by Ben Kane
Capua: one of the most important cities in Republican Rome. Now a small town north of Naples.
Carthage: founded by Phoenicians as a trading settlement in the eighth century BC, it developed into a mighty city state with territories covering the entire western Mediterranean. It fought three great wars against Rome, losing all three; at the end of the last (149–146 BC) it was razed to the ground. Note: its fields were not salted.
Carthaginians: natives of Carthage.
cenaculum/cenacula: the miserable, one-room apartments in which the majority of the urban Roman poor lived.
Centuriate (in Latin, comitia centuriata): a remnant of Rome’s earliest political structure, it was largely defunct by the late third century BC. Its members were for the most part farmers, who would have had intimate experience of the horrors of the Hannibalic conflict, which explains their refusal to ratify the Senate’s first motion for war with Macedon.
centurion (in Latin, centurio): the disciplined career officers who formed the backbone of the Roman army. See also the entry for legion.
century: the main sub-unit of a Roman legion, led by a centurion. Although its original strength had been one hundred men, it numbered eighty by the third century BC. Each century was divided into ten sections of eight soldiers, called contubernia. Two centuries formed a maniple, a larger tactical unit. See also the entries for contubernium, maniple and legion.
Cephallenia: modern-day Cephalonia.
Chalcis/Chalkis: a Macedonian fortress and the main city of Euboea. One of the three ‘Fetters of Greece’.
Chalkidian: one of the commoner types of helmets in ancient Greece.
chiliarchy: one of the sub-units of the phalanx, comprising 1,024 phalangists. See also entries for phalangist, phalanx, speira and strategia.
chiton: the tunic worn by most Greek men. One large piece of wool or linen, it was folded in half and pinned at the shoulders and the open side.
Companion cavalry: although no longer the shock force of Alexander’s day, these horsemen were some of the finest ancient cavalry. Their horses wore only saddle blankets. Wearing bronze or padded linen breastplates and Boeotian helmets, the Companions were armed with the xyston, a thrusting spear up to 5 metres/16.5 feet in length.
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 legions to war. Each could countermand the other and both were supposed to heed the Senate’s wishes. No man was supposed to serve as consul more than once, but in times of need this was disregarded.
contubernium (pl. contubernia): an eight-man sub-unit of the century. The legionaries in each slept in the same tent, and shared duties.
Curia: the Senate house in Rome, found in the forum Romanum.
Cyclades/Kyklades Islands: an archipelago in the Aegean, close to the Turkish coast. About thirty are inhabitable. In the third century BC, they were variously ruled by Macedon, Egypt, Pergamum and Rhodes (see relevant entries).
Dardani: a wild Illyrian people whose lands bordered north-west Macedon (modern-day Kosovo).
Demetrias: a Macedonian fortress on the Pagasean Gulf; one of the three ‘Fetters of Greece’ (see also entry for this).
Demosthenes: the greatest Athenian orator, he lived from 384 to 322 BC.
denarius (pl. denarii): the staple coin of the Republic from its introduction around 211 BC. Before this, the Romans had used some of their own coins, notably the as, as well as Greek coinage from the cities of southern Italy.
dictator: an extraordinary supreme magistracy, used in times of military and later, civil crisis.
dignitas: a hard to define Latin word. Dignitas represented a man’s reputation, his moral standing, and his values.
Dionysos: the Greek god of wine, intoxication, ritual madness and mania, he was Bacchus to the Romans.
Dipylon Gate: the double gateway in the north-west section of Athens’ great wall.
Dodona: a shrine to Zeus in Epirus; also site of a third-century BC theatre which could seat 17,000 people.
drachmae (sing. drachma): the staple coins of ancient Greece. The word’s origin is drachm, which means ‘a handful’, or ‘a grasp’. Made of silver, they were minted by numerous city states. There were six obols in a drachma.
Drynos, River: the modern-day Drino river.
Egypt: after Alexander the Great’s death, Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies. By the late third century BC, it was in a weakened state but would totter on for another two hundred years.
