Berbers
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| - | [[oratory]]. Petronius rebelled against this trend: ''“Nihil est hominum inepta persuasione falsius nec ficta severitate ineptius”'' (“There is nothing about man more false than his foolish convictions and there is nothing more stupid than hypocrite severity” —section 132). | ||
| - | The name “satyricon” implies that the work belongs to the type to which [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], imitating the Greek [[Menippus]], had given the character of a medley of prose and verse composition. But the string of fictitious narrative by which the medley is held together is something quite new in Roman literature. The author was happily inspired in his devices for amusing himself and thereby transmit to modern times a text based on the ordinary experience of contemporary life; the precursor of such novels as ''[[Gil Blas]]'' and ''[[Roderick Random]]''. | + | '''Berbers''' are the indigenous [[ethnic group|people]]s of [[North Africa]] west of the [[Nile Valley]]. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the [[Siwa oasis]], in [[Egypt]], and from the [[Mediterranean]] to the [[Niger River]]. Historically they spoke various [[Berber languages]], which together form a branch of the [[Afro-Asiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] language family. Today many of them speak [[Arabic]]. Between 30 and 40 million Berber-speakers live within this region, most densely in [[Algeria]] and [[Morocco]], becoming generally scarcer eastward through the rest of the [[Maghreb]] and beyond. |
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| - | ===Apuleius's Golden Ass=== | + | |
| - | :''[[Apuleius]], [[Golden Ass]], [[Latin satire]]'' | + | |
| - | '''Lucius Apuleius Platonicus''' (c. AD [[123]]/[[125]]-c. AD [[180]]), an utterly [[Roman Empire|Romanized]] [[Berber people|Berber]], is remembered most for his [[bawdy]] [[Picaresque novel|picaresque]] [[Latin literature|Latin novel]] the ''Metamorphoses'', otherwise known as ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' or, in Latin, the '''Aureus Asinus''' (where the Latin word ''aureus'' - golden - connoted an element of blessed luckiness). | + | |
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| - | The '''''Metamorphoses''''' of [[Apuleius|Lucius Apuleius]], which according to [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] was referred to as '''''The Golden Ass''''' (''Asinus aureus'') by [[Apuleius]], is the only [[Latin novel]] to survive in its entirety. | + | |
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| - | The text is a precursor to the literary genre of the episodic [[picaresque novel]], in which [[Francisco de Quevedo|Quevedo]], [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]], [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]], [[Miguel de Cervantes|Cervantes]], [[Voltaire]], [[Daniel Defoe|Defoe]] and many others have followed. It is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work that relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, a virile young man who is obsessed with [[magic (paranormal)|magic]]. Finding himself in [[Thessaly]], the "birthplace of magic," Lucius eagerly seeks an opportunity to see magic being used. His overenthusiasm leads to his accidental transformation into an [[donkey|ass]]. In this guise, Lucius, a member of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] country aristocracy, is forced to witness and share the miseries of [[slavery|slaves]] and [[poverty|destitute]] freemen who are reduced, like Lucius, to being little more than beasts of burden by their [[exploitation]] at the hands of wealthy landowners. | + | |
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| - | ''The Golden Ass'' is the only surviving work of literature from the ancient Greco-Roman world to examine, from a first-hand perspective, the abhorrent condition of the lower classes. Yet despite its serious subject matter, the novel remains imaginative, witty, and often [[sexually explicit]]. Numerous amusing stories, many of which seem to be based on actual [[folklore|folk tales]], with their ordinary themes of simple-minded husbands, [[adultery|adulterous]] wives, and clever lovers, as well as the magical transformations that characterize the entire novel, are included within the main narrative. The longest of these inclusions is the tale of [[Cupid and Psyche]], encountered here for the first but not the last time in [[Western world|Western]] [[literature]]. | + | |
| - | ==Vulgar Latin== | + | |
| - | :''[[Vulgar Latin]]'' | + | |
| - | '''Vulgar Latin''' (in Latin, ''sermo vulgaris'', "[[common speech]]") is a blanket term covering the [[vernacular]] [[dialect]]s and [[sociolect]]s of the [[Latin|Latin language]] until those dialects, diverging still further, evolved into the early [[Romance languages]] — a distinction usually made around the [[9th century|ninth century]]. It includes late Latin and the terms are often used synonymously. However, Vulgar Latin is also used to refer to vernacular speech from other time periods including the Classical period. | + | |
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| - | This spoken Latin came to differ from [[Classical Latin]] in its pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. | + | |
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| - | ==Latin profanity== | + | |
| - | :''[[Latin profanity]]'' | + | |
