Fire and Sword

by Harry Sidebottom

  Domus Rostrata: Originally the home of the Republican general Pompey in the fashionable Carinae quarter; decorated with the ramming beaks (Rostra) of the pirate ships he captured, and from which it took its name. Now the seat of the Gordiani.

  Donative: Cash reward distributed to soldiers or the plebs by grateful Emperors on their accession, or following victories, notable anniversaries, etc.

  Drauhtins: Gothic term for a military or tribal leader.

  Druidess: Priestess of Celtic religion.

  Durostorum: Roman fortress on the south bank of the Danube; modern Silistra in Bulgaria.

  Eclogues: Title of a collection of poems by Virgil; from the Greek ekloge, ‘extracts’.

  Edessa: Frontier city periodically administered by Rome, Persia and Armenia in the course of the third century; modern ̧Sanlıurfa in southern Turkey.

  Emona: Modern Ljubljana in Slovenia.

  Emporium: From the Latin term for a market or trading post.

  Ephesus: Major city founded by Greek colonists on the western coast of modern Turkey.

  Epilogue: In ancient rhetoric, the conclusion of a speech; from Greek ‘to say in addition’.

  Epiphany: The visual manifestation of a deity.

  Equestrian: Second rank down in the Roman social pyramid; the elite order just below the Senators.

  Equites Singulares: Mounted unit protecting the Emperor.

  Erato: The muse of lyric poetry, the genre concerned with personal feelings, love, etc.

  Esquiline: One of the seven hills of Rome, rising east of the Roman Forum.

  Eternal City: Nickname given to the city of Rome.

  Etruria: Region of Italy to the north-west of Rome; roughly modern Tuscany.

  Falernian: Very expensive white wine from northern Campania, particularly prized by the Romans.

  Familia: A Roman household; for the well off, this included slaves and other dependents; that of the Emperor, the familia Caesaris, comprised both servants and the imperial bureaucracy; largely staffed by slaves and freedmen.

  Fasces: Bundles of rods for beating malefactors tied around an executioner’s axe; symbol of a Roman magistrate’s or Emperor’s authority.

  Festina lente: Latin, ‘hurry slowly!’; origin of the English expression ‘more haste, less speed’.

  Fides: Latin term encompassing good qualities such as trustworthiness, conscientiousness, and protection. A common imperial slogan.

  Fides Militum! Romae Aeternae!: Latin ‘The faithfulness of the Army’; ‘Eternal Rome’; imperial propaganda, often used on coins.

  Fidus: Latin, ‘faithful’.

  Fiscus: Originally the Emperor’s privy purse; took over the functions of the state and provincial treasuries.

  Flavian Amphitheatre: Giant arena for gladiatorial fights seating sixty thousand spectators; now known as the Coliseum, in antiquity known after the Flavian dynasty of Emperors who built and dedicated the structure.

  Flora: Roman goddess of flowers and spring. Her festival was held between April and May.

  Fortuna Redux: The Roman goddess of safe returns from long journeys or military campaigns.

  Forum Transitorium: A monumental thoroughfare built by the Emperor Nerva, replacing the southern end of the Argiletum as this street approached the original Forum.

  Forum: Central square of a Roman city, site of the market place, and government, judicial and religious buildings. In Rome, the oldest and most important public square, originally the seat of the government, littered with honorific statues and monuments going back to the early Republic. Surrounded by temples, court buildings, arches, and the Senate House.

  Fratricidal: From the Latin term to kill one’s own brother.

  Frumentarii (singular frumentarius): Military unit based on the Caelian Hill in Rome; the Emperor’s secret police; messengers, spies, and assassins.

  Furies: Goddesses of vengeance in Greek and Roman religion.

  Gallia Lugdunensis: Roman province of north-western and central France.

  Gallia Narbonnensis: Roman province of southern Gaul, roughly the French region of Provence.

  Gardens of Dolabella: A large estate on the outskirts of Rome where German soldiers were stationed in AD69; its original location is unknown.

  Germania: The Roman provinces of Germany, but also used of the lands where the German tribes lived, ‘free’ Germany beyond direct Roman control.

  Germania Superior: More southerly of Rome’s two German provinces.

  Gordiani: The Gordianus family; in English, Gordian.

  Goths: Confederation of Germanic tribes.

