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Saturnalia

The Saturnalia was an enduring Roman festival dedicated to the agricultural god Saturn which was held between the 17th and 23rd of December each year during the winter solstice. Originating from archaic agricultural rituals the Roman festivities came to include a general round of gift-giving, merrymaking, and role-reversals so that it became one of the most popular celebrations in the calendar and certainly the jolliest. The similarities of some of its features and the timing - pushed later into December over time - suggest a strong influence on the Christian celebration of Christmas.

Saturn

The focus of the Saturnalia and the god who gave his name to the festival was Saturn (or Saturnus), who is something of a mysterious figure in Roman religion. Depictions of the god in surviving art have him wearing a veil and brandishing either a sickle or a pruning knife suggesting a close relation with agriculture and especially seed-growing or seed-corn. With links to indigenous Italian deities and perhaps, too, a version of the Greek god Kronos, he was regarded as a primordial deity who had taught humanity important agricultural skills. He was thought to have ruled when the world enjoyed a Golden Age of prosperity and happiness, hence the general frivolity of his festival.

#History #17th #4thcenturyCE #5thcenturyBCE #WHE #[#]

Famous Buddhist Monks of Ancient Korea

Throughout ancient Korea's history Buddhist monks were a particularly important element of state and religious affairs. From the 4th century CE onwards, in the Three Kingdoms period, they were members of a select section of society which travelled and studied abroad, especially in China. Consequently, they were largely responsible for transmitting elements of Chinese culture into Korea and spreading the religious ideas they had acquired from studying under the great Chinese masters. Some of these monks would be founders of important and long-lasting sects of Buddhism, and a few would gain special favour at the royal courts of Korea, especially in the Silla kingdom which would go on to rule the whole of the peninsula. As advisors to kings, they would influence the acceptance of Buddhism and its continuation as the official state religion, and as the country's main scholars, they would have an immeasurable influence on literature and developments in printing and architecture. Below are short biographies of some of the most important of these figures.

Marananta

Marananta (aka Malananda or Malananta) lived in the 4th century CE and was a monk of Indian or Serindian origin who is credited with introducing Buddhism into the Korean peninsula. He came from the Eastern Jin state and taught Buddhism in the Baekje (Paekche) kingdom from 384 CE.

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Vigiles

The Vigiles (or cohortes vigilum) were formed during the reign of Augustus to act as ancient Rome's permanent firefighting service. Evolving from earlier slave teams, the vigiles were organised as an urban military unit and eventually recruits came from the Roman citizenry. The body, with a permanent camp of its own and equipment stations dotted around the city, patrolled the streets of Rome each night and also performed certain nocturnal policing duties to ensure public order.

Evolution

The vigiles were created by Augustus in 6 CE to meet the high risk of fires in the capital presented by its high population density and widespread use of wooden housing and other buildings which had timber parts. It was not the first time such a force had been created for the avaricious Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of Rome's all-time richest men, had spotted the chance of making money by offering low prices for burning buildings and then having his team of slaves extinguish the fire so that it could be saved for redevelopment. If the property owner refused Crassus' offer, then the fire was left to rage on unabated.

The next step towards a proper fire service was taken by the aedile Egnatius Rufus who, like Crassus, created a force of slaves to put out fires but, unlike Crassus, seems to have been more motivated by issues of public safety. He may have sought political cachet from his creation, but it did not do him much good as the Senate later dealt him the death sentence for conspiring against the state. Another idea to protect the city, particularly at night, was the creation of the tresviri nocturni - three magistrates set on night watch. Yet again, this trio's workforce was composed of slaves, and it was their duty to prevent any disturbances in the city. Some wealthy private individuals even formed their own personal fire brigades, though, such was the need for a larger ever-present response team to fires.

C. 21 BCE Augustus took matters in hand and reorganised what was left of Rufus' slaves, creating a force of 600 slaves to fight fires if and when they arose. The aediles were put in charge of this new force, but they seem to have been ineffectual for, following serious fires in 7 BCE, Augustus reorganised them again. This time the force was split to cover 14 zones, each further divided into vici. Thus each of the 265 vici had its own designated group of firefighting public slaves commanded by the viciomagister. This was an improvement on the previous system, but there remained problems with coordination between different vici. This led to Augustus finally creating a single force, the vigiles.

#History #19thcenturyCE #4thcenturyCE #7BCE #WHE #[#]