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| - | '''Latin profanity''' is the [[profanity|profane]], [[indecent]], or [[impolite]] vocabulary of [[Latin]], and its uses. The profane vocabulary of early [[Vulgar Latin]] consisted largely of [[sex]]ual and [[scatology|scatological]] words: the rich lodes of [[religion|religious]] profanity found in some of the [[Romance languages]] is a [[Christianity|Christian]] development, and as such does not appear in [[Classical Latin]]. In Vulgar Latin, words that were considered to be profanity were described generally as ''obsc(a)ena'', "[[obscene]], [[lewd]]", unfit for public consumption; or ''improba'', "[[improper]], in [[poor taste]], undignified". (Note that the name "Vulgar Latin" simply referred to the common speech, not necessarily profanity, although Vulgar Latin was the form of Latin in which sexual and scatological expletives existed. In the more formal Classical Latin, no profanity is recorded except in satirical works, or in discussion of the actual words.) | + | |
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| - | Since profanity, by definition, consists of spoken words that people use very informally, and because Latin is a [[dead language]] (occasionally used in written communication as an international language, but no longer in spoken conversation), it is worthwhile to note the sources of Latin profanity. Knowledge of Latin profanity and obscenities comes from a number of sources: | + | |
| - | *The [[satire|satirical]] poets, particularly [[Catullus]] and [[Martial]], use the words in preserved literary works. Indeed, the august [[Horace]] resorted to them in his earlier poems. The anonymous ''[[Priapeia]]'' is another important literary source. | + | |
| - | *The orator and lawyer [[Cicero]]'s ''[[Epistulae ad Familiares]]'' ("Letters to My Friends") discuss Latin profanity, and confirm the "profane" or "obscene" status of many of the words. | + | |
| - | *A number of [[medicine|medical]] or especially [[veterinary medicine|veterinary]] texts use the words as part of their working vocabulary, in which they were not considered obscenity but simply jargon. | + | |
| - | *Preserved [[graffiti]] from the Roman period uses these words. A rich trove of examples of profane Latin at work was discovered on the walls of [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]]. | + | |
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| - | ==Romance== | + | |
| - | :''[[Romance (genre) |romance]]'' | + | |
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| - | Historians believe that the actual English word "romance" developed from a [[vernacular]] dialect within the French language, meaning "verse narritve", referring to the style of speech and writing, and artistic talents within [[elite]] classes. The word was originally an adverb of sorts, which was of the Latin origin "Romanicus", meaning "of the Roman style", "like the Romans" (see [[Ancient Rome|Roman]].) The connecting notion is that European medieval vernacular tales were usually about chivalric adventure, not combining the idea of love until late into the seventeenth century. The word "romance", or the equivalent thereof also has developed with other meanings in other languages, such as the early nineteenth century Spanish and Italian definitions of "adventurous" and "passionate", sometimes combining the idea of "love affair" or "idealistic quality." | + | |
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| - | ==Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum== | + | |
| - | :''[[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum]]'' | + | |
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| - | '''Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum''' was discovered in the ancient cities around the bay of Naples (particularly of [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]]) after extensive [[excavation]]s began in the [[18th century]]. The city was found to be full of [[erotic art]] and [[fresco]]es, symbols, and inscriptions regarded by its excavators as [[pornography|pornographic]]. Even many recovered household items had a sexual theme. The ubiquity of such imagery and items indicates that the [[Sexuality in ancient Rome |sexual mores of the ancient Roman culture]] of the time were much more liberal than most present-day cultures, although much of what might seem to us to be erotic imagery (eg oversized [[phallus]]es) was in fact [[fertility]]-imagery. This [[culture shock|clash of cultures]] led to an unknown number of discoveries being hidden away again. For example, a [[wall fresco]] which depicted [[Priapus]], the ancient god of sex and fertility, with his extremely enlarged [[penis]], was covered with plaster (and, as [[Karl Schefold]] explains (p. 134), even the older reproduction below was locked away "out of prudishness" and only opened on request) and only rediscovered in [[1998]] due to rainfall. [[The Times]] reported in 2006 "Erotic frescoes put Pompeii brothel on the tourist map". | + | |
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| - | In [[1819]], when King [[Francis I of Naples]] visited the Pompeii exhibition at the [[Naples National Archaeological Museum|National Museum]] with his wife and daughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork that he decided to have it locked away in a [[Secret Museum, Naples|secret cabinet]], accessible only to "people of mature age and respected morals". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, it was briefly made accessible again at the end of the [[1960s]] (the time of the [[sexual revolution]]) and was finally re-opened for viewing in [[2000]]. Minors are still only allowed entry to the once secret cabinet in the presence of a guardian or with written permission. | + | |
