Freedman A manumitted slave. Formal emancipation conferred full rights of citizenship except for the right to hold office. Informal emancipation conferred freedom without voting rights. In the second or at least third generation, a freedman’s descendants became full citizens.
Games/Ludi Public religious festivals put on by the state. There were a number of long-established ludi, the earliest being the Roman Games (ludi Romani) in honor of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and held in September. The ludi Mega-lenses were held in April, as were the ludi Cereri in honor of Ceres, the grain goddess and the ludi Floriae in honor of Flora, the goddess of fiowers. The ludi Apollinares were celebrated in July. In October were celebrated the ludi Capitolini and the final games of the year were the Plebeian Games (ludi Plebeii) in November. Games usually ran for several days except for the Capitoline Games, which ran for a single day. Games featured theatrical performances, processions, sacrifices, public banquets, and chariot races. They did not feature gladiatorial combats. The gladiator games, called munera, were put on by individuals as funeral rites.
Imperium The ancient power of kings to summon and lead armies, to order and forbid and to infiict corporal and capital punishment. Under the Republic, the imperium was divided among the consuls and praetors, but they were subject to appeal and intervention by the tribunes in their civil decisions and were answerable for their acts after leaving office. Only a dictator had unlimited imperium.
Insula Literally, “island.” A detached house or block of fiats let out to poor families.
Interrex When both consuls died in office or were unable to assume office, the Senate appointed an interrex (lit. “kingbetween”) to preside over the Senate. He had limited consular powers.
Janitor A slave-doorkeeper, so called for Janus, god of gateways.
Latifundia A large, slave-worked plantation.
Libitinarii Rome’s undertakers. Their name comes from Venus Libitina, Venus in her aspect as death-goddess. Like many other Roman customs associated with the underworld, the funeral rites had many Etruscan practices and trappings.
Lictor Bodyguards, usually freedmen, who accompanied magistrates and the Flamen Dialis, bearing the fasces. They summoned assemblies, attended public sacrifices, and carried out sentences of punishment.
Ludus (pl. ludi) The official public games, races, theatricals, etc. Also training schools for gladiators, although the gladiatorial exhibitions were not ludi.
Lupanar (lit. “wolf’s den”) A Roman brothel. They were quite legal, but regulated by law, under the supervision of the aediles.
Munera Special Games, not part of the official calendar, at which gladiators were exhibited. They were originally funeral games and were always dedicated to the dead.
Necropolis An area of graves and tombs along the road outside the city.
Offices A tribune of the people was a representative of the plebeians with power to introduce laws and to veto actions of the Senate. Only plebeians could hold the office, which carried no imperium. Military tribunes were elected from among the young men of senatorial or equestrian rank to be assistants to generals. Usually it was the first step of a man’s political career.
A Roman embarked on a political career had to rise through a regular chain of offices. The lowest elective office was quaestor: bookkeeper and paymaster for the Treasury, the Grain Office, and the provincial governors. These men did the scut work of the Empire.
Next were the aediles. They were more or less city managers who saw to the upkeep of public buildings, streets, sewers, markets, and the like. There were two types: the plebeian aediles and the curule aediles. The curule aediles could sit in judgment on civil cases involving markets and currency, while the plebeian aediles could only levy fines. Otherwise, their duties were the same. They also put on the public games. The government allowance for these things was laughably small, so they had to pay for them out of their own pockets. It was a horrendously expensive office but it gained the holder popularity like no other, especially if his games were spectacular. Only a popular aedile could hope for election to higher office.
Third was praetor, an office with real power. Praetors were judges, but they could command armies and after a year in office they could go out to govern provinces, where real wealth could be won, earned, or stolen. In the late Republic, there were eight praetors. Senior was the praetor urbanus, who heard civil cases between citizens of Rome. The praetor peregrinus (praetor of the foreigners) heard cases involving foreigners. The others presided over criminal courts. After leaving office, the ex-praetors became propraetors and went to govern propraetorian provinces with full imperium.
The highest office was consul, supreme office of power during the Roman Republic. Two were elected each year. For one year they fulfilled the political role of royal authority, bringing all other magistrates into the service of the people and the City of Rome. The office carried full imperium. On the expiration of his year in office, the ex-consul was usually assigned a district outside Rome to rule as proconsul. As proconsul, he had the same insignia and the same number of lictors. His power was absolute within his province. The most important commands always went to proconsuls.
Censors were elected every five years. It was the capstone to a political career, but it did not carry imperium and there was no foreign command afterward. Censors conducted the census, purged the Senate of unworthy members, and doled out the public contracts. They could forbid certain religious practices or luxuries deemed bad for public morals or generally “un-Roman.” There were two censors, and each could overrule the other. They were usually elected from among the ex-consuls.
Under the Sullan Constitution, the quaestorship was the minimum requirement for membership in the Senate. The majority of senators had held that office and never held another. Membership in the Senate was for life unless expelled by the censors.
No Roman official could be prosecuted while in office, but he could be after he stepped down. Malfeasance in office was one of the most common court charges.
