Roman Culture and Achievements Terms

Virgil

an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. Has been traditionally ranked as one of Rome’s greatest poets. Wrote the Aeneid

The Aeneid

a Latin epic poem that tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and traveled to Italy, where he became the Ancestor of the Romans

Horace

was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. He brilliantly developed the satire.

Cicero

Roman statesman, lawyer scholar, and writer who vainly tried to uphold republican principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic. He is considered as one of the greatest orators of Rome

Livy

was a Roman historian. Famous work was his history of Rome. In it he narrates a complete history of the city of Rome, from its foundation to the death of Augustus. His history emphasizes the great triumphs of Rome.

mosaic

picture made from chips of colored stone or glass

engineering

the application of science and math to develop useful structures and machines

Tacitus

Roman historian an politician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. His historical writings are generally considered some of the most reliable sources for contemporary Roman history. His lack of sympathy for Jews and Christians should alert us to his Roman biases in general

Seneca

was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist. He is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays, which are all tragedies.

Plautus

was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety

satirize

to make fun of

aqueduct

stone structure that carried water from the hills to the cities

Ptolemy

an Alexandrian, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance to later Byzantine, Islamic, and Western European science. He developed the Geocentric Theory where Earth was the center of the universe and all of the other planets, stars and the Sun revolved around it

Galen

was a Roman an Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher. He proved that the brain controls the body and not the heart. “Father of Anatomy”

Pliny the Elder

was a Roman author, naturalist, natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias