The oldest democratic state in the world!


Today there is a fairy tale that is also a true story...:

On the (today Croatian, then of course Roman) island of Rab lived a stonemason named Marinus at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries of our era...:



The search for work led him across the Adriatic Sea to Italy and thus to the heart of the Roman Empire...:

But the man was unlucky!

Because he was a Christian and in Rome those of Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ...



...the persecution of Christians ordered in 303 was in full swing...:



Marinus was able to hide with other Christians in the city of Ariminum (now Rimini)...



... and was made by the local underground bishop Gaudentius (who in the meantime has also been promoted to "saint")...



... ordained as a deacon...:



Then he was unlucky again!

On the street, a mentally ill woman thought she recognized him as her run-away husband, which was not without its dangers in ancient Rome unless you belonged to the upper class.

Again Marinus had to flee - to the mountain Monte Titano even further north...:



He lived there for years as a hermit, built a chapel and a small monastery.

After his death - in the winter of 366 - he was eventually canonized by the church...:



September 3rd is considered "his" day of remembrance - allegedly in the year 301, which cannot be entirely correct, since the persecution of Christians under Diocletian throughout the empire began, according to reliable sources, only two years later!

So let's take a closer look - in reality it was like this...:

Marinus actually came from Rab to Armiminum as a stone setter and fled to Monte Titano in the year 301 - BEFORE the persecution of Christians began!

The mentally ill woman invented the church for this!

And chapel...



... as well as monastery...



...he did not build on the mountain alone, but he had help!

Marinus gradually gathered more persecuted people around him, and so the first Christian community was formed on the mountain - he never lived there as a hermit!

Nor was he ordained a deacon underground, but only after the situation had calmed down in 311 with the Nicomedia Edict of Tolerance.

And it is also certain...:

Over time, a town developed around the chapel and monastery, and around the year 1200 the town became a republic, namely the state of San Marino that still exists today...:







Matching the true story, September 3, 301 is considered the founding date of San Marino!

With an area of just 60 square kilometers and a population of just 33,230 people in 2017, San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world.

This "Republiquette" (as Patrice Lumumba would shave said) is certainly the oldest continuously democratic state in the world - there have been two "Capitani Reggenti" as heads of state every six months since 1243, based on the Roman Republican Consuls elected in primary.

With a gross domestic product well above the EU average, stable unemployment at zero percent and an annual budget surplus of around 3.6 percent of GDP, San Marino is also one of the richest countries in the world...:







And also one of the healthiest!

Nowhere in the world is the average life expectancy (83.3 years) higher than there - San Marino spends 7.2 percent of the national budget on health and healthcare every year! In Germany it is 11.3 percent, more than €1 billion per DAY (!), but life expectancy is still significantly lower at an average of 78.3 years...

And to this day the holy stone setter and founder of the state Marinus adorns the coins there...:



I think it's a nice story even without the stupid embellishments that the church later added...!