Crossword clues for lustrum
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lustrum \Lus"trum\, n.; pl. E. Lustrums, L. Lustra. [L. Cf. 2d & 3d Luster.] A lustration or purification, especially the purification of the whole Roman people, which was made by the censors once in five years. Hence: A period of five years.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
(plural lustra), "purification of the Roman people every five years," 1580s, from Latin lustrum, perhaps from root of luere "to wash," related to lavere (see lave). Or [Watkins, Klein] from PIE *leuk-stro-, from base *leuk- "light, brightness."
Wiktionary
n. 1 (qualifier: Roman religion) A lustration or ceremonial purification of all the ancient Roman people, performed every five years, after the taking of the census. 2 A period of five years.
WordNet
n. a period of five years
a ceremonial purification of the Roman population every five years following the census
Wikipedia
A lustrum (, plural lustra) was a term for a five-year period in Ancient Rome.
The lustration was originally a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors in the name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the census. The sacrifice was often in the form of an animal sacrifice, known as a suovetaurilia.
These censuses were taken at five-year intervals, thus a lustrum came to refer to the five-year inter-census period. Lustrum (from luo, Gr. λούω) is a lustration or purification of the whole Roman people performed by one of the censors in the Campus Martius, after the taking of the census was over. As this purification took place only once in five years, the word lustrum was also used to designate the time between two lustra.
The first lustrum was performed in 566 BC by King Servius, after he had completed his census, and afterwards it is said to have taken place regularly every five years after the census was over. In the earliest period of the republic, the business of the census and the solemnities of the lustrum were performed by the consuls. The first censors were appointed in 443 BC, and from this year down to 294 BC there had, according to Livy (X.47), only been 26 pairs of censors, and only 21 lustra, or general purifications, although if all had been regular, there would have been 30 pairs of censors and 30 lustra. Sometimes the census was not held at all, or at least not by the censors. The census might take place without the lustrum, and indeed two cases of this kind are recorded, in 459 and 214 BC. In these cases, the lustrum was not performed because of some great calamities that had befallen the republic.
The time when the lustrum took place has been calculated. Six ancient Romulian years, of 304 days each, were, with the difference of two days, equal to five solar years of 365 days each, with one leap year of 366 days; or the six ancient years made 1824 days, while the five solar years contained 1826 days. The lustrum, or the great year of the ancient Romans, was thus a cycle, at the end of which, the beginning of the ancient year nearly coincided with that of the solar year. As the coincidence, however, was not perfect, a month of 24 days was interposed in every eleventh lustrum. It is highly probable that the recurrence of such a cycle or great year was, from the earliest times, solemnized with sacrifices and purifications, and that King Servius did not introduce them, but merely connected them with his census, and thus set the example for subsequent ages, which however, as we have seen, was not observed with regularity.
The last lustrum was solemnized at Rome, in AD 74, in the reign of Vespasian.
The word should not be confused with the identically spelled, but differently pronounced, lustrum , a haunt of wild beasts, plural lustra , a den of vice.
Lustrum (US: Conspirata; 2009) is a historical novel by British author Robert Harris. It is the sequel to Imperium and the middle volume of a trilogy about the life of Cicero (106–43 BC). For its 2010 release in the United States, and Italy, it was retitled Conspirata.
The book continues in the format of the first novel, with the story told in the first-person from the point of view of Cicero's secretary Tiro. It follows on immediately from Imperium, starting with the beginning of Cicero's consulship and ending with his exile as a result of the enmity of Clodius.
The novel was shortlisted for the 2010 Walter Scott Prize.
Lustrum (plural lustra) was a term for a five-year period in Ancient Rome.
Lustrum may also refer to:
- Lustrum (novel), a novel by Robert Harris in his trilogy about Cicero
- Lustrum (celebration): in the Netherlands, it is customary for universities and student organisations to celebrate each fifth anniversary. Such a celebration is called a Lustrum.
Usage examples of "lustrum".
And yet I felt quite happy, in spite of the tenth lustrum so near at hand for me.
I was particularly unfortunate with Jeannie Graham, who died in the first lustrum, leaving neither chick nor chiel behind her.
But already, though he did not know it, he was suffering from a disease of the heart, which cut short his life after little more than a lustrum of quiet contentment.
Thus all, or nearly all, the poems ranged under that title, are, as he said -- Relics of the time when I too fared Across the sweet fifth lustrum of my days.
Make the companion of an idle hour These relics of the time when I too fared Across the sweet fifth lustrum of my days.
There were other, happier journeys the family shared during the lustrum spent by Celia with International Sales.
Pillars of Woe and twenty miles closer to Menzoberranzan, Nimor stood in the shadows at the mouth of the Lustrum, a wondrously rich mithral mine.
The Lustrum stood between the army of Gracklstugh and the army of Kaanyr Vhok.
Garret had his girl wife at Otter, and very sunny her existence was for the lustrum of that honeymoon.
Poona, summer government headquarters, depot for artillery, cavalry and favored infantry, sick-and-short-leave station--second-class Simla, as it were, where the pale-faced men and women who have bridled the rising Eastern peril meet once in a lustrum and exchange remarks, was the same after the war as before it.
Bologna have had from Otto Agenius Lustrulanus, whom Mondino had used as an assiduous prosector, if he had not been taken away by a swift and lamentable death before he had completed the sixth lustrum of his life!
I was particularly unfortunate with Jeannie Graham, who died in the first lustrum, leaving neither chick nor chiel behind her.
There were other, happier journeys the family shared during the lustrum spent by Celia with International Sales.
And she liked Lustra, who’d been a good neighbor and friend to both of them.
And she liked Lustra, who'd been a good neighbor and friend to both of them.