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37-432: Varro and Verrius Flaccus describe sacella in ways that at first seem contradictory, the former defining a sacellum in its entirety as equivalent to a cella , which is specifically an enclosed space, and the latter insisting that a sacellum had no roof. "Enclosure", however, is the shared characteristic, roofed over or not. "The sacellum ", notes Jörg Rüpke , "was both less complex and less elaborately defined than

74-498: A building in its own right. [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of sacellum at Wiktionary Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome 's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero ). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus ('Varro of Rieti') to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus . Varro

111-400: A powerless office, and Augustus was even known to compel individuals into holding the office. He accomplished this by randomly selecting former tribunes and quaestors for the office. Future emperors would continue to dilute the power of the office by transferring its powers to newly created offices. However, the office did retain some powers over licentiousness and disorder, in particular over

148-470: A private property, with the expectation that it remain open to the public. It was alleged that the defendant, Ap. Claudius Pulcher , a censor at the time, had failed to maintain public access to a sacellum on his property. The following is an incomplete list of deities or groups of deities who had a known sacellum or sacrarium in the city of Rome. In a manuscript from the Abbey of Saint Gall , sacellum

185-735: A temple proper". The meaning can overlap with that of sacrarium , a place where sacred objects (sacra) were stored or deposited for safekeeping. The sacella of the Argei , for instance, are also called sacraria . In private houses , the sacrarium was the part of the house where the images of the Penates were kept; the lararium was a form of sacrarium for the Lares . Both sacellum and sacrarium passed into Christian usage . Other Latin words for temple or shrine are aedes , aedicula , fanum , delubrum and templum , though this last word encompasses

222-527: Is based on the traditional sequence of the consuls of the Roman Republic —supplemented, where necessary, by inserting "dictatorial" and "anarchic" years. It has been demonstrated to be somewhat erroneous but has become the widely accepted standard chronology, in large part because it was inscribed on the arch of Augustus in Rome; though that arch no longer stands, a large portion of the chronology has survived under

259-436: Is glossed as Old Irish nemed , Gaulish nemeton , originally a sacred grove or space defined for religious purposes, and later a building used for such. In Christian architecture , rooflessness ceases to be a defining characteristic and the word may be applied to a small chapel marked off by a screen from the main body of a church, while an Italian sacello may alternatively be a small chapel or oratory which stands as

296-573: Is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate formed c. 60 BC, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulship. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the Three-Headed Monster ( Τρικάρανος in the Greek of Appian , The Civil Wars , II.ii.9). He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out

333-545: The Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon (died 68 BC). Varro proved a highly productive writer and turned out more than 74 Latin works on a variety of topics. Aside from his many lost works (known through fragments), two endeavors stand out for historians: Nine Books of Disciplines and his compilation of the Varronian chronology . His Nine Books of Disciplines became a model for later encyclopedists , especially for Pliny

370-503: The "plebeian aediles" ( Latin : aediles plebis ) and possession of this office was limited to plebeians ; the other two were "curule aediles" (Latin: aediles curules ), open to both plebeians and patricians , in alternating years. An aedilis curulis was classified as a magister curulis . The office of the aedilis was generally held by young men intending to follow the cursus honorum to high political office, traditionally after their quaestorship but before their praetorship . It

407-553: The Elder ( c.  23 to 79 AD). The most noteworthy portion of the Nine Books of Disciplines is its use of the liberal arts as organizing principles. Varro decided to focus on identifying nine of these arts: grammar , rhetoric , logic , arithmetic , geometry , astronomy , musical theory, medicine, and architecture . Using Varro's list, mediated through Martianus Capella 's early-5th century allegory, subsequent writers defined

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444-565: The baths and brothels, as well as the registration of prostitutes. In the 3rd century, it disappeared altogether. Under the Empire, Roman colonies and cities often had officials with powers similar to those of the republican aediles, although their powers widely varied. It seems as though they were usually chosen annually. Today in Portugal the county mayor can still be referred to as edil (e.g. 'O edil de Coimbra', meaning 'the mayor of Coimbra '),

