Throne of the Caesars 01 - Iron and Rust (46 page)

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

Hispania Tarraconensis:
One of the three provinces into which the Romans divided the Spanish peninsula, the north-east corner.

House of the Vestals:
Home of the Vestal Virgins, priestesses who tended the sacred fire of the goddess Vesta; situated east of the Roman Forum and on the south side of the Sacred Way, opposite the Temple of Venus and Rome.

Humanitas:
Latin, ‘humanity’ or ‘civilization’, the opposite of barbaritas; Romans thought that they, the Greeks (at least upper-class ones), and, on occasion, other peoples (usually very remote) had it, while the majority of mankind did not.

Hydaspes:
Greek name for the Jhelum River in Pakistan, site of Alexander the Great’s victory over the Indian king Porus in 326
BC.

Hymen:
Greek god of marriage.

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

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

Ilion:
Alternative name for the legendary city of Troy.

Illyrian:
From the Balkans beyond the Adriatic (Illyricum in Latin); vaguely applied.

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.

Imperium:
Power of the Romans, i.e. the Roman empire, often referred to in full as the imperium Romanorum.

In Absentia:
Latin, ‘while absent’.

Io, Imperator!:
Latin, ‘hurrah, Imperator’, cry of victory.

Ionia:
Area of western Turkey bordering the Aegean, settled by Greeks.

Iunam:
Berber god identified with Sol or Mar, the Roman sun or war gods.

Iupiter optime, tibi gratias. Apollo venerabilis, tibi gratias:
Latin prayer, ‘Greatest Jupiter, to you we give thanks; reverend Apollo, to you we give thanks’.

Iuvenes:
Latin, ‘young men’; often denoting an elite para-military organization.

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.

Juno:
Roman goddess of marriage.

Juno Sospes:
Title of Juno, ‘The Saviour’.

Jupiter:
Roman king of the gods.

Jupiter Optimus Maximus:
Title of Jupiter, ‘Greatest and Best’.

Jupiter Victor:
Title of Jupiter, ‘The Victorious’.

Kalends:
First day of the month.

Laconicum:
Dry sweating room in a Roman baths.

Lake of Curtius:
Archaic monument in the middle of the Roman Forum taking the form of a sunken pool with statuary; the Romans themselves told various stories about its origins.

Lake of Triton:
Ancient name for the Chott el Djerid, a large salt lake in central Tunisia.

Lambaesis:
Fortress of the 3rd Augustan Legion and capital of the Roman province of Numidia; modern Tazoult in north-eastern Algeria.

Lamiae
: Witches thought to suck the blood of children.

Lararium:
Roman household shrine.

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

Legio I Parthica:
The 1st Parthian Legion, stationed at Singara in Mesopotamia (Sinjar in Iraq).

Legio II Parthica:
Full title Legio II Parthica Pia Fidelis Felix Aeterna, the 2nd Legion, the Parthian, Eternally Loyal, Faithful and Fortunate; in this period based at Mainz in Germany, though stationed in peacetime on the Alban hills near Rome.

Legio III Augusta:
The 3rd Augustan Legion; stationed at Lambaesis in the province of Numidia.

Legio III Italica:
The 3rd Italian Legion; usually stationed at Castra Regina in the province of Germania Superior.

Legio III Parthica:
The 3rd Parthian Legion; raised towards the end of the second century for campaigns against Parthia; garrisoned at Resaina in Syria.

Legio IIII Scythica:
The 4rd Scythian Legion; from the second half of the first century
AD
based at Zeugma in Syria Coele (Kavunlu, formerly Belkis, in Turkey).

Legio VI Ferrata:
The 6th Iron-Clad Legion; based at Carporcotani in Syria Palestina (el-Qanawat in Syria).

Legio VII:
Full title Legio VII Gemina, The 7th Twin Legion, stationed at Legio (Léon) in Hispania Tarraconensis.

Legio VIII Augusta:
The 8th Augustan Legion; stationed at Argentoratum (Strasbourg) in Germania Superior.

Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis:
The 11th Legion, Claudian, Loyal and Faithful; based at Durostorum in Moesia Inferior (Silistra in Bulgaria).

Legio XII Fulminata:
The 12th Thunder-bearing Legion; in this period, garrisoned in Syria.

