Magna Mater The Great Mother. As Kubaba Cybele, the great earth goddess was imported from ancient Carchemish to Phrygia, where her chief sanctuary came into being at Pessinus. In 204 B.C., toward the end of the second Punic War, the navel stone of the Great Mother at Pessinus was brought to Rome, and the cult of the Great Mother was ever after an important one. Her temple was on the Palatine overlooking the Circus Maximus, her priests were eunuchs, and her rites were flagellatory.
maiestas Treason. The refinements of treason introduced by Saturninus (q.v.) in 103 B.C. were largely cancelled by the law Sulla put on the tablets when dictator; this spelled out with absolute clarity the offenses Rome would hitherto find to be treasonous. See also perduellio.
malaria This pestilential disease, caused by four varieties of Plasmodium and vectored by the female Anopheles mosquito, was endemic throughout Italy. The Romans knew that it occurred in different manifestations: quartan and tertian, and a more serious form having no regular rhythmic recurrence of the rigors. All were the ague. The Romans also knew that malaria was most common wherever there was swampy ground, hence their fear of the Pomptine Marshes and the Fucine Lake. What they did not realize was that infection took place through the bite of a mosquito.
manumission The act of freeing a slave. If the slave’s master was a Roman citizen, this act automatically endowed the freed slave with the citizenship. His vote, however, tended to be worthless. The manumitted slave took the name of his old master as his own, adding to it as a cognomen his own name—hence Lucius Cornelius Chrysogonus, Sulla’s infamous freed—man. A slave might be manumitted in one of several ways: by buying his freedom out of his earnings; as a special gesture of the master’s on some great family occasion like a coming—of—age birthday; after an agreed number of years in service; and in a will. Most slaves found the Roman citizenship highly desirable despite its limitations, chiefly on behalf of their free—born descendants. It was not at all uncommon for men with skills to sell themselves into slavery, particularly among the Greeks. For the rest of his life the freed slave had to wear a slightly conical skullcap on the back of his head—the Cap of Liberty. See also freedman.
Marsi One of the most important Italian peoples. The Marsi lived around the shores of the Fucine Lake, which belonged to them, and their territory extended into the high Apennines. Their history indicates that until the time of the Italian War they had always been loyal to Rome. The Marsi worshipped snakes, and were famous as snake charmers.
measures and weights Most measurements were based upon body parts, hence the foot, the hand, the pace. The Roman foot at 296mm was just slightly short of 12 inches, and it was divided into 12 inches. 5 feet made up a pace, and the Roman mile at 1,000 paces was about 285 feet short of the English mile, thus there were 20 Roman miles for every 19 English—too small a difference to make it necessary in my text to specify miles (or feet) as Roman.
Area was measured in iugera (see that entry).
Grains such as wheat were dry—measured rather than weighed, as they poured like fluids; the dry measures were the medimnus and the modius (see those entries).
The bulk container was the amphora, which held about 25 liters (6 American gallons), and was the volume of a Roman cubic foot. Ships’ cargoes were always expressed in amphorae.
The Roman pound, or libra, weighed about 7/10ths of an English pound at 327 grams, and was divided into 12 ounces . Heavy weights were measured in the talent (see that entry).
medimnus A dry measure for grains and other pourable solids. It equalled 5 modii and occupied a volume of 10 U.S. gallons, and weighed about 65 Roman pounds (47.5 English pounds). This provided sufficient grain for two one—Roman—pound loaves of bread per day for about 30 days, given that the waste husked off the grain in grinding was replaced by water and other ingredients. The ordinary Roman who lived in one or two rooms in an insula did not normally grind his flour and bake his bread at home; he came to an arrangement with his local baker (as indeed was done in many parts of Europe until relatively recently), who took a cut of the grain ration as his price. Perhaps the final result was that one medimnus of wheat provided the ordinary Roman with one large loaf per day for 30 days?
Mentula A choice Latin obscenity for the penis.
merchantman A cargo ship. Much shorter in length and broader in the beam than a war galley (the ratio was about 4:1), it was stoutly built of some pinus like fir, and was designed to be sailed more than rowed, though it was always equipped with a bank of oars for use when becalmed or being chased by pirates. The single sail was cross—rigged; sometimes a smaller sail was rigged forward of the mainsail on a foremast. Steerage was usually in the form of two large rudder oars, one on either side at the stern. High in the poop, it was decked to protect its cargo, and usually had a cabin amidships as well as a cabin aft. Cargo was loaded in amphorae if grain or wine; these large earthenware jars with pointed bottoms were stowed in the hold embedded in sawdust to prevent their shifting in heavy seas. The average merchantman seems to have carried about 100 tons of cargo. Though able to stay at sea night and day—and in the hands of a good captain able to sail across open sea—the merchantman when possible hugged the coast, and its captain was more likely to want to put into port at dusk than to sail on. Perhaps the only merchantmen which regularly stayed at sea and crossed open waters were the ships of large grain fleets. These often doubled as troop transports.
Middle Sea The name I have used for the Mediterranean Sea. My observant readers will notice a new term now creeping into the narrative: Our Sea. Mare nostrum (our sea) is what it came to be called as the Republic neared its end.
miles gloriosus Miles means soldier, and at first glance gloriosus might seem to mean glorious. But it commonly meant boastful or vainglorious, as it did in the hands of the playwright.