The most extraordinary office was dictator. In times of emergency, the Senate could instruct the consuls to appoint a dictator, who could wield absolute power for six months. Unlike all other officials, a dictator was unaccountable: He could not be prosecuted for his acts in office. The last true dictator was appointed in the third century B.C. The dictatorships of Sulla and Julius Caesar were unconstitutional.
Palla A cloak, a cover.
Patrician The noble class of Rome.
Plebeian All citizens not of patrician status; the lower classes, also called “plebs.”
Pomerium The ancient boundary of Rome, marked out by Romulus with his plow. Though by the late Republic Rome had spread far beyond this boundary, it was retained and nothing could be built upon it. The dead could not be buried within the pomerium, nor could citizens bear arms within it.
Pontifical College The pontifexes were a college of priests not of a specific god (see Priesthoods) but whose task was to advise the Senate on matters of religion. The chief of the college was the Pontifex Maximus, who ruled on all matters of religious practice and had charge of the calendar. Julius Caesar was elected Pontifex Maximus, and Augustus made it an office held permanently by the emperors. The title is currently held by the Pope.
Popular Assemblies There were three: the Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata) and the two tribal assemblies: comitia tributa and consilium plebis, q.v.
Praetor of the Foreigners Praetor Peregrinus, the annually elected magistrate in charge of cases involving noncitizens.
Priesthoods In Rome, the priesthoods were offices of state. There were two major classes: pontifexes and ?amines. Pontifexes were members of the highest priestly college of Rome. They had superintendence over all sacred observances, state and private, and over the calendar. Head of their college was the Pontifex Maximus, a title held to this day by the Pope. The ?amines were the high priests of the state gods: the Flamen Martialis for Mars, the Flamen Quirinalis for the deified Romulus,
and, highest of all, the Flamen Dialis, high priest of Jupiter. The Flamen Dialis celebrated the Ides of each month and could not take part in politics, although he could attend meetings of the Senate, attended by a single lictor. Each had charge of the daily sacrifices, wore distinctive headgear, and was surrounded by many ritual taboos.
Another very ancient priesthood was the Rex Sacrorum, “King of Sacrifices.” This priest had to be a patrician and had to observe even more taboos than the Flamen Dialis. This position was so onerous that it became difficult to find a patrician willing to take it.
Technically, pontifexes and ?amines did not take part in public business except to solemnize oaths and treaties, give the god’s stamp of approval to declarations of war, etc. But since they were all senators anyway, the ban had little meaning. Julius Caesar was Pontifex Maximus while he was out conquering Gaul, even though the Pontifex Maximus wasn’t supposed to look upon human blood.
Publicanus One who bid on public contracts.
Puticuli Pits outside of Rome for the burial of the indigent. Those who could afford it had their graves and tombs along the roads outside the city in the Necropolis.
Rostra (sing. rostrum) A monument in the Forum commemorating the sea battle of Antium in 338 B.C., decorated with the rams, rostra, of enemy ships. Its base was used as an orator’s platform.
Senate Rome’s chief deliberative body. It consisted of three hundred to six hundred men, all of whom had won elective office at least once. It was a leading element in the emergence of the Republic, but later suffered degradation at the hands of Sulla.
SPQR Senatus Populusque Romanus The Senate and the People of Rome. The formula embodying the sovereignty of Rome. It was used on official correspondence, documents, and public works.
Tabularium The state archives, located in a sprawling building on the lower slope of the Capitoline Hill, containing centuries’ worth of public documents. Private documents, such as wills, were kept in the various temples.
Tarpeian Rock A cliff beneath the Capitol from which traitors were hurled. It was named for the Roman maiden Tarpeia who, according to legend, betrayed the Capitol to the Sabines.
Temple of Ceres The temple of the Asian/Greek goddess of the harvest located on a slope of the Aventine. The aediles had their headquarters in this temple.
Temple of Saturn The state Treasury was located in a crypt beneath this temple. It was also the repository for military standards.
Temple of Vesta Site of the sacred fire tended by the vestal virgins and dedicated to the goddess of the hearth. Documents, especially wills, were deposited there for safekeeping.
Toga The outer robe of the Roman citizen. It was white for the upper class, darker for the poor and for people in mourning. The toga praetexta, bordered with a purple stripe, was worn by curule magistrates, by state priests when performing their functions, and by boys prior to manhood. The toga picta, purple and embroidered with golden stars, was worn by a general when celebrating a triumph, also by a magistrate when giving public games.
Trans-Tiber A newer district on the left or western bank of the Tiber. It lay beyond the old city walls.
Tribunate The period of office of a tribune of the people.
Triclinium A dining room.
Triumph A ceremony in which a victorious general was rendered semi-divine honors for a day. It began with a magnificent procession displaying the loot and captives of the campaign and culminated with a banquet for the Senate in the Temple of Jupiter. Every general wanted to triumph and it was a tremendous boost for a political career.
Triumvir (lit. “one of three men”) A member of a triumvirate: a board of three men, most famously the governing junta consisting of Octavian (later Augustus), Mark Antony, and Lepidus.
Virgo Maxima The head of the College of Vestals and the most revered and prestigious woman in Rome.
SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance Page 24