In search of Auctoritas et Maiestas – the Flavian Dynasty and Religions
Vespasian and his sons were forced to create their own style of politics, and, in search of auctoritas and maiestas, they could not neglect the realm of religion. We should bear in mind that in the Roman world, religion was an integral and indispensable component of social and po- litical life. For these reasons, these representatives of the Roman Imperial Dynasty, just like their predecessors and successors, successfully used different forms of activity surpassing the narrow interpretation of the domain of religio, including massive building programmes, monetary policy or even poetry, to express devotion and respect for mores maiorum as well as to confi rm the legal- ity of their power by presenting the divine approval of their political strength. It seems legitimate to acknowledge that the Flavian era did not bring revolutionary changes in traditional religion. This clearly shows that the new dynasty was perfectly aware that one of the aspects of a well-functioning Rome was preservation of the ancestors' customs and a belief in divine protection which could ensure safety, strength and belief in the unity of the Empire.
The Emperor Domitian
Preface 1. EARLY CAREER Family and Social Mobility Patronage Flavians at Court Education Aftermath of Civil War Role Before Accession 2. COURT I Aspects of Domitians's Court Courtiers: Family 3. COURT II Amici Freedmen Other Courtiers 4. ADMINISTRATION I Economy Building Programme 5.ADMINISTRATION II The Individual Provinces Opposition 6. WAR I Chatti Britain Danube First Dacian War, 84/85 Africa Second Dacian War, 86 7. WAR II Saturninus's Revolt Chatti, 89 First Pannonian War, 89 Second Pannonian War, 92 Third Pannonian War, ? 95 The East 8.ARISTOCRACY I Senators Power Set Equestrians 9. ARISTOCRACY II Relationship with the Senate Consular Victims Exiles Summary 10. CONCLUSION Assasination Character BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEXES
CATARACT: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.
The earliest extant description of a surgical operation for the cure of cataract is that of Celsus, toho practiced medicine in Rome at the beginning of the Christian era. In his text De Meclicina he described in detail his method of couching, by which he inserted a bronze needle into the eye at the equator on the lateral side of ihe globe and depressed the cataract downward into the lower part of the vitreous where the surgeon hoped it would remain out of the way of vision. The same method had been employed by the Greeks and Hindus for at least several hundred years earlier and ivas to continue as the only operation available until the middle of the eighteenth century when Daviel of Paris described extraction of the lens through the cornea. The early couchers worked on the premise that the crystallin humor we know as the lens was the receptor for vision, and that in certain conditions of disease a suffusion flowed doivn in front of the crystallin humor where it solidified and formed a dense curtain. The purpose of couching was to press the hardened corrupt humor out of the way of the lens. That cataract was opaque material within the lens itself was not recognized until after the middle of ihe seventeenth century. Until then ihe surgeons were not even aware that it was the lens they were dislocating.