Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/340

* ROSTAND. 308 EOSWITHA. Roatand (Paris, ISllS). The best of numerous review articles on his work is in the Edinburgk Itii-kw for October. 1900. SOSTOCK, r6s't6k. A seaport and the most iiuportant city of Meeklenburg-Schwerin, Ger- many, situated on the estuary of the Warnow, 9 miles from its mouth, and 80 miles east-north- cast of Liibeck (Map: Germany, E 1). The town retains its mediieval aspect. Of its squares, the finest is the Bliiclierplatz, with a bronze statue of Bliicher, wIk) was born here. The market place in the centre of the town contains tlic town liall, an interesting thirteenth-century Gotliic structure. The twelfth-century Saint Pe- ter's Church lias a tower 433 feet high. There is a fine ducal palace. The new university build- ing, a beautiful Kenaissance edifice, was erected in 181)7-70. The universit.y library has 175,000 volumes. There is a school of navigation. The city is one of the principal Baltic ports, the ex- ports being chiefly live stock, grain, wool, and flax. Among the manufactures are machinery, woolens, tobacco, sugar, chocolate, carriages, and chemicals. Shipbuilding is carried on. There are also an an- nual fair, and important wool, horse and cattle markets. Population, in 1890, 44.409; in 1900. 54,713, of whom over 95 per cent, were Protest- ants. Rostock was a member until 1630 of the IIanseatic-I>eague, and long ranked in importance next to Liibeck among the Baltic cities. The uni- versity was founded in 1419. Consult Koppen, Ge- schich'te dcr Studt Rostock (Rostock, 1887). ROSTOPTCHIN, or RASTOPTCHIN, ros- top'chin, Peodor "asilievitch. Count ( 1765- 1826). A Russian general, born in the Govern- ment of Orel. He was a Court page of Catharine 11., and then entered the armj' as lieutenant in the Imperial Guard. Paul 1. made him a gen- eral on his accession to the throne in 1796, and soon after grand marshal of the Court, Min- ister of Foreign Affairs, and count ( 1799 | . Under Alexander 1. Rostoptchin remained in banishment till May, 1812, when he was appointed Governor- General of iloseow. On the approach of the French in that year Rostoptchin by extraordinary exertions raised an army of 120,000 men fully equipped, but, to his great chagrin, was ordered to evacuate JIoscow". He was held to have caused the burning of Moscow, but in 1823 he published in his own defense La rerilc sur I'iitcendie de Moscou (Paris, 1823). in which he declared that this action was due in part to the fervid patriot- ism of a few of the inhabitants, and in part to the violence and negligence of the French. It is known, however, that Rostoptchin set fire to his own house near JIoscow, and that his example was followed by many others, thus making him virtually responsible for the conflagration. In 1814 he was dismissed from ofiice. Subsequently Rostoptchin retired to Paris, where he occupied himself with literary pursuits. In 1825 he re- turned to Russia. He died at Moscow. Consult: Schnitzler, Rostopphine et Koutousoff (Paris. 1863); S(5gur, T'l'f du comte Rostopchine (ib., 1872). ROSTOV, ros-tfif. One of the oldest towns of Russiii. situated in the Government of Yaroslav. on Lake Nero, about 35 miles south of Yaroslav (Map: Russia. E 3). The Kremlin, which is with the exception of that of Moscow the best preserved and most interesting in Russia, is situ- ated on a slight eminence in the centre of the town and is surrounded liy a wall one and a half mile.i in circumference, with numerous battlements and towers of huge dimensions. Inside the Krem- lin are situated the thirteenth century Uspensky Cathedral, with relics of many saints, the ichile palata used for Court receptions by the Princes of Rostov, now containing a fine collection of Church antiquities, and the old residence or lerem of the princes, dating from the fifteenth cen- tury. The monasteries of the town and the vicin- ity are also of great archseological importance and attract many pilgrims. Commercially Ros- tov is of slight importance, its fair, formerly one of the largest in Ru.ssia, having greatly de- clined, as a result of the building of railways.. The iiuinufacture of icons or hol.y pictures is an important industry. The mediaeval Principality of Rostov embraced, besides the present Govern- ment of Yaroslav, portions of the governments of Tver, Vologda, Novgorod, and Kostroma. It at- tained considerable importance and its capital was known as Rostov the Great. The invasion of the Mongols weakened it greatly and it was finally annexed to Moscow bv Dmitri Donski (1363-89). Population, in 1897, 13.016. ROSTOV-ON-THE-DON. One of the prin- cipal commercial centres of South Russia, situ- ated at the head of the Don delta, about 40 miles from the Sea of Azov and at the convergence of three important railway lines (Map: Russia, E 5). The town contains large grain storehouses and extensive flour mills, iron works, distilleries, tobacco factories, and saw mills. The total value of its manufactures amounts to about .$10,000,000 per annum. Rostov is the centre of the grain trade of Southeastern Russia, and exports grain to the amount of about $17,000,- 000 per annum. The fairs of Rostov are nota- ble. The educational institutions include a school of navigation and a railway school. There are two libraries. Rostov dates from 1731. Popu- lation, in 1897, 119,900, including a considerable proportion of foreigners, ROSTRA (Lat., beaks). In ancient Rome, the name applied to a gi-eat open-air platform of masonry, from which public speakers addressed the people. The ancient rostra received its name in B. c. 338. when Mtcnius was victorious at An- tium. and the beaks I rostra) of some of the ships captured were fastened to a platform already erected between the Comitium and the Forum. When Julius Csesar. in b. c. 44. removed the site of the Rostra to the west end of the Forum, the Grsecostasis, a platform for foreign amliassadors. was removed also, and the two platforms were united, forming one continued marble-paved plat- form, seenty-eiglit feet long and eleven feet above the level of the Forum. Statues of Sulla and Pompey, two of .Tiilius Cfesar. and many others, adorned the platform. The excavations made in 1899-1900 about the so-called Rostra and Gra-cos- tasis have cast doubt upon the identification of the latter, and Boni believes that be has identi- fied the .Tulian Rostra in the arcaded front of a platform of smaller size by the site previously supposed to be that of the aurenm (golden mile- stone), the larger and more prominent platform being that of Imperial rostra of successive resto- rations. ROSWITHA. ros-ve'ta, HROTSXJITA, or HROSWITHA (c.n35-?t. A Saxon nun and poet, of noble birth. In her youth she entered