Threshold of Fire (19 page)

Arians:
Followers of Arius who believed that the Son is not co-equal with the Father.

Atrium:
The fore-court, that part of the Roman house opening off the entrance.

Clarissimi:
Excellencies.

Clarissimus:
Title given in the Imperial period to people of quality.

Clivus Capitolinus:
The road to the Capitol.

Curiales:
Members of the Curia or court, which was one of the 30 parts into which Romulus divided the Roman people.

Divinatio:
divination.

Fasces:
A bundle carried before the highest magistrates and consisting of rods, with which criminals were scourged, and an axe with which
they were beheaded.

Garum:
A sauce for fish.

Gigantomachia:
The war between the gods and the Titans.

Homo novus:
A man newly ennobled, the first of his family to achieve the highest rank. Sometimes, an upstart.

Ignotus:
unknown.

Illustrissimi:
Those who are most illustrious.

Impluvium:
A skylight, the opening in the roof of the atrium through which smoke was released. It also admitted the rain, and the
impluvium
was also the name for the square basin into which rain water was received.

Insula:
A tenement, housing for the poor.

Lares:
Protective deities of a house: household gods whose images stood on the hearth in a little shrine.

Libanios:
A celebrated 4th century rhetorician (314-393).

Liber pater:
The Italian god of fertility. He was commonly identified with the Greek god
Dionysus, although Liber does not seem to have any connection with wine. Romans connected his name with
libertas:
liberty.

Lictor:
An attendant granted to a Roman magistrate as a sign of official dignity. The
lictor
bore the
fasces,
the bundle of rods with a protruding axe.

Ludi magister:
Schoolmaster.

Magister militum:
Supreme Head of the Army.

Magister officiorum:
Chief of Chancellery.

Magna Mater:
The Great Goddess, Cybele. She was a mother goddess, primarily a goddess of fertility, but also a goddess of wild nature. The cult of the Great Goddess was one of the important mystery religions of the Roman Empire. Her temple was on the Palatine Hill.

Nobilissimi:
The Imperial nobility.

Oratorium:
A place of prayer, an oratory.

Palla:
A long, wide upper garment worn by Roman women. A robe or mantle.

Pater familias:
The male head of the family.

Penates:
Old Latin guardian deities of the household.

Peristylium:
A peristyle, an open space, as a courtyard, surrounded by columns.

Pietas:
Dutiful conduct toward the gods and one’s family.

Praefectus Praetorio Orientis:
Governor of the Eastern Empire.

Progymnasmata:
Rhetorical exercises.

Pro Se:
Himself; in one’s own behalf.

Popina:
A tavern.

Sacrificium:
Sacrifice.

Stola:
A long robe.

Tablinum:
A gallery, a room separating the peristyle from the atrium.

Tepidarium:
A tepid bathing room.

Triclinium:
A dining room, and also a couch running around 3 sides of a table, a table-couch, on which to recline at meals.

Tullianum:
The dungeon of the state prison in
Rome, built by King Servius Tullius.

Twelve Tables:
The earliest Roman code of laws drawn up by a special commission of ten in 451 B.C. on the demand of the plebians. It is known only from quotations and references; no complete text survives. The Tables dealt with all aspects of the law and gradually became obsolete, as new laws were enacted.

Vigiles:
Watchmen.

Volumen:
Book roll or scroll.