The Emperors of Rome

by David Potter

  Goths a Germanic people of central Europe. The Goths formed a number of different groups in the course of their years of contact with Rome; the most significant were perhaps the Visigoths, who developed out of the people led by Alaric in the early fifth century, and the Ostrogoths, a group that formed in the Balkans at the end of that century.

  Huns a semi-nomadic people, who came to prominence as invaders in eastern Europe from the late fourth century AD onwards. Led by Attila in the mid-fifth century, they wrought havoc in the Balkans and the western empire but their empire broke up shortly after his death in AD 453.

  imperator the Roman title from which our word ‘emperor’ derives. Signifying ‘victorious general’, it was adopted by Augustus’ successors as a standard feature of the imperial nomenclature.

  imperium (‘power’) the authority to rule over the Roman people, once conferred on the kings of the city and after their deposition on magistrates, notably the consuls.

  imperium maius (‘greater power’) one of two key powers upon which the legal foundations of the imperial system were based (the other being tribunicia potestas). Imperium maius was power that was ‘greater’ than that of other magistrates, who were therefore supposed to obey orders issued by one who held this power.

  legionary a soldier in the regular Roman army; legions, which originally each numbered over 5000 men but whose strength was later reduced to 1000–2000, were made up of professionally trained, well-equipped heavy infantry.

  lex maiestatis in Roman law, the charge of high treason, a capital offence.

  magister equitum (‘master of the horse’) in the Roman army, the supreme commanding officer of the cavalry units on each war front.

  magister militum (‘master of the soldiers’) a new level of command, created in the late fourth century, above master of infantry and master of cavalry.

  magister peditum (‘master of the footsoldiers’) in the Roman army, the supreme commanding officer of the infantry units on each war front.

  Mithraism cult of the sun-god Mithras. Originating in the eastern provinces of the Roman empire, it became in creasingly popular during the second and third centuries AD.

  municipium an urban centre that had been granted a civic constitution by Rome and whose citizens enjoyed the benefits of Roman citizenship. Compare colonia.

  Neoplatonism a school of thought combining teachings based upon the writings of the fourth-century BC Greek philosopher Plato with those of other groups. The founding father of Neoplatonism was Plotinus, whose career spanned the middle of the third century AD.

  optimates (‘best men’) men who tended to support the legacy of Sulla’s dictatorship in the generation of Caesar; in other words, inherently conservative members of the senate. It was generally used in contrast to the term popularis, or ‘supporter of the interests of the people as a whole’.

  Pantheon temple built by Marcus Agrippa and repaired by the emperor Hadrian to honour all the gods in the Roman state cult. The building was circular in design and surmounted by a large dome; the term later came to be used figuratively to describe all the gods in any polytheistic belief system.

  Parthia name used by the Romans for the territory, primarily in Iran and Iraq, controlled by the Iranian dynasty that preceded the Sassanid empire in the early third century AD.

  paterfamilias the head of a Roman household (domus); Roman law granted the paterfamilias power of life and death (patria potestas) within his home over every member of his family and his servants.

  patrician a member of a ruling élite of Rome. The aristocratic families who made up the patrician order claimed descent from the city’s original senators, who according to legend were appointed by Romulus.

  patrimonium the portfolio of land and other property holdings under personal imperial control (largely acquired through seizures and bequests from citizens) and handed down from one emperor to the next.

  plebeian any Roman citizen who was not a patrician. Plebeians (or plebs for short) constituted the majority of the Roman populace.

  pontifex maximus the high priest of the Roman state cult. Beginning with Julius Caesar, emperors held the post until AD 382.

  praetor Roman magistrate, second in rank to the consul, responsible for civil jurisdiction.

  praetorian guard élite imperial bodyguard, first formed under Augustus. Coming to prominence under the influence of their prefect Aelius Sejanus during the reign of Tiberius, the praetorians increasingly wielded political power in the appointment of emperors. Their power was curbed by later emperors from Diocletian onwards.

  princeps (lit. ‘leading man’) the most common designation for the emperor from the first century AD onwards.

  Punic Roman adjective for the people of Carthage in North Africa and their language. It derives from the Latin Poeni, meaning Phoenicians, from the area in the eastern Mediterranean around the ports of Tyre and Sidon, where the Carthaginians originally came from.

  quaestor the lowest-ranking Roman magistrate. Quaestors had responsibilities for state finances and public works.

  relief a form of sculpture in which the design is raised above a flat background surface.

  saeculum a time period theoretically equivalent to the lifespan of the longest-lived person on earth, calculated at either 100 or 110 years. In Rome, the end of a saeculum was marked with extensive games and sacrifices.

  Sassanid (or Sassanian) empire the state in Persia, established by the Sassanid dynasty, which succeeded the Parthian empire and ruled from AD 225 until Arab Muslims conquered the region in c. AD 636.

  senate the governing body of the Roman Republic. Members of the senate had to possess significant property and, ordinarily, to have held the office of quaestor or tribune of the plebs.

  Tetrarchy (lit. ‘rule of four’) the system, named by later historians, instituted by Diocletian to rule the empire. The responsibilities of government were shared by two senior emperors and two juniors.

  tribune the main representative of the Roman plebeian class. Ten tribunes were elected annually by the ‘council of the plebs’, a body set up in fifth-century BC Rome. The tribune’s powers, an important part of state authority in Rome, were known as the tribunicia potestas.

  triumvirate in common usage, any group of three magistrates. The term was applied to the informal political alliance between Pompey, Crassus and Caesar in the fifties BC and, later, to the official board of three established in 43 BC ‘to set the state in order’ comprised Mark Antony, Octavian and Lepidus.

  Vestal Virgin servant of Vesta, the patron goddess of the Roman hearth and home. The Vestals were charged with keeping alight the eternal flame, symbolizing the enduring strength of the state, at the Temple of Vesta in the forum.

  vicarius (lit. ‘substitute, stand-in’) term used in the early Roman empire to denote a deputy to a provincial governor. Following Diocletian’s administrative reforms in the third century AD, the term denoted an office-holder who was responsible for the day-to-day administration of one of the three dioceses under the jurisdiction of each of the empire’s four praetorian prefects.

  villa the buildings of a Roman country estate, traditionally comprising living quarters, storehouses, stables, workshops, farm buildings, and so on. Lavish villas became the preferred residence of many Roman emperors, who ran the business of empire from there, when not in the capital or on campaign.

  virtus the manly quality of service to the state, much prized as a quintessential Roman characteristic that helped create social cohesion from the early days of the republic onwards.

 

 

 
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