Rome and Romans

Continuing with mythology.......

(Note: Greek characters are in red, while Roman equivalents are in blue. For the origin of various characters refer to "Florence and Greek Mythology", others are briefly introduced in parenthesis).

Zeus, the king of Gods, held a banquet in honour of the marriage of the Sea Nymph Thetis, who could change her form and the mortal Peleus. Many Olympian Gods were present but the Goddess of strife, Eris, was not invited as she would have spoiled the party. She was annoyed and came uninvited and threw a Golden Apple from the Garden of Hesperides marked as "to the fairest of all" as a prize of beauty. Three goddesses, Hera, Athena (Minerva, born fully formed and armoured from the head of Zeus) and Aphrodite (Venus) claimed the apple for being the most beautiful. Zeus, did not wish to make the judgement and rather asked, Paris (the shepherd prince of Troy, a mortal) to do the same. They met him at the Mount of Ida. After he failed to decide the three stripped naked and met him and also offered him a bribe. Hera, offered him the kingship of Europe & Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in the world by making her fall for him. This was as per the powers possessed by each of them.

Menelaus holding dying Patroclus: Florence

Paris, accepted Aphrodite's offer and accorded the prize to Aphrodite. He received Helen of Sparta in return, who was wife of the Greek King Menelaus. This led to the attack on Troy by Greeks leading to the epic Trojan War. In this war there were heroes from both the sides, that ended with the famous Horse ploy with the spartan victory. Achilles was son of Thetis and Peleus. Thetis had tried to make him immortal by dipping him in immortal river by holding his heel, when he was a child, and thus while whole body became impenetrable, the heel remained the vulnerable area. He had been established as an invincible hero among the Greeks but he refused to fight in the war. Then Patroclus asked Achilles for his armour and went to the battlefield wearing that and motivated soldiers who took him as Achilles. He fought bravely but was killed by Hector. There is a group of statues in Florence, Loggia dei Lanzi, where Menelaus is seen holding Patroclus just before his death. After his death, Achilles joined the war and was on the verge of victory, when he was killed by Hector by hitting an arrow in his heel. Achilles and Ajax died from the Greek side while Hector and Paris died from the Trojan side. It is believed that the city of Troy was somewhere in modern Turkey in Anatolia region, probably Hisarlik. 

Aeneas, son of Aphrodite (Venus) and Anchises, was one of the few Trojans, who were neither killed nor enslaved by Greek Spartans after their victory in the Trojan War and thus could escape to Italy and became the progenitor of Romans and is thus considered the first true Roman hero. Aeneas is sometimes considered the Norse of the Viking mythology as Zeus is considered Thor.
Numitor, a descendant of Aeneas, was the king of a Latin city called Alba Longa. He was displaced by his brother Amulius and his daughter Rhea Silvia was made a Vestal Virgin so that she would not bear any children and thus securing the future of Amulius. However, when Rhea visited a grove dedicated to God Mars, she conceived and gave birth to two twins, Romulus and Remus, who were ordered to be killed by Amulius, but survived and were brought up by a she-wolf. When they reached adulthood, they removed Amulius and made their grandfather Numitor king again. Then they set out to build a new city for themselves. They reached a place where there were seven hills. There was a difference of opinion between the two as to which hill should be occupied. Romulus ploughed one area and started building 'Rome' one fine day. Rome is a capital on seven hills. (see Shimla, the erstwhile capital on seven hills).Thus came Rome and thus came the Romans!
Romulus not only founded the city but founded its government, its military, religion and traditions. He ruled from 753 to 717 BC. However, only those people who didn't have any family or work in their native place came to Rome and thus Rome had mostly men. Nobody was ready to marry their daughters to them. Then they organized a festival and invited people from nearby city Sabine. When Sabines came they stole their unmarried maidens and raped them. Gradually, with their offsprings, Sabines got integrated into Latins and was establish the Roman monarchy.

In background:
"Rape of Sabine Women" a combination statue at Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.
The first group statue made from a Monolith in Italy.

Though it was a monarchy, it was not hereditary and the king was elected till the fifth king. The seventh king was Lucius Tarquinius Superbus . His son Sextus Tarquinius, raped a noble lady called Lucretia. She narrated the incidence to her husband Collatinus and her father and committed suicide. Collatinus with his colleague Lucius Junius Brutus then swore to expel the king and his family from Rome and to never let Rome be a monarchy again. Then Brutus established Rome as a republic in 509 BC. This Brutus was the ancestor of the Brutus that betrayed Julius caesar. The rape of Lucretia is thus considered a landmark in the history of Rome as it lead to establishment of a republic. It has been written about as a poem by William Shakespeare, painted and sculpted by many masters of art.

Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC and was a powerful roman general. He crossed river Rhine and English Channel, which established his supremacy. He became the chief priest of Rome that was a powerful position and was initially vested in the king himself upto initial monarchy. Julius Caesar became a dictator after a civil war, made many reforms in the republican governement, started Juliun Calendar. He then established monarchy again and named Octavius or Augustus as his heir. He was brutally assassinated by a group of his own senators within the senate including 60 people by stabbing him 23 times. Brutus was made immortal by the lines of Shakespeare, when Caesar sees Brutus attacking him and says, "Et tu Brutus!" (You too! Brutus) in the play Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar is also known for his love with the enigmatic Egyptian queen Cleopatra. He changed the history of Rome by again making it a monarchy and lot of administrative and military measures. Julius Caesar ruled till 44 BC, his rule was followed by another great ruler of Rome, Augustus Octavius. This was the time when Europe was changing.
Glory of Rome was rising and so was the population. People needed clean drinking water. In 19 BC, A Virgin helped the roman technicians locate a source of pure water 13 kilometers away from the city, this was called 'Aqua Virgo' and was brought to the City. This served Rome for 400 years. At the same place a magnificent fountain stands today, known as Trevi fountain as it situated at the junction of three lanes. In fact, one is amazed to see narrow lanes leading to such a huge fountain.

Trevi fountain: Aqua Virgo

The architecture of the fountain is spell-binding and one can easily spend hours here. In spite of the crowd it has a serene feeling. In fact, it can be seen in lot of movies with people throwing wishing coins in it. Trevi fountain is said to be the origin of the culture of putting coins in water for a wish, I think which in term derives from the mythical wishing-well. It is said that one has two put two coins and one must visit the fountain again if the wish is fulfilled. Did I ask for a wish??
Roman empire was at its glory, Europe, Africa around Mediterranean and West asia was all under Roman control. There were Vassal Kings who ruled various territories for the Roman emperor. Israel had divided into two kingdoms, Jerusalem and Judah. Judaism was considered orthodox and difficult to follow by many in the west asian region. Jesus Christ, soon  became popular and had a number of followers. On the night before his Crucifixion, he called his 12 disciples and besides other things told them that one of them was going to betray him. Famously painted as 'The Last Supper' by Leonardi da Vinci, probably the most famous painting of the world, done as a mural in a church of Milan. Peter was one of the disciples, called as Apostles. Paul, was not an apostle originally but after a miracle became follower of Christ, who were now called Christians. Peter along with Paul and others spread the message of Jesus Christ for 34 years and reached Rome. Christians were not liked by Jews or Romans. Nero, was the emperor of Rome 37 AD. He was a powerful and dynamic ruler. A colossal statue of Nero was built in Rome and there was a circus of Nero. There was lot of pressure on Nero to eliminate Christians, who were seen as sacrilegious both by Romans & Jews.  In AD 64, there was the great fire in Rome. Christians were blamed for the fire. Peter was crucified in the circus of Nero, Paul also achieved martyrdom with him. With time, the place where Peter was buried became a pilgrim site for Christians.
Julius Caesar had crossed English Channel in past. In 43 AD, Romans invaded England and started a settlement  along the banks of the river Thames, called as Londinium that gradually became London with time.
The Flavian rulers who succeeded Nero as emperor of Rome started building a huge amphitheater in AD70  near the Colossal statue of Nero. It came to be known as Colosseum and stands today, though partially damaged, as a symbol of Rome that loudly speaks of the past of Rome where Gladiators romed.

The Colosseum of Rome

Colosseum - Rome

The Colosseum is a huge structure, almost of the size of Modern Stadia. It has been partially damaged by Earthquake. There is a huge gate also built for entering the area.
A shrine came up at the site of burial of Peter and its prestige began to increase. Constantine the Great became the ruler of Roman empire, bothe west and east in the late third century. He proclaimed the 'Edict of Milan' that gave Christianity an official status in 313 AD and converted to Christianity himself and thus became the first Christian Emperor. He renamed the capital of Byzantium empire as 'Constantinople' and built a church at the site of Jesus Christ's Tomb. Thus Constantine gave the legitimacy to Christianity.
Gradually, in fourth century, a church, called St Peter's basilica was built at the shrine of Peter.  St Peter thus became the first pope. Modern St Peter's Basilica was built at the same site as the old one starting in 1506. It is the largest church in the world and the office and residence of the topmost christian religious leader, 'Pope'.