137-621: De Bello Civili ( Latin pronunciation: [deː ˈbɛlloː kiːˈwiːliː] ; On the Civil War ), more commonly referred to as the Pharsalia ( Latin: [pʰarˈsaːlia] , feminine singular), is a Roman epic poem written by the poet Lucan , detailing the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Great . The poem's title is
274-719: A sanjak (province) of the Eyalet of Rumelia , and after 1534 of the Eyalet of the Archipelago . Mytilene and Molova (the Turkish name for Molyvos/Methymna) became seats of kadis . The cathedral of Mytilene was converted into a mosque. Otherwise, the organization of the local Orthodox church was not altered. In 1464, as part of the First Ottoman–Venetian War , the Venetians under Orsato Giustiniani occupied
411-538: A Protected Natural Monument . Fossilised plants have been found in many localities on the western parts of the island. The fossilised forest was formed during the Late Oligocene to Lower–Middle Miocene , as determined by the intense volcanic activity in the area. Neogene volcanic rocks dominate the central and western part of the island, comprising andesites , dacites and rhyolites , ignimbrite , pyroclastics , tuffs , and volcanic ash . The products of
548-508: A brief introduction lamenting the idea of Romans fighting Romans and an ostensibly flattering dedication to Nero , the narrative summarizes background material leading up to the present war and introduces Caesar in northern Italy. Despite an urgent plea from the Spirit of Rome to lay down his arms, Caesar crosses the Rubicon , rallies his troops and marches south to Rome, joined by Curio along
685-752: A century, engaging in fortifications at the Castle of Mytilene , Molyvos (ancient Methymna), and the fort of Agios Theodoros at the site of ancient Antissa. After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Gattilusi continued to rule Lesbos as tributary vassals to the Ottoman Empire , until the island was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II in September 1462. After the capture of Lesbos, the richer inhabitants were moved to Constantinople in order to repopulate
822-572: A continual development over several centuries, the beginnings of formal Latin literature started with the regular performance of comedies and tragedies in Rome in 240 BC, one year after the conclusion of the First Punic War . These initial comedies and tragedies were adapted from Greek drama by Livius Andronicus , a Greek prisoner of war who had been brought to Rome as a slave in 272 BC. Andronicus translated Homer 's Odyssey into Latin using
959-752: A familiar vocabulary, giving it poetic value by combinations of words and by rich sound effects. Rome's leading poets had great technical skill in the choice and arrangement of language. They had an intimate knowledge of the Greek poets, whose themes appear in almost all Roman literature. until 75 BC Old Latin 75 BC – 200 AD Classical Latin 200–700 Late Latin 700–1500 Medieval Latin 1300–1500 Renaissance Latin 1300– present Neo-Latin 1900– present Contemporary Latin Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( Greek : Λέσβος , romanized : Lésvos [ˈlezvos] )
1096-757: A frequent target for plundering raids by the Republic of Venice . After the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) the island passed to the Latin Empire , but was reconquered by the Empire of Nicaea sometime after 1224. In 1354, it was granted as a dowry and fief to the Genoese Francesco I Gattilusio by the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos . The Gattilusio family ruled the island for over
1233-419: A fruitful field, a lofty oak, bearing the people's spoils of old and generals' hallowed dedications; clinging with roots no longer strong, by its own weight it stands firm, and spreading naked branches through the air, it makes shade with trunk, not foliage; and though it totters, ready to fall beneath the first Eurus, though all around so many trees upraise themselves with sturdy trunks, yet it alone
1370-749: A likely Greek presence then. According to Homer 's Iliad , Lesbos was part of the kingdom of Priam , which was based in Anatolia . In the Middle Ages, it was under Byzantine and then Genoese rule. Lesbos was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1462. The Ottomans then ruled the island until the First Balkan War in 1912, when it became part of the Kingdom of Greece. The English name Lesbos (pronounced / ˈ l ɛ z b ɒ s / , also US : / ˈ l ɛ z b ə s , - b oʊ s / )
1507-505: A logical unit. Latin can be used with conciseness, as in the works of Sallust and Tacitus . Or it can have wide, sweeping phrases, as in the works of Livy and the speeches of Cicero . Latin lacks poetic vocabulary that marks the Greek poetry. Some earlier Latin poets tried to make up for this deficiency by creating new compound words, as the Greeks had done. But Roman writers seldom invented words. Except in epic poetry, they tended to use
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#17327649143031644-504: A long poem, De rerum natura . One of the most prolific writers of the period was Marcus Terentius Varro . Referred to as "the most learned of the Romans" by Quintillian , he wrote about a remarkable variety of subjects, from religion to poetry, but only his writings on agriculture and the Latin language are extant in their complete form. The emperor Augustus took a personal interest in
1781-537: A mix of fact and fiction, designed to entertain and thrill an audience. Some historians consider the possibility that Roman commentators exaggerated the barbaric nature of the Celts , perhaps in order to justify the Roman annexation of their lands, and attempts to subjugate and Romanise them. Although it is true that the Celts did practice human sacrifice , it is unlikely that it was as barbaric as Lucan suggested, it
1918-606: A reference to the Battle of Pharsalus , which occurred in 48 BC, near Pharsalus , Thessaly , in Northern Greece . Caesar decisively defeated Pompey in this battle, which occupies all of the epic's seventh book. In the early twentieth century, translator J. D. Duff , while arguing that "no reasonable judgment can rank Lucan among the world's great epic poets", notes that the work is notable for Lucan's decision to eschew divine intervention and downplay supernatural occurrences in
2055-499: A segment of the refugee population until its closure in October 2020, whereupon the occupants were transferred to the "old" Kara Tepe Refugee Camp . The Greek government maintains that the fires were started deliberately by migrants protesting that the camp had been put in lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak amongst the migrants in the camp. On 16 September 2020, four Afghan men were formally charged with arson for allegedly starting
2192-503: A separate work, greatly influenced later poetic theories. It stated the basic rules of classical writing as the Romans understood and used them. After Virgil died, Horace was Rome's leading poet. The Latin elegy reached its highest development in the works of Tibullus , Propertius , and Ovid . Most of this poetry is concerned with love. Ovid wrote the Fasti , which describes Roman festivals and their legendary origins. Ovid's greatest work,
2329-422: A storm prevents further transit; he tries to personally send a message back but is himself nearly drowned. Finally, the storm subsides, and the armies face each other at full strength. With battle at hand, Pompey sends his wife to the island of Lesbos . Book 6 : Pompey's troops force Caesar's armies – featuring the heroic centurion Scaeva – to fall back to Thessaly . Lucan describes the wild Thessalian terrain as
