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Latʹeran

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The ancient palace of the Lateraʹni, given by the Emperor Constantine to the popes. Lateran, from lateo, to hide, and rana, a frog. It is said that Nero … on one occasion vomited a frog covered with blood, which he believed to be his own progeny, and had it hidden in a vault. The palace which was built on the site of this vault was called the “Lateran,” or the palace of the hidden frog. (Buckle: History of Civilisation.)

The locality in Rome so called contains the Lateran palace, the Piazza, and the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Basilica is the Pope’s cathedral church. The palace (once a residence of the popes) is now a museum.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Last Words
Last of the Fathers
Last of the Goths
Last of the Greeks
Last of the Knights
Last of the Mohicans
Last of the Romans
Last of the Tribunes (The)
Last of the Troubadours
Lat (El)
Lateran
Lath or Lathe
Lather
Latin
Latin Learning
Latinus
Latitudinarians
Latona
Latria and Dulia
Lattice or Chequers
Laugh in One’s Sleeve (To)

See Also:

Lateran