  Graces: In Greek and Roman religion, a trio of goddesses, the daughters of Zeus.

  Graeculus: Latin, ‘little Greek’; Greeks called themselves Hellenes, Romans tended not to extend that courtesy but called them Graeci; with casual contempt, Romans often went further, to Graeculi.

  Gudja: A Gothic priest.

  Gulf of Tergeste: From the ancient name for Trieste, lying on the northernmost shores of the Adriatic.

  Hades: Greek underworld.

  Hadrumetum: City on the eastern coast of Africa Proconsularis, modern Sousse in Tunisia.

  Haliurunna: A Gothic witch.

  Hatra: Independent city state in northern Iraq, fought over by both the Romans and Persians in the early third century.

  Hatrene: Inhabitant of Hatra.

  Hearth-troop: From the Old English, a warband bound to a particular leader through ties of personal loyalty.

  Hecatomb: In Greco-Roman religion, a sacrifice to the gods of a hundred cattle; from the Greek for one hundred.

  Hedinsey: An island in the Baltic known from the Norse sagas, here identified as Zealand.

  Heliades: In Greek mythology, the daughters of Helios; grieving for their brother Phaethon, they were turned into poplars and their tears into amber.

  Helios: Greek sun god.

  Hellene: The Greeks’ name for themselves; often used with connotations of cultural superiority.

  Hellenic: From Greece, a term from the Greeks’ name for themselves.

  Herakles: In Greek mythology, mortal famed for his strength who subsequently became a god.

  Hercules: Roman name for Herakles.

  Hierasos river: Greek name for the Alkaliya river, flowing into the Black Sea in eastern Ukraine.

  Hilaritas: Latin, ‘good-humour’, ‘cheerfulness’.

  Himling: Fictional dynasty ruling over the Angles from the island of Hedinsey.

  Hippodrome: Greek, literally ‘horse race’; stadium for chariot racing.

  Hipposandals: Metal plates secured under the hooves of horses by leather straps; used before the introduction of horse shoes in the fifth century AD.

  Hlymdale: Literally, Valley of Uproar, a place name mentioned in the Norse sagas and here given to the ancient settlement excavated at modern Himlingjoe on the island of Zealand; home of the Himlings on Hedinsey.

  Hostis: Latin, ‘enemy’ (usually implying an enemy of the state).

  Hydra: In Greek mythology, a serpent with many heads, each of which grew back when cut off.

  Hymen: God of marriage in Greek and Roman religion.

  Iazyges: Nomadic Sarmatian tribe living on the Steppe north of the Danube on the Great Hungarian Plain.

  Icon: From the Greek term for an image.

  Ides: Thirteenth day of the month in short months, the fifteenth in long months.

  Imperator: Originally an epithet bestowed by troops on victorious generals, became a standard title of the Princeps, and thus origin of the English word ‘emperor’.

  In absentia: Latin, ‘while absent’.

  Infamia: Latin, ‘shame, disgrace’. Prostitutes, who were subject to infamia, lacked most basic rights and protections in Roman law.

  Intempesta: Meaning ‘unwholesome, unhealthy’; name given to the dead of night by the Romans.

  Interfectus a latronibus: Latin ‘killed by bandits’; around thirty such inscriptions are known from Roman tombs.

  Iota:
Ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, the smallest and simplest to draw (I in the Roman alphabet).

  Istria: Ancient town originally settled by the Greeks, located near the mouth of the Danube on the shores of the Black Sea.

  Itineraries: Ancient Roman catalogues of journeys, naming towns and the distances between them; often displayed graphically as rudimentary maps.

  Ixion: In Greek mythology, Ixion murdered his father-in-law after refusing to honour a wedding contract, and was punished by being tied to a fiery flying wheel for eternity.

  Jupiter Optimus Maximus: Roman king of the gods, ‘Jupiter, Greatest and Best’.

  Kalends: The first day of each month.

  Lake of Curtius: Archaic monument in the middle of the Roman Forum taking the form of a sunken pool with statuary; the Romans themselves did not know its origins.

  Lararium: Roman household shrine.

  Latrones: Latin, ‘bandits’.

  Legate: From Latin legatus, a high-ranking officer in the Roman army, drawn from the senatorial classes.