2466-479: A traditional Latin verse form called Saturnian meter . In 235 BC, Gnaeus Naevius , a Roman citizen, continued this tradition of producing dramas that were reworkings of Greek originals, or fabula palliata , and he expanded on this by producing a new type of drama, fabula praetexta , or tragedies based on Roman myths and history, starting in 222 BC. Later in life, Naevius composed an epic poem in Saturnian meter on
2603-543: A vivid picture of the public and private life among the Roman governing class. Cicero's works on oratory are our most valuable Latin sources for ancient theories on education and rhetoric. His philosophical works were the basis of moral philosophy during the Middle Ages. His speeches inspired many European political leaders and the founders of the United States. Julius Caesar and Sallust were significant historical writers of Cicero's time. Caesar wrote commentaries on
2740-432: A young man who is accidentally changed into a donkey. The story is filled with tales of love and witchcraft. Pagan Latin literature showed a final burst of vitality from the late 3rd century till the 5th centuries – Ammianus Marcellinus in history, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus in oratory, and Ausonius and Rutilius Claudius Namatianus in poetry. The Mosella by Ausonius demonstrated a modernism of feeling that indicates
2877-666: Is Sulpicia . In prose, Livy produced a history of the Roman people in 142 books. Only 35 survived, but they are a major source of information on Rome. From the death of Augustus in AD 14 until about 200, Roman authors emphasized style and tried new and startling ways of expression. During the reign of Nero from 54 to 68, the Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote a number of dialogues and letters on such moral themes as mercy and generosity. In his Natural Questions , Seneca analyzed earthquakes, floods, and storms. Seneca's tragedies greatly influenced
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#17327649143033014-582: Is "Lesvos Geopark ", which is a member of the European Geoparks Network (since 2000) and Global Geoparks Network (since 2004) on account of its outstanding geological heritage, educational programs and projects, and promotion of geotourism . This geopark was enlarged from former "Lesvos Petrified Forest Geopark". Lesbos contains one of the few known petrified forests , called the Petrified forest of Lesbos , and it has been declared
3151-561: Is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea . It has an area of 1,633 km (631 sq mi), with approximately 400 kilometres (249 miles) of coastline , making it the third largest island in Greece and the eighth largest in the Mediterranean. It is separated from Asia Minor by the narrow Mytilini Strait . On the southeastern coast is the island's capital and largest city, Mytilene ( Μυτιλήνη ), whose name
3288-732: Is about 5.5 km (3.4 mi) wide. In late Palaeolithic/Mesolithic times it was joined to the Anatolian mainland before the end of the Last Glacial Period . The shape of the island is roughly triangular, but it is deeply intruded by the gulfs of Kalloni , with an entry on the southern coast, and of Gera , in the southeast. The island is forested and mountainous with two large peaks, Mount Lepetymnos at 968 m (3,176 ft) and Mount Olympus at 967 m (3,173 ft) (not to be confused with Mount Olympus in Thessaly on
3425-483: Is about to cross the Rubicon, the ghost of Julia appearing to Pompey, Pompey's dream of his happy past, and Caesar and his troops' dream of battle and destruction. All four of these dream-visions are placed strategically throughout the poem, "to provide balance and contrast". In regards to the second category, Lucan describes a number of portents, two oracular episodes, and Erichtho's necromantic rite. This manifestation of
3562-509: Is also used for the island as a whole. Lesbos is a separate regional unit with the seat in Mytilene , which is also the capital of the larger North Aegean region. The region includes the islands of Lesbos, Chios , Ikaria , Lemnos , and Samos . The total population of the island was 83,755 in 2021. A third of Lesbians live in the capital, while the remainder are concentrated in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari , Kalloni ,
3699-516: Is beguiled by the Ptolemy's sister Cleopatra . A banquet is held; Pothinus, Ptolemy's cynical and bloodthirsty chief minister, plots an assassination of Caesar but is killed in his surprise attack on the palace. A second attack comes from Ganymede, an Egyptian noble, and the poem breaks off abruptly as Caesar is fighting for his life. Almost all scholars agree that the Pharsalia as we now have it
3836-585: Is defeated and slain by the African King Juba. Book 5 : The Senate in exile confirms Pompey the true leader of Rome. Appius consults the Delphic oracle to learn of his fate in the war, and leaves with a misleading prophecy. In Italy, after defusing a mutiny, Caesar marches to Brundisium and sails across the Adriatic to meet Pompey's army. Only a portion of Caesar's troops complete the crossing when
3973-412: Is essentially agricultural , with olive oil being the main source of income . Tourism in Mytilene , encouraged by its international airport and the coastal towns of Petra , Plomari , Molyvos and Eresos , contributes substantially to the island's economy. Fishing and the manufacture of soap and ouzo , the Greek national liqueur , are the remaining sources of income. Due to its proximity to
4110-491: Is fearful of retribution from Caesar and plots to murder Pompey when he lands. Pompey suspects treachery; he consoles his wife and rows alone to the shore, meeting his fate with Stoic poise. His headless body is flung into the ocean, but washes up on shore and receives a humble burial from Cordus. Book 9 : Pompey's wife mourns her husband as Cato takes up leadership of the Senate's cause. He plans to regroup and heroically marches
4247-468: Is fond of discontinuity. He presents his narrative as a series of discrete episodes often without any transitional or scene-changing lines, much like the sketches of myth strung together in Ovid's Metamorphoses . The poem is more naturally organized on principles such as aesthetic balance or correspondence of scenes between books rather than the need to follow a story from a single narrative point of view. Lucan
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4384-549: Is from Ancient Greek Λέσβος ( Lésbos ). The name appears in Late Bronze Age Hittite texts as Lazpa ( Hittite : 𒆷𒊍𒉺 Lāzpa ). The earliest reference to Lesbos in Greek texts comes from the Homeric poems, where it is described as "well-built". The etymology of the name is obscure, but may have originally meant ' forested ' , ' wooded ' . In Modern Greek , the letter beta ⟨β⟩
4521-583: Is mentioned in two Hittite texts from the Late Bronze Age , a period during which the island appears to have been a dependent of the Seha River Land . The Manapa-Tarhunta letter recounts an incident in which a group of purple-dyers from Lesbos defected from the Sehan king. According to Classical Greek mythology , Lesbos was the patron god of the island. Macareus of Rhodes was reputedly
4658-812: Is more likely to have taken the form of a votive offering to the Celtic gods – possibly in response to a natural or man made disaster, such as a famine or war. During the Iron Age , votive offerings became increasingly more precious and labour-intensive, for example the Battersea Shield found at an ancient crossing point of the Thames, or the Gundestrup cauldron , found in Denmark. The druid's had extraordinary power and influence, and were able to arrange
4795-565: Is pronounced and transliterated as [v] , thus producing the alternative form Lesvos . An older name for the island that was maintained in Aeolic Greek was Ἴσσα ( Íssa ). Pliny the Elder also refers to the island with the names ἱμερτή ( himertḗ , ' desirable ' ) and Λασία ( Lasía , often understood as ' shaggy ' ). In Greece, Lesbos is commonly referred to as Mytilene ( Μυτιλήνη ) after its capital. Some suggest that
