Throne of the Caesars 01 - Iron and Rust (44 page)

Algidus:
Extinct volcano south east of Rome, site of a battle between Rome and the Aequi in 458
–
7
BC.

Ambrosia:
Mythical food of the gods.

Amici:
Latin, ‘friends’.

Ammaedara:
Roman town on the eastern border of Tunisia; modern Haïdra.

Amouda:
Town in north-eastern Syria, modern Amuda.

Amphorae:
Large Roman earthenware storage vessels.

Angle:
Member of a North German tribe, living in the area of modern Denmark.

Angrivarii:
North German tribe living in the area of modern Saxony and Westphalia.

Antioch:
Ancient city on the Orontes river in north-eastern Syria; second city of the eastern Roman empire.

Antoniniad:
Epic poem alleged to have been written by Gordian the Elder on the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius; only the title survives.

Aphrodite:
Greek goddess of love.

Apollo:
Greek god of music and culture.

Apollo Sandaliarius:
Famous statue of Apollo in the street of the Sandal-makers (Vicus Sandaliarius).

Apulia:
Modern Puglia, the ‘heel’ of Italy.

Apulum:
Roman fort in the province of Dacia; modern Alba Iulia in Romania.

Aquileia:
Town in north-eastern Italy.

Aquitania:
Roman province of south-western and central Gaul, in modern France.

Arabia:
Roman province covering much of modern Jordan and the Sinai peninsular.

Aramaic:
Ancient language spoken in much of the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Araxes River:
Greek name for the Aras River, rising in eastern Turkey and flowing towards the Caspian Sea.

Arca:
Coastal town in Syria Phoenice.

Arch of Augustus:
Monumental arch in the south eastern corner of the Roman Forum, commemorating a diplomatic victory over the Parthians in 19
BC.

Arch of Germanicus:
Monumental arch built on the right bank of the Rhine at Mainz-Kastel, commemorating the German campaigns of Germanicus in the early first century
AD.

Arch of Titus:
Monumental arch between the Roman Forum and Flavian Amphitheatre, commemorating the re-conquest of Jerusalem in
AD
70.

Ares:
Greek god of war.

Arete:
Fictional town on the Euphrates, modelled on Dura-Europus.

Argo:
Legendary ship of the Argonauts.

Argonauts:
Crew of Jason’s mythical ship the Argo.

Armenia:
Ancient buffer kingdom between Rome and Parthia, occupying much of the area south of the Caucasus mountains and west of the Caspian Sea; much larger than the modern state of Armenia.

Arsacid:
Dynasty that ruled Parthia 247
BC
–
AD228.

Artaxata:
Capital of the Kingdom of Armenia; modern Artashat in Armenia.

Artemis:
Greek goddess of hunting.

Arzamon River:
Greek name for the Zergan river in south-eastern Turkey and north-eastern Syria.

Asia:
Roman province of western Turkey.

Athena:
Greek goddess of wisdom.

Athenians:
Citizens of the Greek city-state of Athens.

Atlantes:
Tribe in western North Africa; gave their name to the Atlas Mountains.

Atrium:
Open courtyard in a Roman house.

Augean Stable:
In Greek myth, a giant stables finally cleaned by the hero Hercules by the redirecting of two rivers.

Augilae:
Tribe of Libyans living around the Awjila Oasis.

Augusta Vindelicorum:
Capital of the Roman province of Raetia; modern Augsburg in southern Germany.

Augustus:
Name of the first Roman Emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office.

Auspex:
Roman priest in charge of telling the future from various rituals and natural phenomena, including the flight of birds.

Auxiliary:
Roman regular soldier serving in a unit other than a legion.

Bacchic:
Fuelled by wine; from the religious frenzy of the worshippers of the god Bacchus.

Bacchus:
Roman name for the Greek god of wine, Dionysos.

Baetica:
One of the three Roman provinces of the Spanish peninsular, located in the south-eastern corner of modern Spain.

Baquates:
Nomadic Berber tribe living in the Middle Atlas mountains of modern Morocco.

Barbaricum:
Lands of the barbarians. Anywhere beyond the frontiers of the Roman empire, which were thought to mark the limits of the civilized world.

Basilica:
Roman court building and audience chamber.

Basilica Aemilia:
Court building on the north-eastern side of the Roman Forum, originally built in 179
BC
and restored on several occasions in antiquity.

Baths of Titus:
Built by the Emperor Titus c.
AD
81 on the Esquiline Hill, just north of the Flavian Amphitheatre.

Baths of Trajan:
Large bathing and leisure complex dedicated by the Emperor Trajan in
AD
109, built on the flank of the Esquiline Hill overshadowing the adjacent Baths of Titus.

Batnae:
Town in south-eastern Turkey; modern Suruç.

