Villanovan culture takes its name from the Bolognese estate owned by G. Gozzadini, who in 1853 excavated nearby the first of many iron age cemeteries in the modern provinces of Bologna, Faenza, Forli, and Ravenna. The term is applied not only to these cemeteries of the 9th cent. bce onwards, but also to their contemporaries south of the Apennines, around the previously uninhabited iron age centres destined for continuing greatness as *Etruscan cities. Further south still, the Villanovan phenomenon is represented at *Capua, *Pontecagnano, and Sala Consilina in Campania; and there is also an isolated Villanovan cemetery at Fermo in the Marche.Both north and south of the *Apennines, the Villanovan culture is characterized in its original form by cremation burials in biconical ossuaries with incised decoration. There were no such people as ‘the Villanovans’, in spite of the fact that this unjustified ethnic extrapolation from the modern toponym of an archaeological site has often been used in juxtaposition with the historical Etruscans to imply the substitution, or even invasion, of the former by the latter. In fact, the indigenous possessors of the Villanovan culture of the 9th and 8th cents. in Etruria may confidently be defined as *Etruscans at the iron age stage of their ethnic formation and already in receipt of the influences that reached the Tyrrhenian seaboard from the outside world.
6,401-6,420 of 6,528 Results
Article
T. Corey Brennan
Lucius Villius(Annalis), tribune of the plebs in 180
Article
John Wilkes
Viminacium (mod. Kostolac), on the Danube east of Belgrade, was a Celtic settlement (see celts) which became a legionary fortress and city in *Moesia Superior. Its permanent garrison (probably from ce 56/7 ) was Legio VII Claudia (see legion); for a period under *Trajan it was also occupied by Legio IV Flavia.
Article
C. Robert Phillips
Roman wine festivals on 23 April (Priora), 19 August (Rustica). The Priora probably offered *Jupiter new wine at the time of sale (Plin.HN 18. 287, fasti Praenestini); Ov.Fast. 4. 863 ff. with Bömer's notes, Plut., Quaest. Rom. 45 with Rose's notes. Varro, Rust. 1. 1. 6 substitutes *Venus (cf. Ling. 6. 16), chronologically difficult since her first temple (Venus Obsequens) was dedicated 295
Article
John Wilkes and John Frederick Drinkwater
Vindelici, a people of mainly Celtic origin (see celts) but including Illyrian (see illyrii) and other elements, inhabited the Swabian–Bavarian plateau and reached from the southern slopes of the *Alps up to the Danube. Conquered by *Tiberius and Nero *Claudius Drusus in 15 bce, they later occupied the eastern part of the province of *Raetia (Vindelicia).
Article
John Wilkes
On the Danube, lay in the territory of the *Boii, a Celtic people (see celts) included within *Pannonia (Superior). In the 1st cent. ce it was garrisoned by the Ala Flavia Domitiana Augusta Britannica milliaria civium Romanorum (under *Domitian: CIL 3. 15197; see alae). At the beginning of *Trajan's reign, probably on the occasion of his visit in 98, Legio XIII Gemina (see legion) was moved there from *Poetovio and began the construction of a legionary fortress before it departed for the Dacian Wars (CIL 3. 14359 no. 32). In its place came Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, which remained until the end of Trajan's reign when it moved to *Carnuntum, while Legio X Gemina was moved from *Aquincum to become the permanent garrison at Vindobona.At some date in the 3rd cent. a civil settlement became a *municipium (CIL 3.
Article
J. David Thomas
During the 1970s and 1980s several hundred wooden writing-tablets were discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda near Hadrian's Wall (see wall of hadrian); a further 400 turned up in 1993, and a few more were found post 2000. Of the earlier finds, some were of the well-known stylus type, but the vast majority were made of thin, wooden leaves, written in ink with a pen. Only a handful of tablets of this type was previously known, and the concentration of such numbers at one site is unique. They date between c.ce 90 and 120, when the fort was occupied first by Cohors I Tungrorum and later by Cohors IX Batavorum (see cohors).The Vindolanda material includes the largest group of Latin letters ever discovered (see letters, latin). There are also literary fragments, shorthand texts, military reports, applications for leave, and accounts. The letters often bear on the official and private concerns of the officers, their families, and slaves, while the military documents tell us much about the way the Romans organized a newly acquired frontier area. In addition the tablets provide valuable information on *palaeography and the *Latin language.
Article
Courtenay Edward Stevens and John Frederick Drinkwater
Vindonissa (mod. Windisch, Switzerland), a prehistoric site on the lower Aar, occupied c.17 ce by Legio XIII, which was replaced in 45–6 by Legio XXI Rapax (see legion), whose violent behaviour to the *Helvetii induced *Vespasian to send it elsewhere. Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis then held Vindonissa to c.
Article
M. Winterbottom
Lucius Vinicius (*suffect consul 5
Article
Ronald Syme and Barbara Levick
Marcus Vinicius (*suffect consul 19
Article
M. Winterbottom
Publius Vinicius (consul ce 2), declaimer and orator, son of M. *Vinicius (above). An admirer of *Ovid, he was praised for his preciseness (Sen.Controv. 7. 5. 11, 10. 4. 25). He was proconsul (see pro consule) of Asia, and emerges under *Tiberius (Tac.
