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Roman

Roman Ro"man, a. [L. Romanus, fr. Roma Rome: cf. F. romain. Cf. Romaic, Romance, Romantic.] 1. Of or pertaining to Rome, or the Roman people; like or characteristic of Rome, the Roman people, or things done by Romans; as, Roman fortitude; a Roman aqueduct; Roman art. [1913 Webster]

2. Of or pertaining to the Roman Catholic religion; professing that religion. [1913 Webster]

3. (Print.) (a) Upright; erect; -- said of the letters or kind of type ordinarily used, as distinguished from Italic characters. (b) Expressed in letters, not in figures, as I., IV., i., iv., etc.; -- said of numerals, as distinguished from the Arabic numerals, 1, 4, etc. [1913 Webster]

{Roman alum} (Chem.), a cubical potassium alum formerly obtained in large quantities from Italian alunite, and highly valued by dyers on account of its freedom from iron.

{Roman balance}, a form of balance nearly resembling the modern steelyard. See the Note under Balance, n., 1.

{Roman candle}, a kind of firework (generally held in the hand), characterized by the continued emission of shower of sparks, and the ejection, at intervals, of brilliant balls or stars of fire which are thrown upward as they become ignited.

{Roman Catholic}, of, pertaining to, or the religion of that church of which the pope is the spiritual head; as, a Roman Catholic priest; the Roman Catholic Church.

{Roman cement}, a cement having the property of hardening under water; a species of hydraulic cement.

{Roman law}. See under Law.

{Roman nose}, a nose somewhat aquiline.

{Roman ocher}, a deep, rich orange color, transparent and durable, used by artists. --Ure.

{Roman order} (Arch.), the composite order. See Composite, a., 2. [1913 Webster]

Roman Ro"man, n. 1. A native, or permanent resident, of Rome; a citizen of Rome, or one upon whom certain rights and privileges of a Roman citizen were conferred. [1913 Webster]

2. Roman type, letters, or print, collectively; -- in distinction from Italics. [1913 Webster]

Roman calendar Roman calendar The calendar of the ancient Romans, from which our modern calendars are derived. It is said to have consisted originally of ten months, Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December, having a total of 304 days. Numa added two months, Januarius at the beginning of the year, and Februarius at the end, making in all 355 days. He also ordered an intercalary month, Mercedinus, to be inserted every second year. Later the order of the months was changed so that January should come before February. Through abuse of power by the pontiffs to whose care it was committed, this calendar fell into confusion. It was replaced by the Julian calendar. In designating the days of the month, the Romans reckoned backward from three fixed points, the calends, the nones, and the ides. The calends were always the first day of the month. The ides fell on the 15th in March, May, July (Quintilis), and October, and on the 13th in other months. The nones came on the eighth day (the ninth, counting the ides) before the ides. Thus, Jan. 13 was called the ides of January, Jan. 12, the day before the ides, and Jan. 11, the third day before the ides (since the ides count as one), while Jan. 14 was the 19th day before the calends of February. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

to spanish

Roman [roum?n] romano
romano.idoneos.com romano
romano.idoneos.com romano
romano.idoneos.com romano
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to french

Roman [roum?n] Romain
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Romain
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to french

Roman Empire [roum?nempai?r] Empire romain
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to deutch

roman [roum?n?klef] Römer
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Roman [roum?n] römisch
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roman a clef [roum?n?klef] Schlüsselroman
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Roman numeral [roum?nnju?m?r?l] römische Ziffer
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to italian

Roman romano
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romano
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to latin

Roman [roum?n] Romanus
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Romanus
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Bible Dictionary

Roman

The first historic mention of Rome in the Bible is in 1 Macc.1:10, about the year 161 B.C. in the year 65 B.C., when Syriawas made a Roman province by Pompey, the Jews were stillgoverned by one of the Asmonaean princes. The next yearPompey himself marched an army into Judea and took Jerusalem.From this time the Jews were practically under the governmentof Rome. Finally, Antipater s son Herod the Great was madeking by Antony s interest, B.C. 40, and confirmed in thekingdom by Augustus, B.C. 30. The Jews, however, were allthis time tributaries of Rome, and their princes in realitywere Roman procurators, On the banishment of Archelaus, A.D.6, Judea became a mere appendage of the province of Syria,and was governed by a Roman procurator, who resided atCaesarea. Such were the relations of the Jewish people to theRoman government at the time when the New Testament historybegins.

Extent of the empire

Cicero s description of the Greekstates and colonies as a "fringe on the skirts of barbarism"has been well applied to the Roman dominions before theconquests of Pompey and Caesar. The Roman empire was stillconfined to a narrow strip encircling the Mediterranean Sea.Pompey added Asia Minor and Syria. Caesar added Gaul. Thegenerals of Augustus overran the northwest Portion of Spainand the country between the Alps and the Danube. Theboundaries of the empire were now the Atlantic on the west,the Euphrates on the east, the deserts of Africa, thecataracts of the Nile and the Arabian deserts on the south,the British Channel, the Rhine, the Danube and the Black Seaon the north. The only subsequent conquests of importancewere those of Britain by Claudius and of Dacia by Trajan. Theonly independent powers of importance were the Parthians onthe east and the Germans on the north. The population of theempire in the time of Augustus has been calculated at85,000,000.

The provinces

The usual fate of a country conquered byRome was to be come a subject province, governed directlyfrom Rome by officers sent out for that purpose. Sometimes,however, petty sovereigns were left in possession of anominal independence on the borders or within the naturallimits of the province. Augustus divided the provinces intotwo classes-- (1) Imperial; (2) Senatorial; retaining in hisown hands, for obvious reasons, those provinces where thepresence of a large military force was necessary, andcommitting the peaceful and unarmed provinces to the senate.The New Testament writers invariably designate the governorsof senatorial provinces by the correct title anthupatoi,proconsuls. (acts 13:7; 18:12; 19:38) For the governor of animperial province, properly styled "legatus Caesaris," theword hegemon (governor) is used in the New Testament. Theprovinces were heavily taxed for the benefit of Rome and hercitizens. They are said to have been better governed underthe empire than under the commonwealth, and those of theemperor better than those of the senate.

The condition of the Roman empire at the time whenChristianity appeared has often been dwelt upon as affordingobvious illustrations of St. Paul s expression that the"fullness of time had come." (galatians 4:4) The generalpeace within the limits of the empire the formation ofmilitary roads, the suppression of piracy, the march of thelegions, the voyages of the corn fleets, the general increase of traffic, the spread of the Latin language in theWest as Greek had already spread in the East, the externalunity of the empire, offered facilities hitherto unknown forthe spread of a world-wide religion. The tendency, too, ofdespotism like that of the Roman empire to reduce all itssubjects to a dead level was a powerful instrument inbreaking down the pride of privileged races and nationalreligious, and familiarizing men with the truth that "God hadmade of one blood all nations on the face of the earth."(acts 17:24,26) Put still more striking than this outwardpreparation for the diffusion of the gospel was theappearance of a deep and wide-spread corruption, which seemedto defy any human remedy.