4932-453: Is somewhat puzzling. Some scholars have tried to read these lines ironically, but most see it as a traditional dedication written at a time before the (supposed) true depravity of Lucan's patron was revealed. The extant "Lives" of the poet support this interpretation, stating that a portion of the Pharsalia was in circulation before Lucan and Nero had their falling out. Furthermore, according to Braund, Lucan's negative portrayal of Caesar in
5069-400: Is that Lucan intended for his poem to be sixteen books long and to end with the assassination of Caesar. This theory, too, has its problems, namely that Lucan would have been required to introduce and rapidly develop characters to replace Pompey and Cato. It also might have given the work a "happy ending", which seems inconsistent, tonally, with the poem as a whole. Ultimately, Braund argues that
5206-431: Is true, and Braund argues that "the supernatural in all its manifestations played a highly significant part in the structuring of the epic". Braund sees the supernatural as falling into two categories: "dreams and visions" and "portents, prophecies, and consultations of supernatural powers". In regards to the first category, the poem features four explicit and important dream and vision sequences: Caesar's vision of Roma as he
5343-405: Is unfinished. Some debate exists, however, as to whether the poem was unfinished at the time of Lucan's death, or if the final few books of the work were lost at some point. Susanna Braund notes that little evidence has been found one way or the other, and that this question must "remain a matter of speculation." Some argue that Lucan intended to end his poem with the Battle of Philippi (42 BC) or
5480-401: Is venerated. By comparing Caesar to a bolt of lightning, and Pompey to a large tree on the verge of death, Lucan poetically implies early on in the Pharsalia that Caesar will strike and fell Pompey. The grand exception to this generally bleak depiction of characters is Cato, who stands as a Stoic ideal in the face of a world gone mad (he alone, for example, refuses to consult oracles to know
5617-431: The Battle of Actium (31 BC). Both these hypotheses seem unlikely, as they would have required Lucan to pen a work many times larger than what is extant: For instance, the ten-book poem we have today covers a total time of twenty months; were the poet to have continued this pace, his work would cover a time span of six to seventeen years, which scholars consider unlikely. An alternative considered "more attractive" by Braund,
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5754-641: The Gera Villages , Agiassos , Eresos , and Molyvos (the ancient Mythimna). According to later Greek writers, Mytilene was founded in the 11th century BC by the family Penthilidae, who arrived from Thessaly and ruled the city-state until a popular revolt (590–580 BC) led by Pittacus of Mytilene ended their rule. In fact, the archaeological and linguistic records may indicate a late Iron Age arrival of Greek settlers, although references in Late Bronze Age Hittite archives indicate
5891-525: The Metamorphoses weaves various myths into a fast-paced, fascinating story. Ovid was a witty writer who excelled in creating lively and passionate characters. The Metamorphoses was the best-known source of Greek and Roman mythology throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It inspired many poets, painters, and composers. One of the few female poets of ancient Rome whose work has survived
6028-565: The Ottoman Empire over the independence and expansion of Christian Balkan states. Under Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis , Greek naval forces landed at Lesbos on 21 November 1912, commencing the Battle of Lesbos . Kountouriotis sent an ultimatum to secure Mytilene under Greece, which Ottoman officials agreed to, before fleeing the city. The operation to annex the rest of the island was placed under Colonel Apollodoros Syrmakezis. Syrmakezis led 3,175 troops towards an Ottoman camp in Filia , reaching
6165-442: The Pharsalia , this simile holds, and Caesar is continuously depicted as an active force, who strikes with great power. Pompey, on the other hand, is old and past his prime, and years of peacetime have turned him soft. Susanna Braund argues that Lucan "has taken the weaker, essentially human , elements of Aeneas' character—Aeneas doubting his mission, Aeneas as husband and lover—and bestowed them upon Pompey." And while this portrays
6302-708: The Treaty of London . In the Greco-Turkish population exchange that followed World War I and the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 , the local Muslims left the island and Lesbos returned to a fully Greek Christian population, as it had been before the Ottoman era. In 1922, many Greek refugees of the war and the concurrent Greek Genocide settled in Lesbos. These refugees were mostly women and children as
6439-421: The propitiation of their gods by acts of human sacrifice : List of deities mentioned in book 1: The source of Lucan's information is not known – Pharsalia was written about 100 years after the Battle of Pharsalus (9 August 48 BC). It is possible that oral tradition's about the pagan practices of the Celts were well known in Roman society before Lucan wrote Pharsalia , and that variants arose that were
6576-581: The 10th century, it was part of the theme of the Aegean Sea , while in the late 11th century it formed a dioikesis (fiscal district) under a kourator in Mytilene. In c. 1089 –1093, the island was briefly occupied by the Seljuk Turkish emir Tzachas , ruler of Smyrna , but he was unable to capture Methymna, which resisted throughout. In the 12th century, the island became
6713-714: The Aeolic dialect of the Greek language, whose written form survives in the poems of Sappho , amongst others. In classical times, the cities of the island formed a pentapolis , comprising Mytilene , Methymna , Antissa , Eresos , and Pyrrha . Pyrrha was destroyed in an earthquake in 231 BC, and Antissa by the Roman Republic in 168 BC. Two of the nine lyric poets in the Ancient Greek canon, Sappho and Alcaeus , were from Lesbos. Phanias wrote history. The seminal artistic creativity of those times brings to mind
6850-489: The Castle of Mytilene with artillery bastions. The large majority of the island's population remained Greek Christian, although there was a sizeable Muslim community, formed from both immigrants and converts; from 7.4% of households in 1488, it rose to a peak of 19.45% in 1831 before starting to decline in relative terms, reaching 14% in 1892. The Islamization process peaked between 1602 and 1644. The Muslims lived throughout
6987-442: The Elder . Cato wrote the first Latin history of Rome and of other Italian cities. He was the first Roman statesman to put his political speeches in writing as a means of influencing public opinion. Early Latin literature ended with Gaius Lucilius , who created a new kind of poetry in his 30 books of Satires (2nd century BC). He wrote in an easy, conversational tone about books, food, friends, and current events. Traditionally,
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#17327649143037124-534: The Gallic and civil wars in a straightforward style to justify his actions as a general. He wrote descriptions of people and their motives. The birth of lyric poetry in Latin occurred during the same period. The lyrics of Catullus , whom the writer Aulus Gellius called "the most elegant of poets", are noted for their emotional intensity. Contemporary with Catullus, Lucretius expounded the Epicurean philosophy in
