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Authors: Lois H. Gresh
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, Rome
Doomsday predictions were prevalent in ancient Rome as far back as the legends of Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC. Twelve magic eagles informed Romulus that they represented the twelve decades that ancient Rome would exist. At the end of the 120 years, the city would be destroyed and the great Roman empire would collapse. The ancient Roman calendar started at the founding of Rome, with 753 BC equal to 1 AUC ( ab urbe condita ). A simple calculation put the end of the world at 120 AUC, which was 634 BC.
When 634 BC rolled around, the ancient Romans were horrified, certain they were all doomed by the imminent apocalypse. But nothing much happened that year.
Instead of instant destruction of ancient Rome, the empire slowly expired. It’s widely debated when the Roman Empire fell, with many experts placing the date at AD 410, when Rome was sacked by barbarian Goth hordes.
Regardless of the final fall of Rome in AD 410, in 476 BC, Germanic chief Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor of Western Rome, over a century after the eagles predicted the Roman apocalypse.
389 BC , Rome
After Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus in 476 BC, another apocalyptic prediction arose in the land as new prophets re-analyzed the twelve-eagle notion. These new doomsday experts decided that the original eagle prophecy was entirely wrong and that the mystical eagles represented the days in a year and had actually told Romulus that the apocalypse would occur in 365 AUC, or 389 BC. As with the earlier apocalyptic prediction that Rome would cease to exist in 634 BC, this later prophecy also proved to be false.
167 BC , Babylon
Many biblical scholars suggest that the Book of Daniel was written sometime between 168 and 164 BC when the Macabees revolted against Greek forces occupying their land. In the final part of the Book of Daniel is a fairly detailed description of the end of all time, of the resurrection of the dead, who would then go to heaven or hell. The apocalypse of all mankind would occur approximately three years after the erection of the statue of Zeus in the Jewish temple circa 167 BC.
The Book of Daniel is an early example of apocalyptic literature, with the Book of Revelation (see “Doomsday Predictions: Early AD, Holy Land”) in the New Testament providing the most famous example.
M ost fans of The Hunger Games series know that the author’s reference to Panem et Circenses extends back to the phrase, “Bread and Circuses,” in ancient Rome. In fact, Plutarch mentions in Mockingjay that the term has been used for thousands of years and was originally written in Latin ( Mockingjay , 223). It’s no wonder they call the country, Panem. As mentioned earlier in this book, the phrase “Bread and Circuses” refers to the free grain dole (the bread) given to the starving by the government along with the gladiatorial games (the circuses). In a Scholastic Books interview, Suzanne Collins explains that she sends “tributes into an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment. The world of Panem, particularly the Capitol, is loaded with Roman references.” 1
But bread plays a much larger role in the series; it’s a symbol, yes, of the stuffed, fat-cat gluttony of the Capitol; yet it’s also a symbol of the love that Peeta Mellark has for Katniss. Remember, when Katniss was starving and unable to feed her family, Peeta risked his mother’s wrath by giving her two loaves of bread. In fact, his mother smashed something hard into his face because he wasn’t feeding the loaves to the pigs quickly enough ( The Hunger Games , 30). His first act of true generosity, kindness, and love toward Katniss was this sacrifice of the bread. It served as a foreshadowing of the deep and eventually intimate relationship they would later share. She keeps the memory of that first meeting close to her, and it reminds her
Doomsday predictions were prevalent in ancient Rome as far back as the legends of Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC. Twelve magic eagles informed Romulus that they represented the twelve decades that ancient Rome would exist. At the end of the 120 years, the city would be destroyed and the great Roman empire would collapse. The ancient Roman calendar started at the founding of Rome, with 753 BC equal to 1 AUC ( ab urbe condita ). A simple calculation put the end of the world at 120 AUC, which was 634 BC.
When 634 BC rolled around, the ancient Romans were horrified, certain they were all doomed by the imminent apocalypse. But nothing much happened that year.
Instead of instant destruction of ancient Rome, the empire slowly expired. It’s widely debated when the Roman Empire fell, with many experts placing the date at AD 410, when Rome was sacked by barbarian Goth hordes.
Regardless of the final fall of Rome in AD 410, in 476 BC, Germanic chief Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor of Western Rome, over a century after the eagles predicted the Roman apocalypse.
389 BC , Rome
After Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus in 476 BC, another apocalyptic prediction arose in the land as new prophets re-analyzed the twelve-eagle notion. These new doomsday experts decided that the original eagle prophecy was entirely wrong and that the mystical eagles represented the days in a year and had actually told Romulus that the apocalypse would occur in 365 AUC, or 389 BC. As with the earlier apocalyptic prediction that Rome would cease to exist in 634 BC, this later prophecy also proved to be false.
167 BC , Babylon
Many biblical scholars suggest that the Book of Daniel was written sometime between 168 and 164 BC when the Macabees revolted against Greek forces occupying their land. In the final part of the Book of Daniel is a fairly detailed description of the end of all time, of the resurrection of the dead, who would then go to heaven or hell. The apocalypse of all mankind would occur approximately three years after the erection of the statue of Zeus in the Jewish temple circa 167 BC.
The Book of Daniel is an early example of apocalyptic literature, with the Book of Revelation (see “Doomsday Predictions: Early AD, Holy Land”) in the New Testament providing the most famous example.
M ost fans of The Hunger Games series know that the author’s reference to Panem et Circenses extends back to the phrase, “Bread and Circuses,” in ancient Rome. In fact, Plutarch mentions in Mockingjay that the term has been used for thousands of years and was originally written in Latin ( Mockingjay , 223). It’s no wonder they call the country, Panem. As mentioned earlier in this book, the phrase “Bread and Circuses” refers to the free grain dole (the bread) given to the starving by the government along with the gladiatorial games (the circuses). In a Scholastic Books interview, Suzanne Collins explains that she sends “tributes into an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment. The world of Panem, particularly the Capitol, is loaded with Roman references.” 1
But bread plays a much larger role in the series; it’s a symbol, yes, of the stuffed, fat-cat gluttony of the Capitol; yet it’s also a symbol of the love that Peeta Mellark has for Katniss. Remember, when Katniss was starving and unable to feed her family, Peeta risked his mother’s wrath by giving her two loaves of bread. In fact, his mother smashed something hard into his face because he wasn’t feeding the loaves to the pigs quickly enough ( The Hunger Games , 30). His first act of true generosity, kindness, and love toward Katniss was this sacrifice of the bread. It served as a foreshadowing of the deep and eventually intimate relationship they would later share. She keeps the memory of that first meeting close to her, and it reminds her
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