Epirus: a region west of Athamania and Thessaly, and south-west of Macedon. Most of its tribes supported Rome in the war against Philip.
equestrian: a member of the lower class of Roman nobility.
Eros: the god of love.
Euboea: a long island to the north of Athens and Boeotia. Pronounced ‘Yew-be-a’. The important fortress of Chalkis was on Euboea.
Euripides: a famous Athenian playwright of the fifth century BC.
Euxine Sea: the modern-day Black Sea.
Ferentinum: modern-day Ferentino, a town in Lazio which lies 65 kilometres/40 miles south-east of Rome.
Fetters of Greece: the three fortresses of Akrokorinth, Chalkis and Demetrias (see relevant entries). Named by Philip V for their ability to keep Macedon safe from Greek hostility.
fibula: a brooch for fastening garments.
focale: the neckerchief worn by legionaries.
forum: the public space at the centre of Roman towns. Bordered by covered markets, civic buildings and shrines, it was where people met to do business, converse and witness court cases and public announcements.
fustuarium: a punishment meted out to legionaries for reasons including falling asleep on sentry duty, stealing from a comrade, desertion in the face of the enemy or taking off one’s sword while digging a ditch. The guilty individual was beaten to death by the men of his contubernium, with either bare fists or sticks.
Gaugamela: the battle in 331 BC that saw Alexander triumph over the Persian emperor Darius for the second and final time. Today it lies in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Gomphi: a Macedonian fortress that protected Thessaly from attack to the west.
gugga: a Latin term of abuse for a Carthaginian, found in one of Plautus’ comedies. It possibly means ‘little rat’.
Gulf of Korinth/Corinth: the narrow body of water between the Peloponnese and mainland Greece.
Hades: the underworld for both Romans and Greeks. Elysium, paradise, was part of the underworld. So was Tartaros.
Hannibal Barca: most famous son of Carthage, he remains one of history’s finest generals. Having initiated a fresh war with Rome in 218 BC, he marched an army from Spain to France and over the Alps to Italy. Although he inflicted massive defeats on the Romans, most notably at Lake Trasimene and Cannae, he never forced the Republic to surrender. Zama was his only major defeat; after it, he helped to rebuild Carthage.
hastatus (pl. hastati): twelve hundred young legionaries who stood in the first rank of each legion. They wore bronze breast and back plates, a single greave, triple-crested helmets, and carried shields. They were armed with one or two javelins and a sword.
Hellespont: the modern-day Bosphorus.
Hera: Greek goddess of royalty and marriage.
Hercules (in Greek, Herakles): the divine son of Jupiter/Zeus, famous for his strength and twelve labours.
Hermes: messenger of the gods; a deity worshipped by shepherds and travellers.
himation: larger and heavier than the chiton, this garment served Greek men and women as a wrap or cloak.
Hispania: the Iberian Peninsula.
hoplite: soldiers in ancient Greece. Citizens of city states, they were armed with spears and shields, and fought in a phalanx. Their spears were a good deal shorter than those used by Macedonian phalangists.
hoplitodromos: an immensely tough foot race for soldiers, who ran naked but wearing helmets and carryin
g shields.
Hydaspes: a river in modern-day India and Pakistan where Alexander the Great won one of his hardest victories, against the army of the Indian king Poros.
Ikaros/Icarus: a mythical figure who tried to escape from Crete using wings made of feathers and wax. Refusing to heed his father’s warnings, the hubristic Ikaros flew close to the sun. The wax melted, and he fell to the sea and drowned.
Illyria: the lands that lay across the Adriatic Sea from Italy: including parts of modern-day Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
Issus: the site of Alexander’s first victory over the Persian emperor Darius in 333 BC. Today it lies in south-east Turkey.
javelin: the famous Roman pilum (pl. pila). The third-century BC version was more primitive than that of the Principate. It consisted of a wooden shaft some 1.2 metres long, joined to a thin iron shank topped by a barbed head. The range of the javelin is thought to have been about 30 metres, with an effective range of half this distance.
Judaean: someone from Judaea, modern-day Israel.