7261-440: The Greek mainland), dominating its northern and central sections. The island's volcanic origin is manifested in several hot springs and the two gulfs. Lesbos is verdant, aptly named Emerald Island , with a greater variety of flora than expected for the island's size. Eleven million olive trees cover 40% of the island, together with other fruit trees. Forests of Mediterranean pines , chestnut trees and some oaks occupy 20%, and
7398-462: The Greeks had already written about. Even when they copied the Greeks, their translations were not straightforward replicas of the original Greek works. Only fragments of their plays have survived. Considerably more is known about early Latin comedy, as 26 Early Latin comedies are extant – 20 of which were written by Plautus ; the remaining six were written by Terence . These men modeled their comedies on Greek plays known as New Comedy , but treated
7535-473: The Peloponnesian War . In Hellenistic times, the island belonged to various Successor kingdoms until 79 BC when it passed into Roman hands. Remnants of its Roman medieval history are three impressive castles. The cities of Mytilene and Methymna have been bishoprics since the 5th century. By the early 10th century, Mytilene had been raised to the status of a metropolitan see . Methymna achieved
7672-534: The Romans' interest in rhetoric, the art of speaking and persuading. Public speaking had great importance for educated Romans because most of them wanted successful political careers. When Rome was a republic , effective speaking often determined who would be elected or what bills would pass. After Rome became an empire , the ability to impress and persuade people by the spoken word lost much of its importance. But training in rhetoric continued to flourish and to affect styles of writing. A large part of rhetoric consists of
7809-576: The Turkish mainland, Lesbos is one of the Greek islands most affected by the European migrant crisis that started in 2015. Refugees of the Syrian Civil War came to the island in multiple vessels every day. As of June 2018, 8,000 refugees were trapped when a deal between Europe and Turkey removed their route to the continent in 2016. After that, living conditions deteriorated and the possibility of movement to Europe dimmed. Moria Refugee Camp
7946-480: The ability to present a familiar idea in a striking new manner that attracts attention. Latin authors became masters of this art of variety. Latin is a highly inflected language, with many grammatical forms for various words. As a result, it can be used with a pithiness and brevity unknown in English. It lends itself to elaboration, because its tight syntax holds even the longest and most complex sentence together as
8083-495: The armies wait for battle the next day. The remainder of the book follows Pompey's son Sextus , who wishes to know the future. He finds the most powerful witch in Thessaly, Erichtho , and she reanimates the corpse of a dead soldier in a terrifying ceremony. The soldier predicts Pompey's defeat and Caesar's eventual assassination. Book 7 : The soldiers are pressing for battle, but Pompey is reluctant until Cicero convinces him to attack. The Caesarians are victorious, and Lucan laments
8220-515: The army across Africa to join forces with King Juba, a trek that occupies most of the middle section of the book. On the way, he passes an oracle but refuses to consult it, citing Stoic principles. Caesar visits Troy and pays respects to his ancestral gods. A short time later he arrives in Egypt; when Ptolemy's messenger presents him with the head of Pompey, Caesar feigns grief to hide his joy at Pompey's death. Book 10 : Caesar arrives in Egypt, where he
8357-634: The best hypothesis is that Lucan's original intent was a twelve-book poem, mirroring the length of the Aeneid . The best internal argument for this is that in his sixth book Lucan features a necromantic ritual that parallels and inverts many of the motifs found in Virgil's sixth book (which details Aeneas' consultation with the Sibyl and his subsequent descent into the underworld). Had the book been extended to twelve books, Braund contends that it would have ended with
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#17327649143038494-402: The city, some boys and girls were taken away into imperial service, but the rest of the population remained. Mehmed II brought in Muslim settlers from Rumelia and Anatolia , and encouraged his Janissaries to settle there and take local wives. Among them was Yakub, the father of the pirate admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa . Named Midilli ( مدللى ) after its capital, Mytilene, the island became
8631-418: The consulates in Smyrna. The island exported olives and olive oil, wheat, grapes, raisins and wine, figs, fish, dairy products, acorns, soap, leather and hides, pitch and livestock. Mytilene itself increased five-fold in population during the Ottoman period. A number of new mosques were erected in the city, and Hayreddin Barbarossa built a madrasa , dervish lodge , and imaret erected in his hometown. Many of
8768-453: The death of Cato, and his subsequent apotheosis as a Stoic hero. Conversely, the Latinist Jamie Masters argues the opposite, that the finale of Book 10 is indeed the ending to the work as Lucan intended. Masters devotes an entire chapter to this hypothesis in his book Poetry and Civil War in Lucan's Bellum Civile (1992), arguing that by being open-ended and ambiguous, the poem's conclusion avoids "any kind of resolution, but [still] preserves
8905-469: The destructive 1867 earthquake. The Ottoman writer and liberal politician Namık Kemal served in the local administration in 1877–1884. In 1905, four European powers seized the customs and telegraph offices in the island to pressure the Ottoman government to accept their plan for an international commission that would supervise the provinces of Macedonia . In 1912, the First Balkan War broke out between Greece , Bulgaria , Serbia and Montenegro , and
9042-429: The earliest manuscripts of the poem refer to it as De Bello Civili ( Concerning the Civil War ). Braund further argues that calling the poem Pharsalia "excessively ... privilege[s] ... an episode which occupies only one book and occurs in the centre of the poem, rather than at its climax." Lucan is heavily influenced by Latin poetic tradition, most notably Ovid 's Metamorphoses and of course Virgil 's Aeneid ,
9179-403: The early Ottoman buildings, as well as the city walls, were destroyed in the earthquake of 1867. Mevlevi and Bektashi lodges are attested, since 1544 for the former, and since 1699 for the latter. Molyvos, which was the island's second city for most of the Ottoman period, also experienced growth, doubling in size; unlike Mytilene, the Muslim element came to predominate, and comprised over half
9316-529: The early portion of the poem was not likely meant as criticism of Nero, and it may have been Lucan's way of warning the new emperor about the issues of the past. Lucan breaks from epic tradition by minimizing, and in certain cases, completely ignoring (and some argue, denying) the existence of the traditional Roman deities. This is in marked contrast to his predecessors, Virgil and Ovid, who used anthropomorphized gods and goddesses as major players in their works. According to Susanna Braund, by choosing to not focus on
9453-427: The elegance and Classicism of their style. Examples of these were Anthony Alsop and Vincent Bourne , who were noted for the ingenious way that they adapted their verse to describing details of life in the 18th century while never departing from the purity of Latin diction. One of the last to be noted for the quality of his Latin verse well into the 19th century was Walter Savage Landor . Much Latin writing reflects
9590-426: The end of classical literature as such. Writers who laid the foundations of Christian Latin literature during the 4th century and 5th century included the church fathers Augustine of Hippo , Jerome , and Ambrose , and the first great Christian poet, Prudentius . Some Latin writing by Christian women also survives: the prison diary of the martyr Perpetua of Carthage , and an account of a Christian pilgrimage by
9727-440: The end, Lucan makes his sentiments known in the famous line Victrix causa deis placuit sed Victa Catoni – "The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the vanquished [cause] pleased Cato." Given Lucan's clear anti-imperialism, the flattering Book I dedication to Nero – which includes lines like multum Roma tamen debet ciuilibus armis | quod tibi res acta est – "But Rome is greater by these civil wars, because it resulted in you" –
9864-474: The epigram achieved the stinging quality still associated with it. Juvenal satirized vice. The historian Tacitus painted an unforgettably dark picture of the early empire in his Histories and Annals , both written in the early 2nd century. His contemporary Suetonius wrote biographies of the 12 Roman rulers from Julius Caesar through Domitian . The letters of Pliny the Younger described Roman life of
10001-491: The essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature flourished for the next six centuries. The classical era of Latin literature can be roughly divided into several periods: Early Latin literature , The Golden Age , The Imperial Period and Late Antiquity . Latin
10138-409: The events of the story. Scholarly estimation of Lucan's poem and poetry has since changed, as explained by commentator Philip Hardie in 2013: "In recent decades, it has undergone a thorough critical re-evaluation, to re-emerge as a major expression of Neronian politics and aesthetics, a poem whose studied artifice enacts a complex relationship between poetic fantasy and historical reality." The poem
10275-501: The father of botany, succeeded Aristotle as the head of the Lyceum. Aristotle and Epicurus lived there for some time, and it is there that Aristotle began systematic zoological investigations. Theophanes , the historian who recorded Pompey 's campaigns, was also from Lesbos. As the Greek novel Daphnis and Chloe is set on Lesbos, the author, Longus , is usually assumed to be from the island. The abundant grey pottery ware found on
10412-454: The field. Caesar continues south through Italy and is delayed by Domitius' brave resistance. He attempts a blockade of Pompey at Brundisium , but the general makes a narrow escape to Greece. Book 3 : As his ships sail, Pompey is visited in a dream by Julia , his dead wife and Caesar's daughter. Caesar returns to Rome and plunders the city, while Pompey reviews potential foreign allies. Caesar then heads for Spain, but his troops are detained at
10549-576: The fire. Two other migrants, both aged 17, which is below the age of full adult criminal responsibility in Greece, were also allegedly involved in starting the fire, and were held in police detention on the mainland. After the closure of the Moria camp, a temporary facility was rapidly set up at Kara Tepe. The Greek government announced in November 2020 that a new closed reception centre will be built in
10686-606: The first Punic War, in which he had fought. Other epic poets followed Naevius. Quintus Ennius wrote an historical epic, the Annals (soon after 200 BC), describing Roman history from the founding of Rome to his own time. He adopted the Greek dactylic hexameter, which became the standard verse form for Roman epics. He became well known for his tragic dramas. Successors in this field include Marcus Pacuvius and Lucius Accius . These three writers rarely used episodes from Roman history , but they wrote Latin versions of tragic themes that
10823-414: The first king whose many daughters bequeathed their names to some of the present larger towns. In Classical myth his sister, Canace , was killed to have him made king. The place names with female origins are claimed by some to be much earlier settlements named after local goddesses, who were replaced by gods; however, there is little evidence to support this. Homer refers to the island as " Macaros edos ,"
10960-710: The flesh of the dead. Most of the main characters featured in the Pharsalia are terribly flawed and unattractive. Caesar, for instance, is presented as a successful military leader, but he strikes fear into the hearts of people and is extremely destructive. Lucan conveys this by using a simile (Book 1, lines 151–7) that compares Caesar to a thunderbolt : qualiter expressum uentis per nubila fulmen aetheris inpulsi sonitu mundique fragore emicuit rupitque diem populosque pauentes terruit obliqua praestringens lumina flamma: in sua templa furit, nullaque exire uetante materia magnamque cadens magnamque reuertens dat stragem late sparsosque recolligit ignes. Just so flashes out
11097-429: The force of all the shaken earth bent on the fray; and burst asunder, to the common guilt, a kingdom's compact; eagle with eagle met, standard to standard, spear opposed to spear. Events throughout the poem are described in terms of insanity and sacrilege. Far from glorious, the battle scenes are portraits of bloody horror, where nature is ravaged to build terrible siege engines and wild animals tear mercilessly at
11234-482: The fort of Agios Theodoros, but failed to capture the rest of the island, and destroyed the castle upon their withdrawal. Another attack occurred in 1474, when the Venetians under Pietro Mocenigo raided the island. During the Second Ottoman–Venetian War , a Venetian-led fleet of 200 ships besieged Mytilene , but the attack was defeated by Şehzade Korkut . His father, Sultan Bayezid II , then reinforced
11371-442: The future glories of Rome under Augustan rule, Lucan uses the scene to present a bitter and gory pessimism concerning the loss of liberty under the coming empire. Like all Silver Age poets, Lucan received the rhetorical training common to upper-class young men of the period. The suasoria – a school exercise where students wrote speeches advising an historical figure on a course of action – no doubt inspired Lucan to compose some of
11508-422: The future). Pompey also seems transformed after Pharsalus, becoming a kind of stoic martyr ; calm in the face of certain death upon arrival in Egypt, he receives virtual canonization from Lucan at the start of book IX. This elevation of Stoic and Republican principles is in sharp contrast to the ambitious and imperial Caesar, who becomes an even greater monster after the decisive battle. Even though Caesar wins in
11645-405: The gods, Lucan emphasizes and underscores the human role in the atrocities of the Roman civil war. James Duff, on the other hand, argues that "[Lucan] was dealing with Roman history and with fairly recent events; and the introduction of the gods as actors must have been grotesque". This, however, is not to say that the Pharsalia is devoid of any supernatural phenomenon; in fact, quite the opposite
11782-459: The growth of tragic drama in Europe. His nephew Lucan wrote the Pharsalia (about 60), an epic poem describing the civil war between Caesar and Pompey . The Satyricon (about 60) by Petronius was the first picaresque Latin novel. Only fragments of the complete work survive. It describes the adventures of various low-class characters in absurd, extravagant, and dangerous situations, often in
11919-877: The height of Latin literature has been assigned to the period from 81 BC to AD 17, although recent scholarship has questioned the assumptions that privileged the works of this period over both earlier and later works. This period is usually said to have begun with the first known speech of Cicero and ended with the death of Ovid . Cicero has traditionally been considered the master of Latin prose. The writing he produced from about 80 BC until his death in 43 BC exceeds that of any Latin author whose work survives in terms of quantity and variety of genre and subject matter, as well as possessing unsurpassed stylistic excellence. Cicero's many works can be divided into four groups: (1) letters, (2) rhetorical treatises, (3) philosophical works, and (4) orations. His letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history and offer
