citizenship For the purposes of this book, the Roman citizenship. Possession of it entitled a man to vote in his tribe and his class (if he was economically qualified to belong to a class) in all Roman elections. He could not be flogged, he was entitled to the Roman trial process, and he had the right of appeal. At various times both his parents had to be Roman citizens, at other times only his father (hence the cognomen Hybrida); after the lex Minicia of 91 b.c., a Roman male marrying a non-Roman woman would have had to acquire conubium for his wife if the child was to be a Roman citizen. The male citizen became liable for military service on his seventeenth birthday, and had then to serve for ten campaigns or six years, whichever came first. Before Gaius Marius's army reforms, a citizen had to possess sufficient property to buy his own arms, armor, gear, and provisions if he was to serve in the legions; after Gaius Marius, legions contained both propertied men and men of the capite censi, the Head Count.
citocacia A mild Latin profanity, meaning "stinkweed."
citrus wood The most prized cabinet wood of the Roman world, seen at its very best during the last century of the Republic. Citrus wood was cut from vast galls on the root system of a cypresslike tree, Callitris quadrivavis vent., which grew in the highlands of North Africa all the way from the Oasis of Ammonium, and Cyrenaica, to the far Atlas of Mauretania; it must be emphasized that the tree was no relation of orange or lemon, despite the name of its timber. Different trees produced different patterns in the grain, all of which had names—tiger had a long and rippling grain, panther a spiral grain, peacock had eyes like those in a peacock's tail, parsley a ruffled grain, and so on. In Republican times it was cut as solid wood rather than as a veneer (scarcity dictated veneer during the Empire), and always mounted upon an ivory leg or legs, usually inlaid with gold. Hence a special guild of tradesmen grew up, the citrarii et eborarii, combining citrus wood joiners with ivory carvers. Most citrus wood was reserved for making table-tops, where the beauty of its grain could really be displayed, but it was also turned as bowls. No tables have survived to modern times, but we do have a few bowls, and can see that citrus wood was certainly the most beautiful timber of all time.
classes These were five in number, and represented the economic divisions of property-owning or steady-income-earning Roman citizens. The members of the First Class were the richest, the members of the Fifth Class the poorest. The capite censi or Head Count did not have class status, and so could not vote in the Centuriate Assembly.
client In Latin, cliens. The term denoted a man of free or freed status (he did not have to be a Roman citizen, however) who pledged himself to a man he called his patron. In the most solemn and binding way, the client undertook to serve the interests and obey the wishes of his patron. In return he received certain favors—usually gifts of money, or a job, or legal assistance. The freed slave was automatically the client of his ex-master until discharged of this obligation— if he ever was. A kind of honor system governed the client's conduct in relation to his patron, and was remarkably consistently adhered to. To be a client did not necessarily mean a man could not be a patron; more that he could not be an ultimate patron, as technically his own clients were also the clients of his patron. During the Republic there were no formal laws concerning the client-patron relationship because they were not necessary—no man, client or patron, could hope to succeed in life were he known as dishonorable in this vital function. However, there were laws regulating the foreign client-patron relationship; foreign states or client-kingdoms acknowledging Rome as patron were legally obliged to find the ransom for any Roman citizen kidnapped in their territories, a fact that pirates relied on heavily for an additional source of income. Thus, not only individuals could become clients; whole towns and countries often were.
client-king A foreign monarch might pledge himself as a client in the service of Rome as his patron, thereby entitling his kingdom to be called Friend and Ally of the Roman People. Sometimes, however, a foreign monarch pledged himself as the client of one Roman individual.
clivus A street on an incline—that is, a hilly street. Rome, a city of hills, had many.
cognomen Plural, cognomina. This was the last name of a Roman male anxious to distinguish himself from all his fellows possessed of an identical first and family name. In some families it became necessary to have more than one cognomen: for example, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica; Quintus was his first name (praenomen), Caecilius his family name (nomen), and Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica were all cognomina. The cognomen usually pointed up some physical characteristic or idiosyncrasy— jug ears, flat feet, hump back—or else commemorated some great feat—as in the Caecilii Metelli who were cognominated Dalmaticus, Balearicus, Numidicus, these being countries each man had conquered. Many cognomina were heavily sarcastic or extremely witty.
