Week 5 AGORA Flashcards
Agora date (2009 film)
C AD 415
Location where Agora takes place
Alexandria in Egypt (Cyrene is important too)
Emperor Hadrian
Emperor in the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty who started the Greek style beard (strong and stable rule meaning, trying to similar)
Date of assassination of Commodus and outcomes
AD 192, another civil war begins after his death between competing generals
- Septimius severus wins the battle and gets the throne and establishes the Severan Dynasty
Severan Dynasty
- adopts Marcus Aurelius as his FATHER
- Septimius Severus (AD 193 - 211)
- Geta (AD 209 - 211) [murdered by by his brother after what was meant to be a joint-rule]
- Caracalla (AD 209 - 217)
- Macrinus (AD 217 - 218)
- Elgabalus (AD 218 - 222)
- Severus Alexander (AD 222 - 235)
Painted Tondo of AD 199 showing Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna and their sons Caracalla & Geta
Object that had an individuals face obliterated because he was condemned to damnatio memoriae by his brother after his murder
AD 235 - 284 (crisis of the 3rd)
Time where there are several short term kings, territory becomes too big and constant battles infringing on all sides, as well as inside
- Sasanians pressing in on the East and the Germanic on the north
- Generals begin to rebel against the rest of the nations on the inside for power in Gaul, etc
- Emperor Diocletian (Ruled AD 284 - 305)
Emperor Diocletian
- Individual who restored stable rule by forming the tetrarchy, a co-ruler and two juniors
- Began the persecution of the Christians
- Reformed the administration and military
- Controlled prices and stabilized coinage
AD 324 Constantine and Constantinople (Modern day Istanbul)
Indivdiual defeats his co-rulers and moves the capital to Constantinople
- First emperor to convert to Christianity after claiming God helped him during a battle at the battle of Milvian
- Stopped persecution of Christians in Edict in Milan
- Ruled with co-partner ruler Licinius for a while, then defeats him in AD 234
- When the individual dies, his sons take over the throne
Theodosius I (Ruled in AD 379 - 395)
- Emperor who made Christianity the state religion and bans the Pagans from worshipping their gods
- splits the empire into two parts at the end of his reign to pass on to his sons, Pars occidentalis (west), and Pars Orientis (East)
Date of the “fall of the western roman empire” and the sack of Constantinople
- 5th C AD for the fall of the Western roman empire
- Eastern Roman empire become the Byzantine empire and perishes in 1453 AD
History of Alexandria
- Alexander the great conquers Alexandria
- Rule passes to Ptolemy
- Cleopatra, efewted by Octavian
- Library of Alexandria and the Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria on coins
- Serapeum temple to worship Serapis
Serapis
Mix of Greek and Egyptian gods into one new god
- Mix of Orsiris and Apis in animal form but also resembles Zeus, Poseidon, Hades)
Hypatia in history
- Neoplatonist philosopher who taught ,Mathematics in Alexandria and the daughter of Theon (none of her works survive)
- details of her work come from a few sources ( Letters of Sunesius, Bishop of Cyrene [one of her pupils])
- Was not a christian herself
Christian Bishops in history
- Patriarch Theophilus (later saint) of Alexandria and the destruction of the Serapeum
- He goes around provoking riots, mocking other temples, appeals to the emperor Theodosius who allows him to destroy the temple
- Serapeum was destroyed in AD 391
- When Theophilus dies, Cyril takes over and he expelled the jews and challenges roman prefect of Alexandria Orestes
Orestes in history
- Vicious in punishment for those who defy him
- Refuses to kneel to Cyril’s authority (got a rock thrown at him by a guy named Ammonius, ammonius gets killed)
- takes advice from Hypatia but loses control of Alexandria to Cyril
Death of Hypatia in history
- She was in her 50s to her 60s
- Murdered by Christian mob in AD 415
- Probably part of the political feud between Orestes and Cyril
Continuation of the epic tradition
- Quotations from Cleopatra (Because it is Egypt)
- on-screen text
- lavish sets (looked like ancient egypt based of archeological roman remains) /costumes (outfits made from actual mummy portraits) /music
- expensive set build (same place as gladiator, Troy) [NOT CGI]
Inaccuracies in the film versus reality in Agora
- wrong period of military dress (seeing 1st C BC wear rather than appropriate 4th-5th C AD outfits)
- the library of Alexandria mixed with a Serapeum complex (the library had already been destroyed by then)
- the library gets chipped away by lack of funds, conquerors, fires, and it eventually gone by the 3rd C AD
- Hypatia in film is young, beautiful, exceptional but reality was old, a teacher, not that exceptional (adds flavor, better story and narrative) but at least she’s a virgin and rejects men
Hypatia false facts
- woman who found out that the sun is the center
- discovers gravity with the boat and the weight
- the elliptical movement of the planets, discovered it moved in an ellipse
Commentary context
- film made after 9/11
- seems the Christianity individuals as Islamic dark colors = bad
- Pagans as white robes and civilized
- All religions are criticized, film about the horrors of religious fundamentalisms