12056-450: The horrors of war in careful detail). Because Lucan is on both of the characters' sides whilst also supporting neither, the poem is inherently at war with itself. Furthermore, because Lucan seems to place numerous obstacles before Caesar, he can be seen as opposing Caesar's actions. However, since Lucan still chooses to record them in song, he—being the poet and thus the one who has the final say on what goes into his work—is in some ways waging
12193-589: The island and the worship of Cybele , the great mother-goddess of Anatolia , suggest the cultural continuity of the population from Neolithic times. When the Persian king Cyrus the Great defeated Croesus (546 BC) the Ionic Greek cities of Anatolia and the adjacent islands became Persian subjects and remained such until the Persians were defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis (480 BC). The island
12330-571: The island may date to the late Paleolithic period . Important archaeological sites on the island are the Neolithic cave of Kagiani , probably a refuge for shepherds, the Neolithic settlement of Chalakies , and the extensive habitation of Thermi (3000–1000 BC). The largest habitation is found in Lisvori, dating back to 2800–1900 BC, part of which is submerged in shallow coastal waters. Lesbos
12467-510: The island's tourism industry. In April 2022, the Greek government announced a dedication of €2 million in restoring tourism in Lesbos and four other islands. In October 2022, it was announced that Lesbos would return to the cruise ship industry. Konstantinos Moutzouris, the governor of the North Aegean Region, which Lesbos is under, explained that the region's administration will run a study "in order to develop cruise tourism on
12604-435: The island, with a 67.89% decrease rate from June 2015 to June 2016. 6,841 Europeans on 47 flights arrived in Lesbos during its 2016 tourism season, compared to July the previous year, which saw 18,373 Europeans fly to the island on 130 flights. 94 cruise ships full of tourists arrived in Lesbos in 2011 and only one in 2018. Of the refugee crisis' impact on tourism, Maria Dimitriou, a local shop owner from Mithymna , said, "2015
12741-437: The island. Relations between the two communities were generally good, and Lesbians were often bilingual in both Greek and Ottoman Turkish . During Ottoman rule, the compulsory devshirme system was implemented into the island, where the locals including Muslim landowners and the state representatives negotiated enlisting their teenagers into the Ottoman military by preventing some boys from being levied and sneaking others into
12878-404: The island." The deputy governor of tourism, Nikolaos Nyktas, believed that the cruise industry "suits the island and its culture", while the head of development for the project, Ioannis Bras, said that the island could "offer a lot to the cruise market". In English and most other European languages, including Greek , the term lesbian is commonly used to refer to homosexual women. This use of
13015-733: The island—wealth was apparently concentrated among the Greek Christian bourgeoisie rather than the Muslim community —contributed to the island not taking part in the Greek War of Independence in 1821–1829. During the second half of the 19th century, this prosperity became evident in the construction of large and ornamented mansions and churches; the Muslims followed suit, employing the fashionable Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic styles in their own renovations of their mosques, especially after
13152-770: The leader as indecisive, slow to action, and ultimately ineffective, it does make him the only main character shown to have any sort of "emotional life." What is more, Lucan at times explicitly roots for Pompey. But nevertheless, the leader is doomed in the end. Lucan compares Pompey to a large oak-tree (Book 1, lines 136–43), which is still quite magnificent due to its size but on the verge of tipping over: qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro exuuias ueteris populi sacrataque gestans dona ducum nec iam ualidis radicibus haerens pondere fixa suo est, nudosque per aera ramos effundens trunco, non frondibus, efficit umbram, et quamuis primo nutet casura sub Euro, tot circum siluae firmo se robore tollant, sola tamen colitur. Like in
13289-499: The lengthy siege of Massilia (Marseille). The city ultimately falls in a bloody naval battle. Book 4 : The first half of this book is occupied with Caesar's victorious campaign in Spain against Afranius and Petreius. Switching scenes to Pompey, his forces intercept a raft carrying Caesarians, who prefer to kill each other rather than be taken prisoner. The book concludes with Curio launching an African campaign on Caesar's behalf, where he
13426-400: The levied groups. For example, in the winter between 1603 and 1604, 105 boys were levied from the island and Lesvos was the only Island that the levy was implemented on the levy of this period. Lesbos prospered from trade, and Mytilene was considered the busiest Ottoman port in the Aegean Sea . West European representatives are attested in the city already in 1700, acting as vice-consuls for
13563-656: The literary works produced during his years of power from 27 BC to AD 14. This period is sometimes called the Augustan Age of Latin Literature. Virgil published his pastoral Eclogues , the Georgics , and the Aeneid , an epic poem describing the events that led to the creation of Rome. Virgil told how the Trojan hero Aeneas became the ancestor of the Roman people. Virgil provided divine justification for Roman rule over
13700-448: The loss of liberty. Caesar is especially cruel as he mocks the dying Domitius and forbids cremation of the dead Pompeians. The scene is punctuated by a description of wild animals gnawing at the corpses, and a lament from Lucan for Thessalia, infelix – ill-fated Thessaly. Book 8 : Pompey himself escapes to Lesbos, reunites with his wife, then goes to Cilicia to consider his options. He decides to enlist aid from Egypt, but King Ptolemy
13837-580: The men were either fighting or had died in battle. A statue of a mother cradling her children named the "Statue of the Asia Minor Mother" was donated by the refugees and erected in Mytilene. Twenty years later, during World War II , Nazi Germany conducted an invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia , with both being defeated in 1941 and subsequently divided between the Axis Powers . Lesbos was occupied by Germany until 10 September 1944, when Greece
13974-410: The metaphor of internal discord and allows it to determine the way the story is told by weaving it into the fabric of the poem itself. Masters proposes that Lucan's work is both "Pompeian" (in the sense that it celebrates the memory of Pompey, revels in delay, and decries the horrors of civil war) and "Caesarian" (in the sense that it still recounts Pompey's death, eventually overcomes delay, and describes
14111-555: The most ultimate votive offering – the sacrifice of a person of importance – for example, a tribal leader. The Gundestrup cauldron , found in Denmark, is an outstanding example of Iron Age art and craftsmanship. Experts consider the possibility that the cauldron was made in the lower Danube basin, due to its Thracian-style of metalworking. The internal plates C and E possibly depict the Gaulish deities Taranis and Teutates : Roman literature Latin literature includes