  Legion: Unit of heavy infantry, usually about five thousand men strong; from mythical times, the backbone of the Roman army; the numbers in a legion and the legions’ dominance in the army declined during the third century AD as more and more detachments served away from the parent unit and became more or less independent units.

  Legionary: Roman regular soldier serving in a legion.

  Libation: Offering of drink to the gods.

  Libertas: Latin term for freedom or liberty; a political slogan throughout much of Roman history, though its meaning changed according to an author’s philosophical principles or the system of government that happened to be in power. Also worshipped in personified form as a deity.

  Liburnian: Under the Roman empire, name given to a small warship, possibly rowed on two levels.

  Lictors: Attendants assigned to senior Roman magistrates as bodyguards and ushers; often ex-Centurions.

  Logos: A Greek philosophical term meaning ‘reason’; in many ancient theological systems, the divine mind said to govern the universe.

  Ludus Magnus: Gladiatorial school located to the east of the Flavian Amphitheatre.

  Lusitanians: From Lusitania, Roman province of the eastern Iberian peninsula, covering much of modern Portugal.

  Lydian: From Lydia; ancient region of western Asia Minor, today western Turkey.

  Magna Mater: See Cybele.

  Mamuralia: Festival held on the Ides of March or the day before; possibly an archaic celebration of the new year, which in the old Roman calendar began in March. Ancient authorities were unsure of its significance; commemorated by ritually beating an old man tied in an animal skin.

  Mansio: Rest house run as part of the imperial postal service.

  Mappalian Way: Road leading out of Carthage.

  Marcianopolis: Roman city in Moesia Inferior; modern Devnya in Bulgaria.

  Marcomannic hordes: German tribal confederation only defeated by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius after a series of campaigns lasting more than a decade.

  Mars: Roman god of war.

  Marsyas: In Greek mythology, a satyr who challenged Apollo to a music contest and was flayed alive for his arrogance.

  Master of Admissions: See Ab Admissionibus.

  Media Atropatene: Persian province on the south-west shores of the Caspian Sea.

  Memento more: From Latin, literally ‘remember to die’.

  Mesopotamia: The land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris; the name of a Roman province (sometimes called Osrhoene).

  Misenum: Base of the Roman fleet on the western shore of the Italian peninsular, modern Miseno.

  Moesia: Ancient geographical region following the south bank of the Danube river in the Balkans.

  Moesia Inferior: Roman province on the south bank of the lower reaches of the Danube, bounded by Moesia Superior in the west and the Black Sea in the east.

  Moesia Superior: Roman province on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Danube, bounded by Pannonia Inferior to the north-west and Moesia Inferior to the east.

  Moorish: Belonging to the Mauri tribe that gave its name to Mauretania, western North Africa.

  Mos maiorum: ‘The way of the ancestors’; fundamental Roman concept that theoretically governed most aspects of public and private life.

  Mother Goddess: See Cybele.

  Myrmillo: Heavily armoured Roman gladiator, recognisable by their crested helmets; usually men of stronger but less nimble physique.

  Naptha: Greek term for liquid petroleum, in the ancient world usually sourced from Mesopotamia.

  Narbonnensis: See Gallia Narbonnensis.

  Natiso: Ancient name for the Natisone river, flowing between Italy and Slovenia.

  Necropolis: Greek term for a cemetery; literally ‘city of the dead’.

  Negotium: Latin, ‘business, both private and public’; literally, not otium.

  Nemesis: Greek goddess of divine retribution.

  Nisean: Ancient Iranian horse breed, prized in antiquity.

  Nisibis: Border town that frequently changed hands between Rome and Persia; modern Nusaybin in south-eastern Turkey.

  Nobilis: Latin, ‘nobleman’; a man from one of the elite families, one of whose ancestors had been Consul.

  Nones: The ninth day of a month before the Ides, i.e. the fifth day of a short month, the seventh of a long month.

  Noricum: Roman province to the north-east of the Alps.

  Novus homo: Latin, literally ‘new man’; someone whose ancestors had not previously held senatorial rank.

  Numidia: Roman province in western North Africa.

  Numidian: Inhabitants of the Roman province of western North Africa.

  Odeum: Venue for poetry and music competitions constructed by the Emperor Domitian, taking the form of a small theatre.

