Rome questions

Castel Sant'Angelo (English: Castle of the Holy Angel) was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The structure was once the tallest building in Rome.

Completed in AD 113, the Trajan's Column commemorates Roman Emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. Originally, a 4.8 m bronze statue of Trajan stood on the top pedestal, but this was replaced by a statue of St. Peter in 1587.

The Quirinal Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has come to stand for the Italian president. The Quirinal Palace has an extension of 1.2 million square feet.

SPQR (Latin: Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, "The Roman Senate and People" refers to the government of the ancient Roman Republic. It appears on Roman currency, at the end of documents made public by inscription in stone or metal, and in dedications of monuments and public works. The phrase commonly appears in the Roman political, legal, and historical literature.

According to St. Ambrose, Agnes of Rome, died by fire at age 12. Other versions of her martyrdom are given by Pope St. Damasus (r. 366–384) and Prudentius in Peris- tephanon. Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden. Agnes’s emblem in art is the lamb, a symbol of purity, and because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus. In art she is often depicted in flames and with a sword at her feet.

Alaric I (or 375) – 410 AD) was the first King of the Visigoths from 395–410, son of chieftain Rothestes. He is best known for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Western Roman Empire. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position first by Mediolanum in 286 and then by Ravenna in 402.

A rhyton is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table. They are typically formed in the shape of an animal's head. Many have an opening at the bottom through which the liquid fell; others did not, and were merely used as drinking cups, with the characteristic that they could not usually be set down on a surface without spilling their contents.

The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance of three prominent men between 60 and 53 BC, during the late Roman Republic: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), and Marcus Licinius Crassus. The alliance ended in 53 BC when Marek Krassus died in the Battle of Carrhae. The result of this was the crossing of Rubicon by Caesar in 49 BC and the beginning of the civil war with Pompey.

The Umbilicus Urbis Romae ( "Navel of the City of Rome") was the symbolic centre of the city from which, and to which, all distances in Ancient Rome were measured. It was situated in the Roman Forum. Originally covered in marble, the Umbilicus is now a forlorn-looking brick core some 2 metres high and 4.45 metres in diameter.

The pomerium was a religious boundary around the city of Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within its pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory (ager) belonging to Rome. Tradition maintained that the pomerium was the original line ploughed by Romulus around the walls of the original city.