14248-581: The myth of Orpheus to whom Apollo gave a lyre and the Muses taught to play and sing. When Orpheus incurred the wrath of the god Dionysus he was dismembered by the Maenads and of his body parts his head and his lyre found their way to Lesbos where they have "remained" ever since. Pittacus was one of the Seven Sages of Greece . In classical times, Hellanicus advanced historiography and Theophrastus ,
14385-620: The name derives from the Anatolian root "muwa" meaning power, while others have suggested a link to the ancient Greek word μυτίλος ( mytilos ), meaning mussel , or a type thereof. The ending -ene appears to be the common Greek place name suffix ( -enos in masculine ) indicating provenance. The island is also sometimes called the "Island of the Poets", alluding to renowned native poets like Alcaeus and Sappho . Lesbos has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC. The oldest artifacts found on
14522-418: The north; Pharsalia , book 1, lines 444-447. Lucan alludes to the barbaric nature of the Celts , while describing the call-out of troops from Gaul , at the beginning of Caesar's civil war . ..."Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro Teutates, horrensque feris altaribus Hesus, Et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae. – Lucan , Pharsalia , book 1, lines 444-446. The Celts were accused of
14659-523: The outskirts of the city on 19 December, with an attack planned for the following morning. However, Ottoman military commanders approached Syrmakezis with a request for an armistice and Ottoman surrender was finalised on 21 December 1912, a month after the commencement of the battle. Nine Greek troops were killed and 81 were injured during the battle. The following year, the Ottoman Empire denied their previous agreement to cede Lesbos to Greece, until
14796-520: The period. Quintilian composed the most complete work on ancient education that we possess. Important works from the 2nd century include the Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius , a collection of anecdotes and reports of literary discussions among his friends; and the letters of the orator Marcus Cornelius Fronto to Marcus Aurelius . The most famous work of the period was Metamorphoses , also called The Golden Ass , by Apuleius . This novel concerns
14933-412: The pilgrim Egeria . During the Renaissance there was a return to the Latin of classical times, called for this reason Neo-Latin . This purified language continued to be used as the lingua franca among the learned throughout Europe, with the great works of Descartes , Francis Bacon , and Baruch Spinoza all being composed in Latin. Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were
15070-438: The plots and wording of the originals freely. Plautus scattered songs throughout his plays and added to the humor with puns and wisecracks, as well as comic actions by the actors. Terence's plays were more austere in tone, dealing with domestic situations. His works provided the chief inspiration for French and English comedies of the 17th century AD. The prose of the period is best known through On Agriculture (160 BC) by Cato
15207-418: The population by 1874. Mosques were built and fortifications were undertaken during the long Cretan War with Venice. But during the 19th century, the town declined rapidly in importance and number of inhabitants, a decline which continued to modern times. In the mid-18th century, the castle and settlement of Sigri were established to protect the western coast from pirate attacks. The relative prosperity of
15344-533: The refugees. One local told the publication that residents had become "fed up" and "people are angry towards the government and towards Europe: they told us not to worry, the camps won't last. But it's still there", whilst another business owner explained that he had lost a third of his business and "blames all the negative media attention" for the lack of tourists. The Jakarta Post also reported that tourists have increased in numbers in recent years, with 63,000 arriving in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic has also damaged
15481-597: The remainder is scrub , grassland or urban. The island is also one of the best in the world for bird watching. The island has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csa in the Köppen climate classification ). The mean annual temperature is 18 °C (64 °F), and the mean annual rainfall is 750 mm (30 in). Its exceptional sunshine makes it one of the sunniest islands in the Aegean Sea. Snow and very low temperatures are rare. The entire territory of Lesbos
15618-773: The same by the 12th century. During the Middle Ages, Lesbos belonged to the Byzantine Empire . In 802, the Byzantine Empress Irene was exiled to Lesbos after her deposition and died there. The island served as a gathering base for the fleet of the rebel Thomas the Slav in the early 820s. In the late 9th century, it was heavily raided by the Emirate of Crete . As a result, the inhabitants of Eresos abandoned their town and settled in Mount Athos . In
15755-598: The seat of Macar. Hittite records from the Late Bronze Age name the island Lazpa and must have considered its population significant enough to allow the Hittites to "borrow their Gods" (presumably idols) to cure their king when the local gods were not forthcoming. It is believed that emigrants from mainland Greece, mainly from Thessaly , entered the island in the Late Bronze Age and bequeathed it with
15892-673: The speeches found in the text. Lucan also follows the Silver Age custom of punctuating his verse with short, pithy lines or slogans known as sententiae , a rhetorical tactic used to grab the attention of a crowd interested in oratory as a form of public entertainment. Quintilian singles out Lucan as a writer clarissimus sententiis – "most famous for his sententiae ", and for this reason magis oratoribus quam poetis imitandus – "(he is) to be imitated more by orators than poets". His style makes him unusually difficult to read. Finally, in another break with Golden Age literary techniques, Lucan
16029-416: The supernatural is more public, and serves many purposes, including to reflect "Rome's turmoil on the supernatural plane", as well as simply to "contribute to the atmosphere of sinster foreboding" by describing disturbing rituals. According to Jamie Masters, Lucan's Pharsalia is not just a poem about a civil war, but rather in a metaphorical way is a civil war. In other words, he argues that Lucan embraces
16166-530: The term derives from the poems of Sappho , who was born in Lesbos and who wrote with powerful emotional content directed toward other women. Due to this association, the town of Eresos , her birthplace, is visited frequently by LGBT tourists . Lesbos lies in the far east of the Aegean sea, facing the Turkish coast ( Gulf of Edremit ) from the north and east; at the narrowest point, the Mytilini Strait
16303-444: The thunderbolt shot forth by the winds through clouds, accompanied by the crashing of the heavens and sound of shattered ether; it splits the sky and terrifies the panicked people, searing eyes with slanting flame; against its own precincts it rages, and, with nothing solid stopping its course, both as it falls and then returns great is the devastation dealt far and wide before it gathers again its scattered fires. Throughout
16440-480: The tourists" and they "want to remind people of how beautiful" Lesbos is." He advocated for the European Union to help in advertising and also said, "The economy is still paying the impact of the crisis. It will need time and money to change this image." Lesbos is also a hotspot for Dutch tourists and one Dutch tourist said that tourism had halted because people "did not feel like seeing all this misery" of