Legio XV Apollinaris:
The 15th Apollonarian Legion; stationed at Stala in Cappadocia (Sadak in Turkey).

Legio XVI:
Full title Legio XVI Flavia Firma, the 16th Legion, Flavian and Steadfast; based at Samostata in Syria Coele (Samsat in Turkey).

Legion:
Unit of heavy infantry, usually about 5,000 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.

Lemuria:
The days (9, 11 and 13 May) when dangerous ghosts were said to walk, necessitating propitiation.

Lesbian:
From the Greek island of Lesbos; their wine was highly praised in antiquity, and was sometimes mixed with seawater.

Libation:
Offering of drink to the gods.

Liberalia:
Roman festival in honour of the god Liber and the advent of manhood, celebrated with feasting and the singing of dirty songs.

Liberalitas:
Latin, ‘generosity’, a characteristic of good Emperors.

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.

Library of Celsus:
Monumental library given to the city of Ephesus in the early second century, honouring the Senator Celsus Polemaeanus, who was buried in a crypt below the reading room.

Longaticum:
Modern Logatec in western Slovenia.

Ludi Florales:
Roman festival in honour of the goddess Flora held on 28th April, celebrated with six days of games.

Lycaonian Bear:
According to Greek myth, the nymph Callisto from Lyconia was seduced by Zeus, transformed into a bear by his enraged daughter, and, hunted down, turned into the constellation of Ursa minor.

Macenites:
Nomadic tribe living in western North Africa.

Macurgum:
Berber god identified with the Roman messenger god Mercury.

Macurtam:
Berber god identified with Sol or Mars, the Roman sun and war gods.

Maenad:
Frenzied female followers of the god Aionysos in Greek mythology.

Magna Mater:
Roman title for the goddess Cybele, under the Emperors a deity of imperial protection and agriculture.

Mamertine:
Wine from north-eastern Sicily, favoured by Julius Caesar.

Mars:
Roman god of war.

Mars Pater:
Title of the god Mars, ‘The Father’.

Mars Victor:
Title of the god Mars, ‘The Victorious’.

Martae:
Town on the south-eastern coast of Tunisia, modern Mareth.

Massilia:
Roman port on the southern shores of Gaul; modern Marseilles.

Matilam:
Berber god identified with the Roman king of the gods, Jupiter.

Mauretania:
Roman name for western North Africa, spanning modern Morocco and Algeria.

Mauretania Caesariensis:
Roman province of eastern Mauretania, roughly corresponding to northern Algeria.

Mauretania Tingitana:
Roman province of western Mauretania, roughly northern Morocco.

Melanogaitouloi:
Nomadic tribe living on the northern fringes of the Sahara.

Melitene:
City and legionary fortress in central Turkey, modern Malatya.

Menses:
Latin, literally ‘months’; by extension, the menstrual cycle.

Mercury:
Roman god of travellers; equivalent of Hermes.

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

Middle Sea:
Alternative for Latin Mediterraneus, sea ‘in the middle of the land’.

Milesian Tales:
Greek genre of erotic stories.

Minerva:
Roman goddess of wisdom.

Mirror Fort:
Latin Ad Speculum; Roman frontier fort; modern Chebika in Tunisia.

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 south of the Danube, running from Moesia Superior in the west to the Black Sea in the east.

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

Mogontiacum:
Roman legionary fortress and capital of Germania Superior; modern Mainz.

Molossian Dog:
Ancient breed of hunting dog from the south-western Balkans.

Momento mori:
From Latin, literally ‘remember to die’.

Monetales:
See Tresviri monetales.

Mons Ocra:
Highest peak in the Slovenian Alps, Mount Triglav.

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

Mycalessus:
Site of a notorious massacre perpetrated by the Thracians, who killed the entire population of the town; modern Rhitsona in mainland Greece.

Naissus:
Roman town in Moesia; modern Niš in Serbia.

Naparis:
Tributary of the Danube to the east of the Carpathian Mountains mentioned by Herodotus.

Narnia:
Ancient settlement in Umbria at the foot of the Apennines; modern Narni.

Nasamones:
Nomadic tribe living around the Awjila Oasis in the north east of modern Libya.

Nectar:
Drink of the gods.

Nemean Lion:
Monstrous lion of Greek mythology impervious to mortal weapons; strangled to death by Hercules.