cohort After the reforms Gaius Marius carried out upon the Roman legion, the cohort became the tactical unit of the legion. It comprised six centuries of troops; in normal circumstances, a legion owned ten cohorts. When discussing troop movements, it was customary to speak of tactical strength in terms of cohorts rather than legions—thus, twenty-five cohorts rather than two and a half legions, or five cohorts rather than half a legion.
college A body or society of men having something in common. Thus, Rome owned priestly colleges (the College of Pontifices), political colleges (the College of Tribunes of the Plebs), religious colleges (the College of Lictors), and work-related colleges (the Guild of Undertakers). Certain groups of men from all walks of life, including slaves, banded together in what were called Crossroads Colleges to look after the city of Rome's crossroads and conduct the annual feast of the crossroads, the Compitalia.
colonnade A roofed walkway flanked by one outer row of columns when attached to a building in the manner of a verandah, or two rows of columns, one on either side, if freestanding.
comitia See Assembly.
Comitia The large round well in which meetings of the comitia were held. It lay in the lower Forum Romanum adjacent to the steps of the Senate House and the Basilica Aemilia, and was formed of a series of tiers. When packed, perhaps three thousand men could be accommodated in it. The rostra, or speakers' platform, was attached to its side.
CONDEMNO The word employed by a jury when delivering a verdict of "guilty." It was a term confined to the courts (see also DAMNO).
confarreatio The oldest and the strictest of the three forms of Roman marriage. By the time of Marius and Sulla, only patricians still practised it—but by no means all patrician marriages were confarreatio, as it was not mandatory. The confarreatio bride passed from the hand of her father to the hand of her husband, thus preventing her acquiring any measure of independence; this was one reason why confarreatio was not a popular form of marriage, as the two easier forms allowed a woman more control over her dowry and business affairs. The other cause of its unpopularity lay in the extreme difficulty of dissolving it; divorce (diffarreatio) was a legally and religiously arduous business considered more trouble than it was worth unless the circumstances left no other alternative.
Conscript Fathers When it was established by the kings of Rome, the Senate consisted of one hundred patricians titled patres—"fathers." Then, after the Republic was established and plebeians were also admitted to the Senate, and its membership had swelled to three hundred, and the censors were given the duty of appointing new senators, the word "conscript" came into use as well because the censors conscripted these new members. By the time of Marius and Sulla, the two terms had been run together and senators were addressed in the House as Conscript Fathers.
consul The consul was the most senior Roman magistrate owning imperium, and the consulship (modern scholars do not refer to it as "the consulate" because a consulate is a modern diplomatic institution) was considered the top rung of the cursus honorum. Two consuls were elected each year by the Centuriate Assembly, and served for one year. The first day of the new consul's office was New Year's Day, January 1. The senior
of the two consuls—who had polled his requisite number of centuries first—held the fasces for the month of January, which meant he officiated while his junior colleague looked on. Each consul was attended by twelve lictors, but only the lictors of the consul officiating during the month (it was the junior consul's turn in February, and they then alternated for the rest of the year) carried the fasces on their shoulders. By the first century b.c. consuls could be either patrician or plebeian, excepting only that two patricians could not hold office together. The proper age for a consul was forty-two, twelve years after entering the Senate at thirty. A consul's imperium knew no bounds; it operated not only in Rome, but throughout Italy and the overseas provinces as well, and overrode the imperium of a proconsular governor. The consul could command any army.
consular The name given to a man who had been consul. He was held in special esteem by the rest of the Senate, was asked to speak ahead of the junior magistrates, and might at any time be sent to govern a province should the Senate require the duty of him. He might also be asked to take on other duties, like caring for the grain supply.