Belgica:
Roman province spanning modern Belgium and north-western France.

Bithynia-Pontus:
Roman province along the south shore of the Black Sea.

Boeotia:
Ancient area of central Greece north east of the Gulf of Corinth.

Boeotian:
From the region of Boeotia.

Bona Vacantia:
Latin legal term, literally, ‘unclaimed property’ of those dying intestate; a major source of income for the Emperors.

Bonchor:
God worshipped by the Numidians, equated with Saturn, Roman father of the gods.

Borythenes:
Greek name for the Dnieper river.

Britannia Inferior:
One of two Roman provinces of Britain, located in northern England.

Brundisium:
Important port on the south-eastern coast of Italy, modern Brindisi.

Bucolic:
Ancient genre of poetry dealing with rural themes, from the Greek ‘cowherd’.

Bulla:
Charm placed around the necks of children and worn until adulthood.

Byzantium:
Greek city founded at the mouth of the Black Sea; modern Istanbul.

Caelian Hill:
One of the seven legendary hills of Rome, lying south east of the Roman Forum.

Caesar:
Name of the adopted family of the first Roman Emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office; often used to designate an Emperor’s heir.

Caledonia:
Area of Britain north of the Roman provinces; roughly modern Scotland.

Campania:
Fertile region on the western coast of southern Italy much favoured as a holiday destination by the Roman elite.

Campus Martius:
Latin, literally, ‘field of Mars’; name of a famous space in Rome; in general, name for a parade ground.

Cannae:
Ancient village in Apulia, site of disastrous Roman defeat by Hannibal in 216
BC.

Cape Malea:
Headland on the south-eastern peninsular of the Greek Peloponnese.

Cappadocia:
Roman province north of the Euphrates.

Capri:
Island in the Bay of Naples, where the Emperor Tiberius spent his notorious retirement.

Capsa:
Town in central Tunisia, modern Gafsa.

Carinae:
Literally ‘the Keels’, fashionable quarter of ancient Rome on the Esquiline Hill; now S. Pietro in vincoli.

Carpathian Mountains:
Mountain chain in Central and Eastern Europe, named from the ancient Carpi tribe.

Carpi:
Tribe living north-west of the Black Sea.

Carrhae:
Town in northern Iraq, scene of a disastrous Roman defeat at the hands of the Parthians in 53
BC.

Carthage:
Second city of the western Roman empire; capital of the province of Africa proconsularis.

Castellum Arabum:
Roman fort, modern Tell Ajaja in eastern Syria.

Castellum Neptitana:
Oasis in western Tunisia, modern Nefta.

Castra Regina:
Legionary fortress and settlement in south eastern Germany, modern Regensburg.

Cataphracts:
Heavily armoured Roman cavalry, from the Greek word for mail armour.

Caystros River:
River in western Turkey, now much silted and known as the Küçükmenderes.

Cententarium Tibubuci:
Roman outpost in southern Tunisia, modern Ksar Tarcine.

Centurion:
Officer of the Roman army with the seniority to command a company of around eighty to a hundred men.

Cercopes:
Mythical twins renowned for cheating, thieving, and lying.

Cerialia:
Roman festival in honour of the goddess Ceres, celebrated on 10th April.

Chaboras River:
Tributary of the Euphrates in southern Turkey and northern Syria, the modern Khabur River.

Cherusci:
German tribe living in the north west of Germania.

Chian:
Red wine from the Island of Chios; highly prized in antiquity.

Cilicia:
Rome province in the south of Asia Minor.

Cillium:
Town at the foot of the Atlas Mountains in eastern Tunisia; modern Kasserine.

Cinithii:
Berber tribe living in the south of modern Tunisia.

Civilis princeps:
Literally, a ‘citizen-like emperor’; one ruling with tact and restraint rather than as an absolute monarch or dictator.

Clibanarii:
Heavily armoured cavalry, name possibly derived from the Latin for ‘baking oven’.

Coelli:
Members of the Coelius family; their ancestors held the consulship in the Republic, making them nobiles.

Cohors I Thracarum:
The 2nd Thracian Cohort; Auxiliary unit recruited from Thrace in the Balkans.

Cohors II Flavia Afrorum:
The 2nd Cohort, Flavian, African; stationed in the south of modern Tunisia for much of its history.

Cohors V Dalmatarum:
The 5th Dalmatian Cohort; in the late second century, stationed in Germania Superior.

Cohors XV Emesenorum;
The 15th Emesene Cohort; auxiliary unit recruited from around the city of Emesa in Syria.

Cohort:
Unit of Roman soldiers, usually about 500 men-strong.

Colonia Agrippinensis:
Capital of the province of Germania Inferior; modern Cologne in Germany.