481-443: The beginning of their terms, the four aediles (two plebeian, two curule) were required to determine, by lot or by agreement among themselves, what parts of the city each should hold jurisdiction over. There was a distinction between the two sets of aediles when it came to public festivals. Some festivals were plebeian in nature, and thus were under the superintendence of plebeian aediles. Other festivals were supervised exclusively by

518-400: The city: the repair and preservation of temples, sewers and aqueducts; street cleansing and paving; regulations regarding traffic, dangerous animals and dilapidated buildings; precautions against fire; superintendence of baths and taverns; enforcement of sumptuary laws; punishment of gamblers and usurers; the care of public morals generally, including the prevention of foreign superstitions and

555-566: The curule aediles, and it was often with these festivals that the aediles would spend lavishly. This was often done to secure voters' support in future elections. Because aediles were not reimbursed for public expenditures, most individuals seeking the office were independently wealthy. Since this office was a stepping stone to higher office and the Senate, it helped to ensure that only wealthy individuals (mostly landowners) would win election to high office. These extravagant expenditures began shortly after

592-484: The documents. They also maintained the acts of the Plebeian Council (People's Assembly), the "plebiscites". Plebiscites, once passed, were also transcribed into a physical document for storage. While their powers grew over time, it is not always easy to distinguish the difference between their powers, and those of the censors . Occasionally, if a censor was unable to carry out one of his tasks, an aedile would perform

629-521: The end of Second Punic War , and increased as the spoils returned from Rome's new eastern conquests. Even the decadence of the emperors rarely surpassed that of the aediles under the Republic, as could have been seen during Julius Caesar 's aedileship. Plebeian aediles and Curule aediles were elected by the Tribal Assembly . Since the plebeian aediles were elected by the plebeians rather than by all of

666-470: The great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC). During Caesar's civil war of 49 to 45 he commanded one of Pompey's armies in the Ilerda campaign of 49 BC. He escaped the penalties of having backed the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar , before and after the 48 BC Battle of Pharsalus . Caesar appointed him to oversee

703-562: The name of Fasti Capitolini . Varro's literary output was prolific; Ritschl estimated it at 74 works in some 620 books, of which only one work survives complete, although we possess many fragments of the others, mostly in Gellius' Attic Nights . He was called "the most learned of the Romans" by Quintilian , and also recognized by Plutarch as "a man deeply read in Roman history". Varro

740-457: The office lost much of its importance, its judicial functions and the care of the games being transferred to the praetor , while its city responsibilities were limited by the appointment of an urban prefect . Augustus took for himself its powers over various religious duties. By stripping it of its powers over temples, he effectively destroyed the office, by taking from it its original function. After this point, few people were willing to hold such

777-415: The patricians alone, then from patricians and plebeians in turn, lastly, from either—at the Tribal Assembly under the presidency of the consul. Curule aediles, as formal magistrates, held certain honors that plebeian aediles (who were not technically magistrates), did not hold. Besides having the right to sit on a curule seat ( sella curulis ) and to wear a toga praetexta , the curule aediles also held

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814-653: The people of Rome (plebeians as well as patricians ), they were not technically magistrates . Before the passage of the Lex Villia Annalis , individuals could run for the aedileship by the time they turned twenty-seven. After the passage of this law in 180 BC, a higher age was set, probably thirty-six. By the 1st century BC, aediles were elected in July, and took office on the first day in January. Cicero ( Legg. iii. 3, 7) divides these functions under three heads: (1) Care of

851-441: The power to issue edicts ( jus edicendi ). These edicts often pertained to matters such as the regulation of the public markets, or what we might call "economic regulation". Livy suggests, perhaps incorrectly, that both curule as well as plebeian Aediles were sacrosanct. Although the curule aediles always ranked higher than the plebeian, their functions gradually approximated and became practically identical. Within five days after

888-399: The public games, as well as of those given by themselves and private individuals (e.g., at funerals) at their own expense. Ambitious persons often spent enormous sums in this manner to win the popular favor with a view to official advancement. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar added two plebeian aediles called cereales , whose special duty was the care of the cereal (grain) supply. Under Augustus

925-583: The public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony proscribed him, resulting in his losing much of his property, including his library. As the Republic gave way to the Empire c.  27 BC , Varro gained the favour of Augustus , under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing. Varro had studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo (died 74 BC), and later at Athens under