consultum The proper term for a senatorial decree. It did not have the force of law. In order to become law, a consultum had to be presented by the Senate to any of the Assemblies, tribal or centuriate, which then voted it into law—if the members of the Assembly in question felt like voting it into law. However, many senatorial consulta (plural) were never submitted to an Assembly, nor voted into law, yet were accepted as law by all of Rome; such were senatorial decisions about who was going to govern a province—the declaration or pursuit of war—who has to command an army—and foreign affairs.
contio Plural, contiones. A preliminary meeting to discuss the promulgation of a law or any other comitial business. All three Assemblies were required to debate a measure in contio, which, though no voting took place, was formally convoked by the magistrate so empowered in the particular Assembly concerned.
contubernalis A military cadet, a subaltern of lowest rank in the hierarchy of Roman legion officers, but excluding the centurions—no centurion was ever a cadet, he was an experienced soldier.
corona A crown. The word was usually confined to military decorations for the very highest valor. Those crowns mentioned in this book are:
corona graminea or obsidionalis The Grass Crown. Made of grass (or sometimes a cereal like wheat, if the battle took place in a field of grain) taken from the battlefield and awarded "on the spot," the Grass Crown was the rarest of all Roman military decorations. It was given only to a man who had by personal efforts saved a whole legion—or a whole army.
corona civica The Civic Crown. It was made of ordinary oak leaves. Awarded to a man who had saved the lives of fellow soldiers and held the ground on which he did this for the rest of the duration of a battle, it was not given unless the soldiers in question swore a formal oath before their general that such were the circumstances.
Crater Bay The name the Romans used when referring to what is today called the Bay of Naples. Though the ancient sources assure us that the eruption of Vesuvius in a.d. 79 was the first ever known, the name Crater Bay suggests that at some time during prehistory a much larger eruption of a volcano had created this huge bay.
cuirass The name for the armor which encased a man's upper body. It consisted of two plates of bronze or steel or hardened leather, one protecting the thorax and abdomen, the other his back from shoulders to lumbar spine. The plates were held together by straps or ties at the shoulders and along each side under the arms. Some cuirasses were exquisitely tailored to the contours of the torso, whereas others fitted all men of a certain size and physique. The men of highest rank—especially generals—wore cuirasses tooled in high relief and silver-plated (sometimes, though rarely, gold-plated). The general and his legates also wore a thin red sash around the cuirass about halfway between the nipples and the waist; this sash was ritually knotted and looped.
Cumae This town was the first Greek colony in Italy, established early in the eighth century b.c. It lay on the Tuscan Sea side of Cape Misenum just to the north of Crater Bay, and was a very fashionable seaside resort for Republican Romans.
cunnus A Latin obscenity of extremely offensive nature— "cunt." It meant the female genitalia. Cuppedenis market This area lay behind the upper Forum Romanum on its eastern side, between the Clivus Orbius and the edge of the Fagutal/Carinae. It was devoted to luxury and specialty items such as pepper, spices, incense, ointments and unguents and balms, and also served as the flower markets, where a Roman could buy anything from a bouquet to a garland to go round the neck or a wreath to go on the head. Until sold to finance Sulla's campaign against King Mithridates, the land belonged to the State.
Curia Hostilia The Senate House. It was thought to have been built by Tullus Hostilius, the shadowy third of Rome's kings, hence its name ("meeting house of Hostilius").
cursus honorum “The Way of Honor." If a man aspired to be consul, he had to take certain steps, collectively called the cursus honorum. First he was admitted to the Senate (in the time of Marius and Sulla, he was appointed by the censors or was elected a tribune of the plebs—the office of quaestor did not then automatically admit a man to the Senate); he had to serve as a quaestor, either before admission to the Senate of after it; a minimum of nine years after entering the Senate he had to be elected a praetor; and finally, two years after serving as a praetor, he could stand for the consulship. The four steps—senator, quaestor, praetor, consul—constituted the cursus honorum. All other magistracies, including the censorship, were independent of the cursus honorum and did not constitute a part of it.
curule chair The sella curulis was the ivory chair reserved exclusively for magistrates owning imperium—a curule aedile sat in one, a plebeian aedile did not. In style, the curule chair was beautifully carved from ivory, with curved legs crossing in a broad X; it was equipped with low arms, but had no back.
custodes These were the minor officials who took care of electoral procedures—tally clerks, keepers of the ballot tablets, et cetera.
