SPQR
SPQR (also: SPQR ) is the abbreviation for the Latin S enatus P opulus q ue R omanus (" Senate and people of Rome" or "the (Roman) Senate and the Roman people"). This lettering was the emblem of ancient Rome and can still be found today as a motto in the city's coat of arms. The legions of the Roman Empire carried it on their standards . In Rome, many tablets, manhole covers, garbage cans and public institutions are provided with these four letters.
translation
Literally translated, Senatus Populusque Romanus actually means the (Roman) Senate and the entirety of the Roman estates. Since populus originally referred to Rome only referred to the patricians and only later referred to the totality of all estates, the head of which was the Senate, the connection senatus populusque was established. It is usually understood as Hendiadyoin and the associated finite verb is then in the singular . It appears in various variations, for example in the form et senatus et populus Romanus in Cicero or incidentally without Romanus in the phrase senatus populusque in Livius . Even if rarely, the reverse compositions can be identified: populus et senatus Romanus, populus Romanus et senatus, populus Romanus senatusque, populus et senatus or as populus senatusque Romanus in the oldest Latin inscription outside of Italy. Since there was only one Senate for the Romans, the explicit designation as "Roman" Senate in the translation is often omitted. However, the above-mentioned translation according to German grammar is permissible and also correct and is used more often in this form.
Meaning and variations
The SPQR expresses the distribution of power in the Roman Republic between the Senate, representing the aristocracy, and the people: Both are sovereign . SPQR thus became an abbreviation for a republican form of government and - more generally - an expression of civic pride .
In many city-states, the abbreviation SPQR has therefore been modified to refer to their own city, for example SPQR appears in the coat of arms of the former imperial city of Weil der Stadt or in the old town hall of Regensburg . The letters S. P. Q. L. ( Lubecensis ) are on the Holsten Gate in Lübeck , and the letters S. P. Q. N. ( Norimbergensis ) are on the Charles Bridge in Nuremberg . The coat of arms of the Hanseatic City of Stade shows a band with S · P · Q · ST ( Stadensis ). At the Bremen Town Hall , the letter S. P. Q. B. (are Bremensis ) attached. In the City Hall of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , the letters S. P. Q. H. ( Hamburgensis ) are found in many places . Also in Palermo there are B. the lettering S. P. Q. P. ( Palermitanus ) on manhole covers .
Satirical use
S. P. Q. R. is also jokingly interpreted as " S ono P azzi Q uesti R omani" (The spiders, the Romans). The Italian translator Marcello Marchesi has reproduced the sentence Ils sont fous ces Romains by the comic figure Obelix .
In the film The Roman Cannon (which has the abbreviation SPQR in the original title), Massimo Boldi calls out , pursued by Roman soldiers, " S ono P orci Q uesti R omani" - "These Romans are pigs".
S. P. Q. R. - R. Q. P. S. also: “ S apete P iù o meno Q uanto R ubiamo? - R ubiamo Q uanto P ossiamo S enza parole "(German:" Do you know roughly how much we steal - We steal as much as we possibly can, without saying anything ").
The Romans themselves counter such jokes with the interpretation " S ono P otenti Q uesti R omani" (translated: "These Romans are pretty powerful").
In the age of denominational conflict, SPQR was a popular acronym for anyone who wanted to mock Rome (the papacy and the Catholic Church ): S tultus P opulus Q uaerit R omam - A foolish people who aspire to Rome (anonymous, London 1606 ).
According to a Vatican anecdote , Pope John XXIII asked . in a conversation with a bishop, what the SPQR means on the papal coat of arms, read backwards, and answered the question with " R ideo Q uia P apa S um" ("I laugh because I am Pope").
literature
- Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp : Senatus Populusque Romanus. The political culture of the republic - dimensions and interpretations. Steiner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-515-08594-7 , pp. 257-280.
- Dieter Janssen: Just, holy and civilizing wars. Legitimation of the war and the significance of enemy images in the Anglo-Saxon world of the early modern period, approx. 1550–1650 (= series of publications studies on historical research in the modern era. Vol. 39). Kovac, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-8300-1610-7 (also: Saarbrücken, University, dissertation, 2004).
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Karl Ernst Georges : populus 1 B 1b . In: Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary . Volume 2. Hannover 1913, reprint Darmstadt 1998, Sp. 1783.
- ^ Sallust , De bello Iugurthino 41, 2.
- ^ Vitruvius 1st praefatio 1st
- ↑ Livy 7:31 , 10; 24, 37, 7; 29, 21, 7.
- ↑ Arnobius 4, 35.
- ↑ CIL 01, 00614 .
- ^ Karl Ernst Georges: Senatus . In: Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary . Volume 2. Hannover 1913, reprint Darmstadt 1998, Sp. 2597.
- ^ Dieter Janssen: Just, holy and civilizing wars. Legitimation of war and the importance of enemy images in the Anglo-Saxon world of the early modern period, approx. 1550–1650. Hamburg 2004, p. 343.