Hannibal: Fields of Blood (62 page)

Arretium: modern-day Arezzo.

as
(pl.
asses
): a small bronze coin.

atrium
: the large chamber immediately beyond the entrance hall in a Roman house. Frequently built on a grand scale, this was the social and devotional centre of the home.

Aufidius: the River Ofanto.

Baal Hammon: the pre-eminent god at the time of the founding of Carthage. He was the protector of the city, the fertilising sun, the provider of wealth and the guarantor of success and happiness. The Tophet, or the sacred area where Baal Hammon was worshipped, is the site where the bones of children and babies have been found, giving rise to the controversial topic of child sacrifice. For those who are interested, there is an excellent discussion on the issue in Richard Miles’s book,
Carthage Must Be Destroyed
. The term ‘Baal’ means ‘Master’ or ‘Lord’, and was used before the name of various gods.

Baal Saphon: the Carthaginian god of war.

Caere: modern-day Cerveteri.

caetrati
(sing.
caetratus
): light Iberian infantry. They wore short-sleeved white tunics with a crimson border at the neck, hem and sleeves. Their only protection was a helmet of sinew or bronze, and a round buckler of leather and wicker, or wood, called a
caetra
. They were armed with
falcata
swords and daggers.

caldarium
: an intensely hot room in Roman bath complexes. Used like a modern-day sauna, most also had a hot plunge pool. The
caldarium
was heated by hot air which flowed through hollow bricks in the walls and under the raised floor. The source of the piped heat was the
hypocaustum
, a furnace constantly kept hot by slaves.

caligae
: heavy leather sandals worn by the Roman soldier. Sturdily constructed in three layers – a sole, insole and upper –
caligae
resembled an open-toed boot. The straps could be tightened to make them fit more closely. Dozens of metal studs on the sole gave the sandals good grip; these could also be replaced when necessary.

Campania: a fertile region of west central Italy.

Cannae: modern-day Canne della Battaglia, a site about 12 kilometres west of the town of Barletta, in Apulia.

Canusium: modern-day Canosa di Puglia.

Capua: modern-day Santa Maria Capua Vetere, near Naples, in Campania. In the third century
BC
, it was the second largest city in Italy and had not long been under the control of Rome.

carnyx (pl. carnyxes): a bronze trumpet, which was held vertically and topped by a bell shaped in the form of an animal, usually a boar. Used by many Celtic peoples, it was ubiquitous in Gaul, and provided a fearsome sound alone or in unison with other instruments. It was often depicted on Roman coins, to denote victories over various tribes.

Carthage: modern-day Tunis. It was reputedly founded in 814
BC
, although the earliest archaeological finds date from about sixty years later.

cenaculae
(sing.
cenacula
): the miserable multi-storey flats in which Roman plebeians lived. Cramped, poorly lit, heated only by braziers, and often dangerously constructed, the
cenaculae
had no running water or sanitation. Access to the flats was via staircases built on the outside of the building.

centurion (in Latin,
centurio
): disciplined career officer; centurions formed the backbone of the Roman army. See also entry for maniple.

Ceres: the goddess of agriculture, grain crops and fertility.

Choma: the man-made quadrilateral area which lay to the south and southeast of the main harbours in Carthage. It was probably constructed to serve as a place to unload ships, to store goods, and to act as a pier head protecting passing vessels from the worst of the wind.

Cisalpine Gaul: the northern area of modern-day Italy, comprising the Po plain and its mountain borders from the Alps to the Apennines. In the third century
BC
, it was not part of the Republic.

consul: one of two annually elected chief magistrates, appointed by the people and ratified by the Senate. Effective rulers of Rome for twelve months, they were in charge of civil and military matters and led the Republic’s armies into war. If in the field together, each man took charge of the army on alternate days. In other circumstances, each could countermand the other; both were supposed to heed the wishes of the Senate. No man was meant to serve as consul more than once, although in practice this was not the case.

contubernium
(pl.
contubernia
): a group of eight legionaries who shared a tent and who cooked and ate together.

crucifixion: contrary to popular belief, the Romans did not invent this awful form of execution; in fact, the Carthaginians may well have done so. The practice is first recorded during the Punic wars.

decurion: the cavalry officer in charge of ten men. In later times, the decurion commanded a
turma
, a unit of about thirty men.

Diana: the goddess of the hunt, the moon and of childbirth.

dictator: in times of great crisis, the Senate could elect a dictator, a magistrate who, for six months, had supreme control over all other magistrates, and of the entire Republic. His second-in-command was called the Master of the Horse (a reference to cavalry).

didrachm
: a silver coin, worth two drachmas, which was one of the main coins in third century
BC
Italy. Strangely, the Romans did not mint many coins of their own design until later on. The
denarius
, which was to become the main coin of the Republic, was not introduced until around 211
BC
.

drachm
: a silver coin of Greek denomination. See entry above.

equestrian: a Roman nobleman, ranking just below the class of senator. In the third century
BC
, men such as these provided the regular cavalry for the Roman army.

Eshmoun: the Carthaginian god of health and well-being, whose temple was the largest in Carthage.

Etruria: a region of central Italy, north of Rome and the homeland of the Etruscans, a people who had dominated much of northern Italy before the rise of Rome.

falcata
sword: a lethal, slightly curved weapon with a sharp point used by light Iberian infantry. It was single-edged for the first half to two-thirds of its blade, but the remainder was double-edged. The hilt curved protectively around the hand and back towards the blade; it was often made in the shape of a horse’s head. Apparently, the
caetrati
who used
falcata
swords were well able to fight legionaries.