Article
Brian Campbell
Titus Vinius, influential associate of *Galba and his colleague as consul in 69
Article
John Percy Vyvian Dacre Balsdon and Antony Spawforth
Daughter of M. *Vipsanius Agrippa and granddaughter of T. *Pomponius Atticus. Married to *Tiberius, she bore him a son, Nero *Claudius Drusus, but he was forced by Augustus, against his will, to divorce her and marry Julia (see iulia(3)) in 12 bce. She then married C.
Article
John Percy Vyvian Dacre Balsdon and Antony Spawforth
Vipsania Agrippina (2), ‘the Elder Agrippina’ (c.14 bce–33 ce), the daughter of M. *Vipsanius Agrippa and of *Iulia ((3), daughter of *Augustus). She married *Germanicus (probably in ce 5), to whom she bore nine children. She was with Germanicus on the Rhine from 14 to 16 and in the east from 18 until his death in the following year. From 19 to 29 she lived in Rome, the rallying point of a party of senators who opposed the growing power of Sejanus (see aelius seianus, l.). With *Tiberius, whom she suspected (without evidence) of causing her husband's death, her relations were consistently bad, and he refused her request in 26 for leave to marry again. She was arrested in 29 on the instruction of Tiberius and banished by the senate to Pandateria (cf. islands), where she starved to death in 33.
Article
Geoffrey Walter Richardson, Theodore John Cadoux, and Barbara Levick
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the lifelong friend and supporter of *Augustus, was born in 64, 63, or even 62 bce of obscure but probably well-to-do family (he neglected his undistinguished family name). He accompanied Octavius (the future Octavian and Augustus) to Rome from *Apollonia after *Caesar's murder, helped him to raise a private army, prosecuted *Cassius in the court set up by Q. *Pedius in 43, and was prominent in the war against L. *Antonius (Pietas). After holding the tribunate of the plebs (see tribuni plebis) in 43 or a little later, and so entering the *senate, he was urban praetor in 40. As governor of Gaul in 38 he suppressed a rebellion in *Aquitania, led a punitive expedition across the Rhine, and either now or in 20 settled the *Ubii on the left bank. As consul (37) he fitted out and trained a new fleet for Octavian's war against Sextus *Pompeius, converting the lacus *Avernus near *Cumae into a harbour (portus Iulius) for the purpose, and in 36 won two decisive naval engagements at Mylae and Naulochus, where his improved grapnel was highly effective.
Article
Howard Hayes Scullard and Barbara Levick
Vipstanus Messalla, great-grandson of M. *Valerius Messalla Messallinus, military tribune in 69 ce (see tribuni militum), took temporary command of Legio VII Claudia (see legion) at the battle of *Cremona. He was perhaps a source for the account of the campaign in *Tacitus (1), who names him twice (Hist.
Article
Don P. Fowler and Peta G. Fowler
Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 bce), Roman poet. The contemporary spelling of Virgil's name was with an e: the first occurrence with an i is on an honorific inscription to
*Claudian
in Greek (CIL 6. 1710 = ILS 1. 2949). Virgil is traditional in English, but the slightly historicizing Vergil is preferred by some modern critics. Virgil and his friends in any case punned on virgo, a virgin (G. 4. 564, perhaps 1. 430,
*Donatus (1)
's ‘Life’ of Virgil 11).
*Varius Rufus
is said to have written on Virgil (Quint. 10. 3. 8) and there were other accounts by friends and acquaintances (cf. Gell. GelliusNA 17. 10. 2): the extant lives go back in part to
*Suetonius
, De poetis Much (but not all) of the information in them derives from interpretation of the poems (including the spurious ones in the
*Appendix Vergiliana
), and few details, however circumstantial, can be regarded as certain.
Article
Ernst Badian and Christoph F. Konrad
Viriatus (c. 180–139
Article
Sheppard S. Frere and Martin Millett
Viroconium (also Uri(o)conium or Viriconium), a town in Roman *Britain (mod. Wroxeter, in Shropshire). The site, which controlled the route via the Severn valley into Wales, was the focus of considerable military activity during the conquest and afterwards. Numerous forts have been found hereabouts. A fortress of Legio XIV Gemina (see legion) was established at Wroxeter c.ce 55 until 66. Its legion was reoccupied by Legio XX Valeria in ce 75, which remained in occupation until c.ce 83/4. After this the fortress site was developed as the civitas capital of the *Cornovii. Late 1st-cent. baths, perhaps intended for the legion, were left incomplete, to be swept away by *Hadrian, in whose reign a normal forum-basilica replaced them. The forum is dated by a dedication to Hadrian of ce 120–30 by the civitas Cornoviorum (RIB 288). Big new public baths, architecturally combined with a shopping precinct and large public latrine (see sanitation), were built shortly after ce 150; they were provided with a great open-air swimming bath and a covered exercise hall.
