The Belgae
Page 48
• Groma: the chief surveying instrument of a Roman military engineer, used for marking out straight lines and calculating angles.
• Haruspex (pl. Haruspices): A religious official who confirms the will of the Gods through signs and by inspecting the entrails of animals.
• Honesta Missio: A soldier’s honourable discharge from the legions, with grants of land and money, after a term of service of varied length but rarely less than 5 years.
• Immunes: Soldiers excused from routine legionary duties as they possessed specialised skills which qualified them for other duties.
• Kalends: the first day of the Roman month, based on the new moon with the ‘nones’ being the half moon around the 5th-7th of the month and the ‘ides’ being the full moon around the 13th-15th.
• Laconicum: the steam room or sauna in a Roman bath house.
• Laqueus: a garrotte usually used by gladiators to restrain an opponent’s arm, but also occasionally used to cause death by strangulation.
• Latrunculi: Roman board game involving stones of two colours on a board, resembling the Chinese game of Go.
• Lilia (Lit. ‘Lilies’): defensive pits three feet deep with a sharpened stake at the bottom, disguised with undergrowth, to hamper attackers.
• Ludus: 1) a game, 2) a Gladiatorial School.
• Magna Mater: The Goddess Cybele, patron of nature in its most raw form
• Mansio and mutatio: stopping places on the Roman road network for officials, military staff and couriers to stay or exchange horses if necessary.
• Mare Nostrum: Latin name for the Mediterranean Sea (literally ‘Our Sea’)
• Marius’ Mules: nickname acquired by the legions after the General Marius made it standard practice for the soldier to carry all of his kit about his person.
• Mars Gravidus: an aspect of the Roman war god, ‘he who precedes the army in battle’, was the God prayed to when an army went to war.
• Miles: the Roman name for a soldier, from which we derive the words military and militia among others.
• Octodurus: now Martigny in Switzerland, at the Northern end of the Great Saint Bernard Pass.
• Oppidum: The standard Gaulish hill town of the pre-Roman period. A walled settlement, sometimes quite large.
• Optio: A legionary centurion’s second in command.
• Patrician: The higher noble class of Rome, often Senatorial.
• Phalanx: Greek/Macedonian infantry tactic in which rows of men form a hedge of long spears, backed with a shield wall.
• Phalerae: (sing. Phalera) set of discs attached to a torso harness used as military decorations.
• Pilum: the army’s standard javelin, with a wooden stock and a long, heavy lead point.
• Pilus Prior: The most senior centurion of a cohort and one of the more senior in a legion.
• Plebeian: The general mass and populace of Roman citizens.
• Praetor: a title granted to the commander of an army. cf the Praetorian Cohort.
• Praetorian Cohort: personal bodyguard of a General.
• Praetorium: The area in the centre of a temporary camp reserved for the tent of the commander and where the legion’s eagle and the signifers’ standards were grounded.
• Primus Pilus: The chief centurion of a legion. Essentially the second in command of a legion.
• Pteruges: leather straps that hang from the shoulders and waist of the garment worn under a cuirass.
• Quadriga: a chariot drawn by four horses, such as seen at the great races in the circus of Rome.
• Samarobriva: oppidum on the Somme River, now Amiens.
• Scorpion, Ballista & Onager: Siege engines. The Scorpion was a large crossbow on a stand, the Ballista a giant missile throwing crossbow, and the Onager a stone hurling catapult.
• Signifer: A century’s standard bearer, also responsible for dealing with pay, burial club and much of a unit’s bureaucracy.
• Subarmalis: a leather garment worn under armour to prevent chafing and rust, to which the pteruges are attached.
• Subura: a lower-class area of ancient Rome, close to the forum, that was home to the red-light district’.
• Tabularium: The records office. In Rome the Tabularium is in the Forum, though each fort had its own based in the centre of the camp.
• Tarpeian Rock: Cliff on the Capitoline Hill of Rome from which traitors were hurled.
• Testudo: Lit- Tortoise. Military formation in which a century of men closes up in a rectangle and creates four walls and a roof for the unit with their shields.
• Tolosa: Roman town in southwest France conquered at the end of the second century b.c., now Toulouse.
• Tribunal: A platform, carefully constructed in forts, or temporarily made from turf or wood, from which a commander would address or review troops.
• Turma: A small detachment of a cavalry ala consisting of 32 men led by a decurion.
• Valetudinarium: The military hospital in a camp.
• Vexillum (Pl. Vexilli): The standard or flag of a legion.
• Via Decumana: The main street running east-west in a Roman town or fort.
• Vindunum: later the Roman Civitas Cenomanorum, and now Le Mans in France.
• Vineae: moveable wattle and leather wheeled shelters that covered siege works and attacking soldiers from enemy fire.