“St. Gregory the Enlightener - Catholic Online” plus 2 more |
- St. Gregory the Enlightener - Catholic Online
- New spin on Nero's banquet hall - Sun-Times news group
- Nero's Banquet Hall Unearthed in Rome - New American
| St. Gregory the Enlightener - Catholic Online Posted: 30 Sep 2009 12:02 AM PDT Feastday: September 30 Gregory the Enlightener was also surnamed the Illuminator. He is of unknown origins, but unreliable tradition has him the son of Anak, a Parthian who murdered King Khosrov I of Armenia when Gregory was a baby. The infant Gregory was smuggled to Caesarea to escape the dying Khosrov's order to murder the entire family, was baptized, married, and had two sons. When King Khosrov's son, Tiridates, regained his father's throne, Gregory was permitted to return, but he incurred the King's displeasure by his support of the Armenian Christians and his conversion activities. In time, Tiridates was converted to Christianity by Gregory and proclaimed Christianity the official religion of Armenia. Gregory was consecrated bishop of Ashtishat, set about organizing the Church in Armenia and building a native clergy, and worked untiringly to evangelize the Armenians. Curiously enough, he set into motion the process that was to make his See a hereditary episcopate when he consecrated his son Aristakes to succeed him. He then retired to a hermitage on Mount Manyea in Taron and remained there until his death. Many extravagant legends and miracles were attributed to him, many of which are celebrated as feasts by the Armenians. He is considered the apostle of Armenia. His feast day is September 30th. | |
| New spin on Nero's banquet hall - Sun-Times news group Posted: 30 Sep 2009 01:57 AM PDT
Did room in emperor's palace rotate?
ROME -- Not only was Nero a Roman emperor, it turns out he may also have been the father of the revolving restaurant. Archaeologists unveiled Tuesday what they think are the remains of Nero's extravagant banquet hall, a circular space that rotated day and night to imitate the Earth's movement and impress his guests. The room, part of Nero's Golden Palace, a sprawling residence built in the first century A.D., is thought to have been built to entertain government officials and VIPs, said lead archaeologist Francoise Villedieu. The emperor, known for his lavish and depraved lifestyle, ruled from A.D. 54 to A.D. 68. The dig so far has turned up the foundations of the room, the rotating mechanism underneath and part of an attached space believed to be the kitchens, she said. "This cannot be compared to anything that we know of in ancient Roman architecture," Villedieu told reporters during a tour of the cordoned-off dig. She said the location of the discovery atop the Palatine Hill, the rotating structure and references to it in ancient biographies of Nero make the attribution to the emperor most likely. The partially excavated site is part of the sumptuous residence, also known by its Latin name Domus Aurea, which rose over the ruins of a fire that destroyed much of Rome in A.D. 64. The purported main dining room, with a diameter of more than 50 feet rested upon a 13-foot-wide pillar and four spherical mechanisms that, likely powered by a constant flow of water, rotated the structure. The discovery was made during routine maintenance of the fragile Palatine area, officials said. Latin biographer and historian Suetonius, who chronicled his times, refers to a main dining room that revolved "day and night, in time with the sky." Angelo Bottini, the state's top official for archaeology in Rome, said the ceiling of the rotating room might have been the one mentioned by Suetonius, who wrote of ivory panels sliding back and forth to shower flowers and perfumes on the guests. "The heart of every activity in ancient Rome was the banquet, together with some form of entertainment," Bottini said at the dig. "Nero was like the sun, and people were revolving around the emperor." That part of the palace -- which sprawled across nearly 200 acres occupying parts of four out of Rome's seven ancient hills -- offered a panoramic view over the Roman Forum and a lake. Nero did not enjoy the frescoed halls and gold-encrusted ceilings for long. the building was completed in A.D. 68 -- the year the unpopular emperor committed suicide amid a revolt. AP | |
| Nero's Banquet Hall Unearthed in Rome - New American Posted: 30 Sep 2009 01:07 AM PDT
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According to the Associated Press, "Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled what they think are the remains of Roman emperor Nero's extravagant banquet hall, a circular space that rotated day and night to imitate the Earth's movement and impress his guests." The AP account continued: The room, part of Nero's Golden Palace, a sprawling residence built in the first century A.D., is thought to have been built to entertain government officials and VIPs, said lead archaeologist Francoise Villedieu. The emperor, known for his lavish and depraved lifestyle, ruled from 37 A.D. to 68 A.D. "This cannot be compared to anything that we know of in ancient Roman architecture," Villedieu told reporters during a tour of the cordoned-off dig. In the popular memory, the nearly-fourteen year reign of Nero is arguably both the most memorable, and infamous, among the Caesars after Julius and Augustus. (Contrary to the AP story, Nero lived from 37 to 68 A.D. — his reign began October 13, 54 A.D. and ended with his suicide on June 9, 68 A.D.) Nero's reign was marked by a decadence which would come to typify popular portrayals of the lingering death-by-dissipation of the Roman Empire. Nero's reign was also the beginning of the Roman persecutions of the Church and, according to tradition, the martyrdoms of Ss. Peter and Paul at Rome occurred under Nero. Such persecutions continued sporadically until they reached their violent crescendo under Diocletian two and half centuries later. The opulence of Nero's dining hall symbolizes the other side of what the poet Juvenal identified as the "bread and circuses" mentality of the Roman emperors: government handouts to the populace accompanied the self-deification of the emperors and a lifestyle which matched their bloated egos. The AP reports concerning Nero's dining hall: The partially excavated site is part of the sumptuous residence, also known by its Latin name Domus Aurea, which rose over the ruins of a fire that destroyed much of Rome in A.D. 64. The discovery was made during routine maintenance of the fragile Palatine area, officials said. Angelo Bottini, the state's top official for archaeology in Rome, said the ceiling of the rotating room might have been the one mentioned by Suetonius, who wrote of ivory panels sliding back and forth to shower flowers and perfumes on the guests below. "The heart of every activity in ancient Rome was the banquet, together with some form of entertainment," Bottini said at the dig. "Nero was like the sun, and people were revolving around the emperor." There is no word, as of this writing, whether White House architects will be traveling to Rome to study the site as a model for improvements to the president's residence. Photo: AP Images  |
In a style worthy of the name of the man who "fiddled while Rome burned," archaeologists believe they have now found the legendary banquet hall of emperor Nero.| You are subscribed to email updates from Biographies - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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