Word: umbilicus
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Japan has long had a special regard for the navel. The shape of the umbilicus of a newborn baby would be discussed at length, and if it happened to point downward, the parents would brace themselves for a weakling child who would bring them woe. The thunder god Raijin, with his terrifying drums, his great horns and long tusks, was said to have an insatiable appetite for young navels, and mothers had constantly to nag their youngsters to keep themselves well covered up. But for all the national preoccupation with it, the navel in Japan never quite achieved the status...
...when it was the heart of the proud Roman Republic and later a center of empire, was built on a drained swamp area between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills. Sacred to Roman eyes, it served as a marketplace, law center, place of oratory, government and worship, contained the ancient Umbilicus Romae (a brick navel marking the ideal center of the city) and the reputed tomb of Romulus...