Arête in the Roman Culture

The Romans borrowed many things from the Greeks, whether it be their architecture, their Gods, or their sense of honor.  To the Greeks, this was known as “Arête”.  The Romans called it Virtus, meaning virtue.  To the Romans, this meant strength and manliness in all facets of life.  Virtus could be gained or lost.  Virtus could be gained through great works, such as building an amphitheater, or your gladiator besting another gladiator in combat. The case of gladiatorial combat is especially true, and upper class citizens would hand pick and train gladiators in order to gain virtus.

Virtus too, could be gained via combat in battle and war.  This helped in filling the army with potential candidates, all willing to gain virtus, since this would raise their stature in life.  If a Senator was able to equip a personal army with armor and arms, and they were to win at battle, than both he and his army would gain virtus.  This was a way for prominent upper class citizens to gain honor. Just as virtus could be gained, so could it be lost.  An army losing caused a loss of virtus, and therefore stature and standing.  Political careers could be ruined if one lost enough virtus.

The Mighty Ziggurat of Ur

An idea born in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians, ziggurats were multi-tiered structures that were home to their most precious shrines and acted as living quarters for the priests that served the gods. The most impressive of the ziggurats is the "Ziggurat of Ur" an enormous structure built in 21st century B.C.E. and still stands today, mostly intact.

The Ziggurat of Ur Today

The ancient people of Ur named the ziggurat "Etemennigur" which roughly means "House whose foundation creates terror," There is no doubt that this temple has such a foundation. If you study the picture you can see small window-like hole perforating the base, they are termed "weeping holes" that provide the ziggurat with a means to drain rain and flood water, ensuring a temple that could stand the test of time.  More impressive is that the whole thing is constructed of mud-bricks as there was not much stone to be found in the fertile crescent. Compared to Egypt's pyramids of limestone
 it's impressive that such a structure could survive as long made of clay. This drew the attention of a king 2,500 years later.

The highest tier, now destroyed, was home to the sacred temple

Near the end of the Neo-Babylonian empire in 6th century AD, a restoration of the ziggurat went underway helmed by King Nabonidus. With the base left, the empire tried to rebuild the upper tiers to restore it to its former glory, however, as there was no blueprint or any surviving information of it's architecture surviving, they had little to work with. They eventually made the Ziggurat of Ur seven tiered instead of what archeologists believe was only three tiered. These tiers were also destroyed by time leaving it's seemingly indestructible foundation behind.

A sketch of what the ziggurat might have looked like. Drawn in 1930 by Leonard Woolley.

By Jonathan R.