A candelabrum is a large and ornamental candlestick, often of a branched form. Ancient candelabra frequently display much ingenious and artistic treatment in the design, and the branches were often numerous. Marble and other materials, as well as metal, were employed. Research Candelabrum
A Cinerary urn is an urn in which the ashes of the dead were deposited after the body was burned. Many Greek and Roman urns are in a high style of art, and are formed of marble, glass, or potteryware. Research Cinerary Urn
Florentine Work is a kind of mosaic work, consisting of precious stones and pieces of white and coloured marble, which has long been produced in Florence. It is applied to jewellery, and used for table tops, etc. Research Florentine Work
Originally, a sarcophagus was a stone coffin manufactured from stone quarried at Assos in the Troad. It was popularly believed that the coffin would consume the body placed within it within forty days. Later the term came to be applied to any stone coffin. In ancient Egypt many stone coffins were made from limestone, basalt, marble or granite. Granite chiefly being used for the bodies of royalty and priests. Research Sarcophagus
The Marble Gall Wasp (Andricus kollari) is a hymenopterous insect of the family Cynipidae common in central, southern and western Europe, and less common but found in the British Isles, North Africa and Asia Minor. Research Marble Gall Wasp
Rosewood is a type of tree found in South America, the West Indies and in India. The timber of the rosewood tree is brown, red-brown or dark brown in colour with a striped grain reminiscent of marble, and is much used in veneering furniture. Research Rosewood
Alessandro Algardi was an Italian sculptor. He was born in 1602 and died in 1654. He was one of the chief Italian sculptors of the seventeenth century and lived and worked chiefly at Borne. He executed the tomb of Leo XI in St. Peter's, and a marblerelief with life-size figures over the altar of St Leo there. Research Alessandro Algardi
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor. He was born in 1757 at Possagno, in Venetian territory and died in 1822. He was first an apprentice to a statuary in Bassano, from whom he went to the Academy of Venice, where he had a brilliant career. In 1779 he was sent by the senate of Venice to Rome with a salary of 300 ducats, and there produced his Theseus and the Slain Minotaur. In 1783 Antonio Canova undertook the execution of the tomb of Pope Clement XIV in the Church of the Apostles, a work in the Bernini manner, and inferior to his second public monument the tomb of Pope Clement XIII (1792) in St Peter's.
From 1783 his fame rapidly increased. He established a school for the benefit of young Venetians, and amongst other works produced his group of Venus and Adonis, the Psyche and Butterfly, a Repentant Magdalene, the well-known Hebe, the colossalHerculeshurling Lichas into the Sea, the Pugilists, and the group of Cupid and Psyche. In 1796 and 1797 Antonio Canova finished the model of the celebrated tomb of the Archduchess Christina of Austria, and in 1797 made the colossal model of a statue of the King of Naples executed in marble in 1803. He afterwards executed in Rome his Perseus with the Head of Medusa, which, when the BelvidereApollo was carried to France, was thought not unworthy of its place and pedestal.
In 1802 he was invited by Bonaparte to Paris to make the model of his colossal statue. Among the later works of the artist are a colossalGeorge Washington, the tombs of the Cardinal of York and of Pius VII; a Venus Rising from the Bath; the colossal group of Theseus Killing the Minotaur; the tomb of Alfieri; the Graces Rising from the Bath; a Dancing Girl; a colossalHector; a Paris, etc. After the second fall of Napoleon, in 1815, Antonio Canova was commissioned by the pope to demand the restoration of the works of art carried from Rome. He went from Paris to London, and returned to Rome in 1816, where he was made Marquis of Ischia, with a pension of 3000 scudi. Research Antonio Canova
Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus originally called Caius Octavius,was a Roman Emperor. He was born in63 BC and died in 14 AD. He was the son of Caius Octavius and Atia, a daughter of Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar. Octavius was at Apollonia, in Epirus, when he received news of the death of his uncle in 44 BC, who had previously adopted him as his son. He returned to Rome to claim Caesar's property and avenge his death, and now took, according to usage, his uncle's name with the surname Octavianus. He was aiming secretly at the chief power, but at first he joined the republican party, and assisted at the defeat of Antony at Mutina. He got himself chosen consul in 43. Soon after the first triumvirate was formed between him and Antony and Lepidus, and this was followed by the conscription and assassination of three hundred senators and two thousand knights of the party opposed to the triumvirate. Next year Octavianus and Antony defeated the republican army under Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.
The victors now divided the Roman world between them, Octavianus getting the West, Antony the East, and Lepidus Africa. Sextus Pompeius, who had made himself formidable at sea, had now to be put down; and Lepidus, who had hitherto retained an appearance of power, was deprived of all authority in 36 BC and retired into private life. Antony and Octavianus now shared the empire between them; but while the former, in the East, gave himself up to a life of luxury, and alienated the Romans by his alliance with Cleopatra and his adoption of Oriental manners, Octavianus skilfully cultivated popularity, and soon declared war ostensibly against the Queen of Egypt. The naval victory of Actium, in which the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra was defeated, made Octavianus master of the world, in 31 BC. He returned to Rome in 29 BC, celebrated a splendid triumph, and caused the temple of Janus to be closed in token of peace being restored. Gradually all the highest offices of state, civil and religious, were united in his hands, and the new title of Augustus was also assumed by him, being formally conferred by the senate in 27 BC. Great as was the power given to him, he exercised it with wise moderation, and kept up the show of a republican form of government.
Under him successful wars were carried on in Africa and Asia (against the Parthians), in Gaul and Spain, in Pannonia, Dalmatia, etc; but the defeat of Varus by the Germans under Armmius with the loss of three legions, in 9 AD, was a great blow to him in his old age. Many useful decrees proceeded from him, and various abuses were abolished. He gave a new form to the senate, employed himself in improving the morals of the people, enacted laws for the suppression of luxury, introduced discipline into the armies, and order into the games of the circus. He adorned Rome in such a manner that it was said, ' He found it of brick, and left it of marble.' The people erected altars to him, and, by a decree of the senate, the month Sextilis was called Augustus (our August). He was a patron of literature; Virgil and Horace were befriended by him, and their works and those of their contemporaries are the glory of the Augustan Age. His death, which took place at Nola, plunged the empire into the greatest grief. He was thrice married, but had no son, and was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius, whose mother Livia he had married after prevailing on her husband to divorce her. Research Augustus
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Candelabrum