962-417: The registration of meretrices . They also punished those who had too large a share of the ager publicus , or kept too many cattle on the state pastures. (2) Care of provisions: investigation of the quality of the articles supplied and the correctness of weights and measures; the purchase of grain for disposal at a low price in case of necessity. (3) Care of the games: superintendence and organization of

999-466: The same year as the tribune of the plebs (494 BC). Originally intended as assistants to the tribunes , they guarded the rights of the plebeians with respect to their headquarters, the Temple of Ceres . Subsequently, they assumed responsibility for maintenance of the city's buildings as a whole. Their duties at first were simply ministerial. They were the assistants to the tribunes in whatever matters that

1036-485: The seven classical "liberal arts" of the medieval schools. In c.  37 BC, in his old age, Varro wrote on agriculture for his wife Fundania, producing a "voluminous" work De re rustica (also called Res rusticae )—similar to Cato the Elder 's work De agri cultura —on the management of large slave-run estates . The compilation of the Varronian chronology was an attempt to determine an exact year-by-year timeline of Roman history up to his time. It

1073-464: The task instead. According to Livy (vi. 42), after the passing of the Licinian rogations in 367 BC, an extra day was added to the Roman games; the plebeian aediles refused to bear the additional expense, whereupon the patricians offered to undertake it, on condition that they were admitted to the aedileship. The plebeians accepted the offer, and accordingly two curule aediles were appointed—at first from

1110-506: The tribunes might entrust to them, although most matters with which they were entrusted were of minimal importance. Around 446 BC, they were given the authority to care for the decrees of the Senate. When a senatus consultum was passed, it would be transcribed into a document and deposited in the public treasury, the Aerarium . They were given this power because the consuls , who had held this power before, arbitrarily suppressed and altered

1147-636: The vast range of material, Varro towers above all his contemporaries and his successors: he was distinguished for learning as no other man had ever been or was to be. Most of the extant fragments of these works (mostly the grammatical works) can be found in the Goetz–Schoell edition of De Lingua Latina , pp. 199–242; in the collection of Wilmanns, pp. 170–223; and in that of Funaioli, pp. 179–371. Curule aedile Aedile ( / ˈ iː d aɪ l / EE -dyle , Latin : aedīlis [ae̯ˈdiːlɪs] , from aedes , "temple edifice")

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1184-458: The whole religiously sanctioned precinct. Each curia had its own sacellum overseen by the celeres , originally the bodyguard of the king, who preserved a religious function in later times. These were related to the ritual of the Argei , but probably there were other rites connected with these sacella . A case tried in September 50 BC indicates that a public sacellum might be encompassed by

1221-545: The work is his anticipation of microbiology and epidemiology . Varro warned his readers to avoid swamps and marshland, since in such areas ...there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases. A modern scholar, Bertha Tilly, assesses Varro's work as follows: For the immense mass of work completed, for his patriotic fervour, his high moral sentiments, for versatility in forms of writing and in subjects, for

1258-457: Was an elected office of the Roman Republic . Based in Rome , the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings ( aedēs ) and regulation of public festivals . They also had powers to enforce public order and duties to ensure the city of Rome was well supplied and its civil infrastructure well maintained, akin to modern local government . There were two pairs of aediles: the first were

1295-500: Was born in or near Reate (now Rieti in Lazio) into a family thought to be of equestrian rank. He always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain (reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, ) until his old age. He supported Pompey , reaching the office of praetor , after having served as tribune of the people , quaestor and curule aedile . It

1332-456: Was not a compulsory part of the cursus, and hence a former quaestor could be elected to the praetorship without having held the position of aedile. However, it was an advantageous position to hold because it demonstrated the aspiring politician's commitment to public service, as well as giving him the opportunity to hold public festivals and games, an excellent way to increase his name recognition and popularity. The plebeian aediles were created in

1369-583: Was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among them Cicero , Pliny the Elder , Virgil in the Georgics , Columella , Aulus Gellius , Macrobius , Augustine , and Vitruvius , who credits him (VII.Intr.14) with a book on architecture. His only complete work extant, Rerum rusticarum libri tres ("Three Books on Agriculture"), has been described as "the well digested system of an experienced and successful farmer who has seen and practised all that he records." One noteworthy aspect of

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