16577-466: The unconventional premises of its subject-matter: evil without alternative, contradiction without compromise, civil war without end". The poem is popularly known as the Pharsalia , largely due to lines 985–986 in Book 9, which read, Pharsalia nostra / Vivet ("Our Pharsalia shall live on"). However, many scholars, such as J. D. Duff and Braund, note that this is a recent name given to the work, and that
16714-426: The volcanic activity covered the vegetation of the area and the fossilization process took place during favourable conditions. The fossilized plants are silicified remnants of a sub-tropical forest that existed on the northwest part of the island 20–15 million years ago. Twelve historic churches on the island were listed together on the 2008 World Monuments Fund 's Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in
16851-582: The war himself. Ultimately, Masters refers to the binary opposition that he sees throughout the entire poem as Lucan's "schizophrenic poetic persona". Though the Pharsalia is an historical epic, it would be wrong to think Lucan is only interested in the details of history itself. As one commentator has pointed out, Lucan is more concerned "with the significance of events rather than the events themselves." ..."And those who pacify with blood accursed Savage Teutates , Hesus ' horrid shrines, And Taranis ' altars, cruel as were those Loved by Diana, goddess of
16988-519: The way. The book closes with panic in the city, terrible portents and visions of the disaster to come. Book 2 : In a city overcome by despair, an old veteran presents a lengthy interlude regarding the previous civil war that pitted Marius against Sulla . Cato the Younger is introduced as a heroic man of principle; as abhorrent as civil war is, he argues to Brutus that it is better to fight than do nothing. After siding with Pompey—the lesser of two evils—he remarries his ex-wife, Marcia , and heads to
17125-513: The work to which the Pharsalia is most naturally compared. Lucan frequently appropriates ideas from Virgil's epic and "inverts" them to undermine their original, heroic purpose. Sextus' visit to the Thracian witch Erichtho provides an example; the scene and language clearly reference Aeneas' descent into the underworld (also in Book VI), but while Virgil's description highlights optimism toward
17262-518: The works of Swedenborg (d. 1772), Linnaeus (d. 1778), Euler (d. 1783), Gauss (d. 1855), and Isaac Newton (d. 1727), and Latin remains a necessary skill for modern readers of great early modern works of linguistics, literature, and philosophy. Several of the leading English poets wrote in Latin as well as English. Milton's 1645 Poems are one example, but there were also Thomas Campion , George Herbert and Milton's colleague Andrew Marvell . Some indeed wrote chiefly in Latin and were valued for
17399-841: The world of petty crime. Epic poems included the Argonautica of Gaius Valerius Flaccus , following the story of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece, the Thebaid of Statius , following the conflict of Oedipus's sons and the Seven Against Thebes, and the Punica of Silius Italicus , following the Second Punic War and the invasions of Hannibal into Italy. At the hands of Martial ,
17536-522: The world. Although Virgil died before he could put the finishing touches on his poem, it was soon regarded as the greatest work of Latin literature. Virgil's friend Horace wrote Epodes , Odes , Satires , and Epistles . The perfection of the Odes in content, form, and style has charmed readers for hundreds of years. The Satires and Epistles discuss ethical and literary problems in an urbane, witty manner. Horace's Art of Poetry , probably published as
17673-580: The world. The churches date from the Early Christian Period to the 19th century. Exposure to the elements, outmoded conservation methods, and increased tourism are all threats to the structures. The following are the 12 churches: Lesbos is a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region. Since 2019, it consists of two municipalities : Mytilene and West Lesbos . Between the 2011 Kallikratis government reform and 2019, there
17810-412: Was a very good year for tourism and then, suddenly they started to arrive. The refugees began arriving in mid-July, when the hotels were full of tourists. There were refugees everywhere, lying down with all their trash. And after this, tourism stopped." In 2019, the head of the Lesbos chamber of commerce, Vangelis Mirsinias, told The Jakarta Post that the island's administration is trying to "woo back
17947-582: Was begun around AD 61 and several books were in circulation before the Emperor Nero and Lucan had a bitter falling out. Lucan continued to work on the epic – despite Nero's prohibition against any publication of Lucan's poetry – and it was left unfinished when Lucan was compelled to suicide as part of the Pisonian conspiracy in AD 65. In total, ten books were written and all survive; the tenth book breaks off abruptly with Caesar in Egypt. Book 1 : After
18084-679: Was considered among the ranks of Homer and Virgil. Lucan emphasizes the despair of his topic in the poem's first seven lines (the same length as the opening to Virgil's Aeneid ): Bella per Emathios plus quam civilia campos iusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem in sua victrici conversum viscera dextra cognatasque acies, et rupto foedere regni certatum totis concussi viribus orbis in commune nefas, infestisque obvia signis signa, pares aquilas et pila minantia pilis. Wars worse than civil on Emathian plains, and crime let loose we sing; how Rome's high race plunged in her vitals her victorious sword; armies akin embattled, with
18221-626: Was governed by an oligarchy in archaic times , followed by quasi-democracy in classical times . Around this time, Arion developed the type of poem called dithyramb , the progenitor of tragedy, and Terpander invented the seven-note musical scale for the lyre. For a short period it was a member of the Athenian confederacy , its apostasy from which is recounted by Thucydides in the Mytilenian Debate , in Book III of his History of
18358-490: Was liberated. The poet Odysseus Elytis , the descendant of an old family of Lesbos, received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1979. Lesbos is known to be one of the Greek island touristic hotspots, especially during its tourism season of April, May, June and July. Mytilene airport management recorded 47,379 tourists visiting Lesbos in its 2015 tourism season. The refugee crisis has since slowed down tourism to
18495-413: Was one single municipality on the island: Lesbos, created out of the 13 former municipalities on the island. At the same reform, the regional unit Lesbos was created out of part of the former Lesbos Prefecture . The municipality of Mytilene consists of the following municipal units (former municipalities): The municipality of West Lesbos consists of the following municipal units: The economy of Lesbos
18632-634: Was the language of the ancient Romans as well as being the lingua franca of Western and Central Europe throughout the Middle Ages . Latin literature features the work of Roman authors, such as Cicero , Virgil , Ovid and Horace , but also includes the work of European writers after the fall of the Empire; from religious writers like Aquinas (1225–1274), to secular writers like Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), and Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Although literature in Latin followed
18769-475: Was the largest of the refugee camps and held twice as many people as it was designed to accommodate. By May 2020, Moria had 17,421 refugees living there. On 9 September 2020, thousands of migrants fled from the overcrowded Moria camp after a fire broke out. At least 25 firefighters, with 10 engines, were battling the flames both inside and outside the facility. A smaller-scale facility, the Pikpa camp catered for
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