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Cinna, d. 84 b.c., Roman politician

(Encyclopedia)Cinna (Lucius Cornelius Cinna) sĭnˈə [key], d. 84 b.c., Roman politician, consul (87 b.c.–84 b.c.), and leader of the popular party. Shortly after Cinna's first election, Sulla left Rome to fight...

Cinna, d. 44 b.c., Roman tribune

(Encyclopedia)Cinna (Caius Helvius Cinna), d. 44 b.c., Roman tribune. At the funeral of Julius Caesar the mob mistook him for Lucius Cornelius Cinna and killed him. He was probably the minor poet Cinna, a friend of...

Holy Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Holy Roman Empire (c.1100) CE5 Holy Roman Empire, designation for the political entity that originated at the coronation as emperor (962) of the German king Otto I and endured until the renu...

Gratian, Roman emperor of the West

(Encyclopedia)Gratian grāˈshən [key], 359–83, Roman emperor of the West (375–83). At the death of his father, Valentinian I, he accepted the army's election of his brother, Valentinian II, as his colleague. ...

Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus), Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Severus or Septimius Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus) sĕptĭmˈēəs sēvēˈrəs [key], 146–211, Roman emperor (193–211), b. Africa. He was campaigning in Pannonia and Illyria when the emperor...

Roman law

(Encyclopedia)Roman law, the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 b.c. to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in a.d. 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil law. Most aut...

Hippolytus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Hippolytus, Saint hĭpŏlˈĭtəs [key] [Gr.,=loosed horse], d. c.236, first antipope (c.217–235), theologian, and martyr. Probably a disciple of St. Irenaeus, he became the most astute theologian i...

Constance, Holy Roman empress

(Encyclopedia)Constance, 1154–98, Holy Roman empress, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI; daughter of King Roger II of Sicily. She was named heiress of Sicily by her nephew King William II. On his death, however...

H. D.

(Encyclopedia)H. D.: see Doolittle, Hilda.

Roman roads

(Encyclopedia)Roman roads, ancient system of highways linking Rome with its provinces. Their primary purpose was military, but they also were of great commercial importance and brought the distant provinces in touc...