Juno: the goddess of women, of civic matters and perhaps military prowess.
Jupiter: often referred to as ‘Optimus Maximus’ – ‘Greatest and Best’. Most powerful of the Roman gods, he was responsible for weather, especially storms.
kausia: a Macedonian flat hat worn by men.
Khios/Chios: an important Ionian town on an island of the same name; situated off west-central Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey.
kopis: a curved, single-edged sword used by Greek soldiers.
Korinth/Corinth: the city sited on the narrow isthmus of land between the Peloponnese and mainland Greece.
krater: a large, two-handed vessel for serving wine.
Lade: a small island close to Miletus, off the coast of western Asia Minor.
Latin: not just a language, but a people.
legion: the standard large unit of the Roman army. In the mid-Republic, it was made up of four thousand two hundred legionaries: twelve hundred each of the velites, hastati and principes, and six hundred triarii. Three hundred cavalry were also attached to each legion.
lembi (sing. lembus): Illyrian galleys, often used by pirates. Small and manoeuvrable, they were powered by about fifty oars, and did not have a sail.
lictores (sing. lictor): attendants to Roman magistrates. Their number varied according the magistrate’s rank: a consul had twelve, for example, and a praetor six. Each lictor carried a bundle of 1.5 metre rods and a single-bladed axe – symbols of the magistrate’s authority.
Lithaios, River: the river that runs through Trikka, modern-day Trikala.
Locris: modern-day Locri in Calabria, Italy.
Macedon/Macedonia: formerly of little importance, the kingdom rose to pre-eminence under Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. By Philip V’s time, its glory days had long gone, but it was still the dominant force in Greece.
Maenads: followers of Dionysos.
maniple: a sub-unit of the legion adopted around 300 BC. It’s unclear exactly how many legionaries were in a maniple, but most academics agree a double century was probable. The maniple disappeared in the Marian reforms of the late second century BC.
Marathon: site of another of history’s most famous battles, on the coast north of Athens. During the first Persian invasion of Greece in 490 BC, the Athenians and Plataeans inflicted a massive defeat on the Persians there.
Mars: Roman god of war. All spoils of war were consecrated to him, and few Roman commanders would go on campaign without having visited Mars’ temple to ask for the god’s protection and blessing.
Minerva: Roman goddess of war and also of wisdom.
molles: Latin word, meaning ‘soft’ or ‘gentle’, here used as a derogatory term for a homosexual.
Morpheus: the god of dreams for both Greeks and Romans.
Neptunus: Roman god of the sea.
Nubian: someone from Nubia, a region spanning modern-day southern Egypt and central Sudan.
Numidians: people from Numidia, an area that included parts of modern-day Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. Their riders were some of the finest cavalry in the ancient world.
obol: a low denomination Greek coin made from copper or bronze. The name derives from a word meaning ‘spit’. Six obols made one drachma.
Olympos, Mt.: the highest mountain in Greece. Situated between Thessaly and Macedonia, it was home to the gods.
optio (pl. optiones): the officer who ranked immediately below a centurion; the second-in-command of a century. (See also the entry for legion.)
Ottolobus: possibly near modern-day Lake Malik in Albania.
Paean: a song addressed to the gods, used by Greeks in personal, civic, political and military situations. I love the novelist Christian Cameron’s use of it. (If you haven’t read his books, please do!)
Pagasean Gulf: the modern-day Pagasetic Gulf in east-central Greece.
palaestra: a training school for boxing and wrestling. Often part of a gymnasium, an exercise and training facility for athletes.
palus: the wooden post against which recruits to the legions would practise their sword skills.
pectorale: a bronze chest and backplate about 30 cm/12’’ square worn by hastati.
Pella: capital of Macedon. By the third century BC it was a magnificent city with a central grid complex of streets.
Peleponnese: the finger-shaped peninsula held to the Greek mainland by a narrow isthmus.
peltast: originally a term for a type of Thracian light infantry, by the third century BC it referred to a class of soldier used by many Greek city states. Armed with a crescent-shaped wicker shield (the pelte) and a bundle of spears, they were fast-moving, dangerous troops.