DAMNO This was the word used to deliver a verdict of condemnation (that is, "guilty") in a trial conducted by one of the Assemblies. It did not belong to the courts, which used CONDEMNO. The glossary entry in my first Roman book was not informative because I hadn't tracked the words down; when rereading Dr. L. R. Taylor's Roman Voting Assemblies during the writing of The Grass Crown, I discovered the information now tendered. Research never stops! Nor does one get everything out of a valuable book on first reading.
Delphi The great sanctuary of the god Apollo, lying in the lap of Mount Parnassus, in central Greece. From very ancient times it was an important center of worship, though not of Apollo until about the seventh or sixth century b.c.. The shrine contained an omphalos or navel stone (probably a meteorite), and Delphi itself was thought to be the center of the earth. An oracle of awesome fame resided at Delphi, its prophecies delivered by a crone in a state of ecstatic frenzy; she was known as Pythia, or the Pythoness. Fabulously rich due to the constant stream of costly gifts from grateful petitioners, Delphi was sacked and plundered several times during antiquity (see Brennus), but recovered quickly afterward, as the gifts never stopped coming in.
demagogue Originally a Greek concept, meaning a politician whose chief appeal was to the crowds. The Roman demagogue preferred the arena of the Comitia well to the Senate House, but it was no part of his policy to "liberate the masses," nor on the whole were those who listened to him composed of the very lowly. The term was employed by ultra-conservative factions within the Senate to describe the more radical tribunes of the plebs.
denarius Plural, denarii. Save for a very rare issue or two of gold coins, the denarius was the largest denomination of coin during the Roman Republic. Of pure silver, it contained about 3.5 grams of the metal, and was about the size of a dime—very small. There were 6,250 denarii in one silver talent.
diadem A thick white ribbon about one inch (25 mm) wide, each end embro
idered, and often finished with a fringe. It was worn tied around the head, either across the forehead or behind the hairline, and was knotted at the back beneath the occiput; the ends trailed down onto the shoulders. Originally a mark of Persian royalty, the diadem became the symbol of the Hellenistic monarch after Alexander the Great removed it from the tiara of the Persian kings as being a more appropriately Greek understatement of kingship than either a crown or a tiara. It could be worn only by a reigning sovereign but was not confined to the male sex—women wore the diadem too.
dignitas A concept peculiar to Rome, dignitas cannot be translated to mean English "dignity." It was a man's personal share of public standing in the community, and involved his moral and ethical worth, his reputation, his entitlement to respect and proper treatment by his peers and by the history books. Auctoritas was public, dignitas personal, an accumulation of clout and standing stemming from a man's own personal qualities and achievements. Of all the assets a Roman nobleman possessed, dignitas was likely to be the one he was most touchy about; to defend it, he might be prepared to go to war or into exile, to commit suicide, or to execute his wife and son. I have elected to leave the term in my text untranslated. diverticulum In the sense used in this book, a road connecting the main arterial roads which radiated out from the gates of Rome—in effect, a "ring road."
Dodona A temple and precinct sacred to Zeus. Located among the inland mountains of Epirus some ten miles to the south and west of Lake Pamboris, it was the home of a very famous oracle situated in a sacred oak tree which was also the home of doves. Like all the great oracular shrines, Dodona was the recipient of many gifts, and was in consequence extremely rich. It was sacked several times in antiquity: by the Aetolians in 219 b.c., by the Roman Aemilius Paullus in 167 B:C., and by the Scordisci in 90 b.c. On each occasion, the temple recovered quickly and accumulated more riches.
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