Fides: the goddess of trust.

Fortuna: the goddess of luck and good fortune. Like all deities, she was notoriously fickle.

frigidarium
: a room in Roman baths containing a cold plunge pool. It was often the last chamber in a bathing complex.

fugitivus
: a runaway slave. The punishment branding the letter ‘F’ (for
fugitivus
) on the forehead is documented; so is the wearing of permanent neck chains, which had directions on how to return the slave to his or her owner.

Genua: modern-day Genoa.

Gerunium: an ancient town in Samnium, the modern-day location of which is not known. It lay close to Larinum (modern-day Larino).

gladius
(pl.
gladii
): little information remains about the ‘Spanish’ sword of the Republican army, the
gladius hispaniensis
, with its waisted blade. It is not clear when it was adopted by the Romans, but it was probably after encountering the weapon during the First Punic War, when it was used by Celtiberian troops. The shaped hilt was made of bone and protected by a pommel and guard of wood. The
gladius
was worn on the right, except by centurions and other senior officers, who wore it on the left. It was actually quite easy to draw with the right hand, and was probably positioned like this to avoid entanglement with the
scutum
while being unsheathed.

gugga: In Plautus’ comedy
Poenulus
one of the Roman characters refers to a Carthaginian trader as a ‘gugga’. This insult can be translated as ‘little rat’.

Hades: the underworld – hell. The god of the underworld was also called Hades.

hastati
(sing.
hastatus
): experienced young soldiers who formed the first ranks in the Roman battle line in the third century
BC
. They were armed with mail or bronze breast and back plates, crested helmets, and
scuta
. They carried two
pila
, one light and one heavy, and a
gladius
hispaniensis
.

Hercules (or, more correctly, Heracles): the greatest of Greek heroes, who completed twelve monumentally difficult labours.

Iberia: the modern-day Iberian Peninsula, encompassing Spain and Portugal.

Illyrian: someone from Illyricum (or Illyria): the Roman name for the lands that lay across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, including parts of modern-day Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

Insubres: a tribe of Gauls.

Juno: sister and wife of Jupiter, she was the Roman goddess of marriage and women.

Jupiter: often referred to as Optimus Maximus – ‘Greatest and Best’. Most powerful of the Roman gods, he was responsible for weather, especially storms.

lararium
:
a shrine found in Roman homes, where the household gods were worshipped.

Larinum: modern-day Larino.

latrones
(sing.
latro
): thieves or brigands.

licium
: linen loincloth worn by nobles. It is likely that all classes wore a variant of this.

Ligurians: natives of the coastal area that was bounded to the west by the River Rhône and to the east by the River Arno.

maniple: the main tactical unit of the Roman army in the third century
BC
. There were thirty maniples in a legion, and a total of about 4,200 men. Each maniple was commanded by two centurions, one more senior than the other. Maniples of
hastati
and
principes
were composed of two centuries of sixty legionaries; forty
velites
were also attached to each unit. A maniple of
triarii
, however, was smaller. It was composed of two centuries of thirty men each, and forty
velites
.

Mars: the Roman god of war.

Melqart: a Carthaginian god associated with the sea, and with Hercules. He was also the god most favoured by the Barca family. Hannibal notably made a pilgrimage to Melqart’s shrine in southern Iberia before beginning his war on Rome.

Minerva: the Roman goddess of war and also of wisdom.

mollis
: Latin word, meaning ‘soft’ or ‘gentle’, here used as a term of abuse for a homosexual.

Ocriculum: near modern-day Otricoli.

optiones
(sing.
optio
):
the officers who ranked immediately below centurions; an
optio
was the second-in-command of a century.

Oscans: ancient inhabitants of much of southern Italy, most especially Campania.

Padus: the River Po.

papaverum
: the drug morphine. Made from the flowers of the opium plant, its use has been documented from at least 1,000
BC
.

phalanx: the traditional tactical unit of Greek armies, and, it is thought, of the Libyan spearmen who fought for Carthage.

phalera
(pl.
phalerae
): a sculpted disc-like decoration for bravery which was worn on a chest harness over a Roman soldier’s armour.
Phalerae
were commonly made of bronze, but could be made of more precious metals as well.

Phoenicians: a seafaring, merchant people who lived mostly on the coastline of modern-day Lebanon. They were the founders of Carthage.

pilum
(pl.
pila
): the Roman javelin. It consisted of a wooden shaft approximately 1.2 m (4 ft) long, joined to a thin iron shank approximately 0.6 m (2 ft) long, and was topped by a small pyramidal point. The javelin was heavy and, when launched, all of its weight was concentrated behind the head, giving it tremendous penetrative force. It could strike through a shield to injure the man carrying it, or lodge in the shield, making it impossible for the man to continue using it. The range of the
pilum
was about 30 m (100 ft), although the effective range was probably about half this distance.

Placentia: modern-day Piacenza.

porta decumana
: one of the four entrances to a marching camp. It was found on one of the two short sides of the camp (which was roughly rectangular) opposite the
porta praetoria
, which lay close to the commanders’ quarters. The
via praetoria
linked these two gates, and the
via principalis
the other two.