre-colonial Senegal. The word "Lingeer" means "queen" or "princess" in Serer and Wolof language. The Lingeer was considered the “great princess of royal courts.” These kingdoms utilized a bilineal system, as a candidate for kingship could not succeed to the throne if he was not a member of the reigning materlineage, and thus, the Lingeer's maternal lineage was highly significant. In similarity, a candidate could not succeed to the throne as king if he was not a member of the noble reigning patriclans. That was particular so among the Serer who retained much of their old culture, customs and traditional religion where women played a significant role compared to the Wolof who adopted Islam. Various Lingeers have been noted for their resistance efforts to colonial conquest.
The Cordoba African Film Festival celebrated its ninth edition during 13–20 October 2012. The earlier eight editions were held in Tarifa. The ninth edition was hosted at Cordoba, a municipality located in Andalusia, Spain. The festival held over eight days was dedicated to cinema from 28 African and Middle East countries.
The Serpent Prince or The Snake Prince is a Hungarian folk tale collected by Hungarian-American scholar Linda Dégh, featuring the marriage between a human maiden and a husband in serpent guise.