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| - | ==Roman decadence== | + | |
| - | :''[[Roman decadence]]'' | + | |
| - | '''Roman decadence''' defines the gradual and moral decline in the [[ancient Roman]] republican values of family, farming, [[virtus (virtue)|virtus]], and [[Dignitas (Roman concept)|dignitas]]. | + | |
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| - | Some contemporary critics of Roman decadence, such as [[Cato the Younger]], attributed its rise to the influence of the Hellenistic philosophy [[epicureanism]], while modern historians such as [[Edward Gibbon]] ( ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788.) and Cyril Robinson also attribute increasing Roman affluence and the pacifying luxury it afforded. | + | |
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| - | According to [[Edward Gibbon]], the root of the decadence may lie in the political system. Especially mentioned is the lack of clear rules of succession. A significant number of successions involved bribing the army to be elected emperor, and a civil war between different declared emperors. This resulted in higher taxes and frequent destruction that provoked the apathy of the elite. | + | |
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| - | More controversially, the early history of the Christian church is also mentioned as a cause of decadence. The early Roman Empire was usually tolerant of the religion of the people conquered, and tried to preserve peace amongst its subjects. After the conversion of most of the Empire to Christianity, religious issues took a proiminent place in the political debate, sometimes leading to civil wars and later persecutions. | + | |
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| - | ==Roman sexuality== | + | |
| - | :''[[Roman sexuality]]'' | + | |
| - | :''[[Italian erotica]], [[Satires of Juvenal]], [[erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum]]'' | + | |
| - | '''Sexuality in ancient Rome''' generally lacked the modern categories of "[[heterosexual]]" or "[[homosexual]]." Instead, the differentiating characteristic was activity versus passivity, or penetrating versus penetrated. | + | |
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| - | '''Male Sexuality''' Romans thought that men should be the active participant in all forms of love. Male passivity symbolized a loss of manliness, the most prized Roman virtue. This is in stark contrast to the [[Pederasty in ancient Greece]], in which young boys became men through relations with adult males. It was socially and legally acceptable for Roman men to have sex with both female and male prostitutes as well as young slaves, as long as the Roman man was the active partner. Laws such as the ''Lex Scantina,'' ''Lex Iulia,'' and ''Lex Iulia de vi publica'' regulated against homosexual love between free men and boys, but these laws were frequently violated and rarely enforced, with men performing the passive role and vice versa. If the laws were ever enforced, the partner punished would be the passive male, not the active male. A man who liked to be penetrated was called "[[pathic]]", roughly translated as [[Bottom_%28sex%29#Bottom|"bottom"]] in modern sex terminology, and was considered to be weak and feminine. | + | |
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| - | '''Female Sexuality''' Women were not granted freedom of sexuality. Men considered female homosexuality disgusting and dangerous. A woman who wanted to be an active partner in intercourse was a "[[tribadism|tribade]]" (the meaning of which has now changed). | + | |
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| - | '''Homosexuality in Literature''' Few accounts of love between women exist through the eyes of women, so we only know the viewpoint of Roman men. Multiple ancient Roman authors wrote about love affairs between men, including Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. Catullus wrote of his love for the young man Juventius, while Tibullus dedicated two elegies to his lover Marathus and wrote particularly about how devastated he was that Marathus had left him for a woman. | + | |
| - | ==Symbols== | + | |
| - | One of the symbols of Rome is the [[Colosseum]] (70-80), the largest [[amphitheatre]] ever built in the [[Roman Empire]]. Originally capable of seating 50,000 spectators, it was used for [[gladiator]]ial [[combat]]. The list of the very important monuments of ancient Rome includes the [[Roman Forum]], the [[Domus Aurea]], the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]], the [[Trajan's Column]], the [[Trajan's Market]], the [[Catacombs of Rome]], the [[Circus Maximus]], the [[Baths of Caracalla]], the [[Arch of Constantine]], the [[Pyramid of Cestius]], the [[Bocca della Verità]]. | + | |
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Revision as of 23:29, 15 July 2009
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Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Today many of them speak Arabic. Between 30 and 40 million Berber-speakers live within this region, most densely in Algeria and Morocco, becoming generally scarcer eastward through the rest of the Maghreb and beyond.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Berbers" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