Peneios, River: the modern-day River Pineios in Thessaly.
Pergamum: a kingdom in western Asia Minor formed after the collapse of the Lysimachian empire (which had been ruled by Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals). Governed by the Attalid family for a century and a half from the 280s BC, the kingdom allied itself with Rome against Macedon on numerous occasions. Attalus I was its king at the time of the events in this novel.
Perseus: eldest son of Philip V, later to be ruler of Macedon himself.
Persia: a mighty empire that twice invaded Greece. It was vanquished by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC.
Phacium: a town in Thessaly. Modern location possibly near the Greek town of Zarko.
phalangist: a soldier who fought in the Macedonian phalanx. His helmet was often simple but could have a crest. His armour was a bronze cuirass or padded linen corselet, and greaves. He carried an aspis shield and a massive sarissa spear (see relevant entries), and he probably carried a sword as well.
phalanx: long the staple fighting unit of the Greeks, this was akin to a battering ram, with thousands of men facing up to similar enemy formations while protected on the flanks by light infantry and/or cavalry. Adapted by Philip II and Alexander the Great to great effect, it formed the core of Philip V’s army.
phalerae: sculpted disc-like decorations for bravery worn on a chest harness, over a Roman officer’s armour. Phalerae were often made of bronze but could also be made of silver or gold. I have even seen one made of glass. Torques, arm rings and bracelets were also awarded to soldiers.
Phaloria: a town on the Macedonian frontier with Epirus. Its modern-day location would be west of Trikala.
pilos: a simple conical helmet worn by some Greek soldiers.
Piraeus: the port for Athens. Access came to the city via a double wall that ran all the way from the coast.
Plataea: a small city state north of Athens. Noted for being the only state to march with the Athenians to Marathon.
Pluinna: sadly, the location is unknown. The word may mean ‘mountain’, which doesn’t help much in the terrain of Macedonia, Greece and Albania!
Pluto: Roman god of the underworld.
Poseidon: Greek god of the sea.
praetor: a Roman magistrate ranked below that
of consul. He held only slightly less power (imperium) than a consul and performed similar civic and military duties. By the late third century BC, the war with Carthage had seen the number of praetors increase to four. Another two were added in 198.
Priapus: a minor Greek god of fertility and male genitalia, he was adopted with gusto by the Romans. Usually portrayed with a massive erect penis.
principes (sing. princeps): family men in their prime, these twelve hundred legionaries formed the second rank of a legion’s battle line. They were armed and armoured similarly to the hastati, with the notable exception of a mail shirt instead of a pectorale (see relevant entry).
Propontis: the modern-day Sea of Marmara, which connects the Black Sea with the Aegean.
propraetor: a Roman magistrate given temporary extra powers (imperium). The positions tended to be used in war situations, when the two consuls and two praetors were occupied with other duties.
Prytaneum: the building in which the government of Rhodes sat.
Pydna: a town on the eastern Macedonian coast.
Pyrrhus of Epirus: one of history’s most unlucky generals. He fought a major campaign in Italy against the Romans in the early third century BC, winning victories that were so costly they were almost not worth having: hence the term, ‘Pyrrhic victory’.
quaestor: lowest of the Roman magistracies, the post was a stepping stone from the military to the political life. Quaestores’ duties included administering public funds, as well as judicial and military duties.
Rhodes: the island first flourished during the wars of the Successors, when Alexander the Great’s empire collapsed. A natural trading centre thanks to its five harbours, it managed to remain independent through the third century BC, albeit with close ties to Ptolemaic Egypt. Ever the enemy of pirates, Rhodes had territories among the Kyklades Islands and on Asia Minor.
Salamis: site of a massive Greek naval victory over the Persians and their allies in 480 BC.
sarissa: the long thrusting spear of the Macedonian phalangist. Between 4.5 and 5 m/15–16.5 ’ in length, and used two-handed, it had a heavy butt spike that served as a counterweight. In battle, the first five ranks levelled their spears at the enemy, which must have been a terrifying sight.