  Odysseus: Legendary Greek warrior and traveller, famed for his guile.

  Olbia: City originally founded as a Greek colony on the shores of the Black Sea at the mouth of the Hypanis river, now the Southern Bug in Ukraine.

  Oligarchy: From the Greek ‘rule by the few’.

  Optio: Junior officer in the Roman army, ranked below a Centurion.

  Orations: Work by Dio Chrysostom; a set of some eighty essays on various moral and philosophical subjects survive, originally presented as speeches.

  Orator: Latin term for a professional public speaker.

  Osrhoene: Roman province in northern Mesopotamia.

  Ostia: Ancient port of the city of Rome, located at the mouth of the Tiber.

  Otium: Latin, ‘leisure time’; the ability to indulge in this set the Roman elite apart from the labouring classes.

  Ovile: Settlement in the Thracian highlands, named from the Latin for sheepfold.

  Palatine: One of the fabled seven hills of Rome, south-east of the Roman Forum. Site of the imperial palaces; the English term is derived from their location.

  Palestina: Palestinian Syria, Roman province.

  Palmatis: A Roman village; possibly modern Kochular in Bulgaria.

  Palmyra: Important ‘free’ city in the Roman province of Syria, governed by native rulers.

  Panegyric: Formal speech in praise of something or someone, usually an Emperor; sycophantic and cloying for modern tastes, but a highly prized genre in antiquity.

  Pannonia: Roman territory to the south of the Danube, split into two provinces.

  Pannonia Inferior: Roman province in the central Balkans, straddling the upper reaches of the Danube.

  Pannonia Superior: Roman province north-west of Pannonia Inferior, roughly corresponding with western Hungary and northern Croatia.

  Pantheon library: Library attached to the Pantheon, a colossal domed temple dedicated to all the gods; rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian, it is one of the best-preserved buildings to survive from ancient Rome.

  Parricide: From the Latin, literally ‘relative killing’.

  Parthian: From the region of north-east Iran; seat of the Arsacid dynasty,
its name came to be synonymous with their empire.

  Patrician: People of the highest social status at Rome; originally descendants of those men who sat in the very first meeting of the free Senate after the expulsion of the last of the mythical kings of Rome in 509BC; under the Principate, Emperors awarded new families patrician status.

  Phaethon: In Greek mythology, the son of Helios, the sun god; begged to drive his father’s sun chariot, but when this ran out of control, was killed by Zeus to prevent the earth’s combustion.

  Phalanx: Ancient term for a dense formation of heavily armed warriors, pioneered by the Greeks.

  Phoenician: From Phoenicia, an ancient region lying in the Roman provinces of Syria.

  Phrygian: From the ancient region lying to the west of central Turkey.

  Piquet: A soldier or small unit of soldiers placed in a forward position to warn against an enemy advance.

  Pisae: Ancient name for the town of Pisa in northern Italy.

  Plato’s Academy: Plato’s original school of philosophy, named after the grove of Akademia in which it met, north of the city walls of Athens.

  Plebeians: See Plebs.

  Plebs urbana: Poor of the city of Rome, in literature usually coupled with an adjective labelling them as dirty, superstitious, lazy, distinguished from the plebs rustica, whose rural lifestyle might make them less morally dubious.

  Plebs: Technically, all Romans who were not patricians; more usually, the non-elite.

  Poliorcetic: From the Greek, ‘things belonging to sieges’; the science of besieging a city.

  Pons Sonti: Ruined bridge spanning the Aesontius river on the main road to Aquileia.

  Pontifex Maximus: Most prestigious priesthood in Roman religion, monopolized by the Emperors.

  Porta Capena: Gate through which the Via Appia entered south-east Rome, near the Caelian Hill.

  Post House: See Mansio.

  Praefectus Annonae: Prefect of the Grain Supply. Title of official in charge of the grain supply of Rome.

  Praefectus Urbi: see Prefect of the City.

  Praenomen and nomen: Most Roman citizens had three names, a praenomen (first name), nomen (clan-name) and surname (often a nickname). Accordingly, anyone given Roman citizenship adopted three names as a sign of their new status, usually taking the praenomen and nomen of the person who made the grant. So Dernhelm, nicknamed Ballista in Latin, became known as Marcus Clodius Ballista after he became a Roman citizen.