Military Man The vir militaris. What might be called a “career soldier.” His whole life revolved around the army, and he continued to serve in the army after his obligatory number of years or campaigns had expired. If he entered the Roman political arena he relied upon his military reputation to catch votes, but many Military Men never bothered to enter the political arena at all. However, if a Military Man wanted to general an army, he had no choice but to attain the praetorship, which was the lowest magistracy carrying command of an army with it. Gaius Marius, Quintus Sertorius, Titus Didius, Gaius Pomptinus, Publius Ventidius were all Military Men; but Caesar the Dictator, the greatest military man of them all, was never a Military Man.
minim A bright vermilion pigment made from cinnabar (mercuric sulphide) which the triumphing general painted on his face, apparently to ape the terracotta face of the statue of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in his temple on the Capitol.
Minutus Meager in size.
modius The customary measure of grain. A modius occupied 2 U.S. gallons or 8 liters, and weighed about 13 (presumably Roman) pounds. The public grain was doled out in increments of 5 modii per month, this equaling one medimnus (see this entry also for information about bread). mos maiorum The established order of things, used to describe the habits and customs of government and public institutions. Perhaps the best definition is to say that the mos maiorum was Rome’s unwritten constitution. Mos meant established custom; and in this context maiores meant ancestors or forebears. To sum up, the mos maiorum was how things had always been done—and how they should always be done in the future too!
mundus A beehive—shaped pit which was divided into two parts and normally kept covered. Its exact purpose is a mystery, but it seems to have been believed in late Republican times to be an entranceway to the Underworld. The lid was removed thrice in the year on dies religiosi (q.v.) in order to allow the shades of the dead to walk the city.
myoparo A small war galley much favored by pirates before they began to band together in much larger ships to sail as properly admiraled fleets capable of attacking and beating professional navies. The myoparo is somewhat mysterious as to its size and type, but it seems to have been an improvemen
t upon the hemiolia (q.v.) and preferred to the hemiolia. The only drawing of it is not informative, though it does seem to indicate that the myoparo had only one bank of oars rowed over the top of the gunwale rather than through ports, and also possessed mast and sail.
nefas Sacrilege; an impious or sacrilegious act.
Nesaean horse See horse, Nesaean.
nobleman Nobilis. A man and his descendants were described as noble once he had achieved the consulship. This was an artificial aristocracy invented by the plebeians in order to cut the inarguably noble patricians down to size; once the first century of the Republic was over, more plebeians reached the consulship than did patricians. Nobility mattered enormously.
nomen The family, clan, or gentilicial name—the name of the gens in (for men) masculine form. Cornelius, Julius, Domitius, Licinius were all nomina (plural).
Nones The second of the three named days of the month which represented the fixed points of the month. Dates were reckoned backward from each of these points—Kalends, Nones, Ides. The Nones occurred on the seventh day of the long months (March, May, July and October), and on the fifth day of the other months. The Nones were sacred to Juno.
non pro consule, sed pro consulibus The famous phrase of Lucius Marcius Philippus when proposing that Pompey be given command of Nearer Spain in the war against Quintus Sertorius. As a piece of hair—splitting it was brilliant, and reconciled many in the Senate to Pompey who were obdurately against a proconsular command going to a man outside the Senate. It said, more or less, “not as a man after his consulship, but as a man acting on behalf of the consuls of the year.”
numen, numina, numinous Pertaining to gods who were absolutely spirits or forces, having no bodies, faces, sex, or mythology. See the glossary of The First Man in Rome for much fuller explanation.
nundinum The interval between one market day and the next; the eight—day Roman week. Save for the Kalends, Nones and Ides, the days of the Roman calendar were not named; on the calendars themselves they are allocated a letter between A and H, with A (presumably) being the market day. When the Kalends of January coincided with the market day, the whole year was considered to be unlucky, but this did not happen regularly because of intercalations and the fact that the eight—day round of letters was continued on without an interruption between last day of the old year and first (Kalends) day of the new year.
nundinus, nundinae (plural) The market day, occurring every eighth day; the singular, nundinus, was less used than the plural, nundinae. Under normal circumstances the courts were open on nundinae, but the Assemblies were not.
October Horse See Horse, October.
Olympia The famous temple and precinct of Zeus was nowhere near Mount Olympus in Thessaly; it lay on the Alpheus River in the district of Elis, in the western Peloponnese.
opus incertum The oldest of several ways in which the Romans built their walls. A facing of irregular small stones mortared together was constructed with a hollow interior or cavity; this was filled with a mortar composed of black pozzolana and lime mixed through an aggregate of rubble and small stones . Even in the time of Sulla, opus incertum was still the most popular way to build a wall. It was probably also cheaper than brick.
Ordo Equester The name given to the knights by Gaius Gracchus. See the entry on knights.
Oscan The language spoken by the Samnites, Campani, Lucani, Apuli, Bruttii and other Italian peoples of the more southern part of the Italian peninsula; it was the chief language of > central Italy even during the latter decades of the Republic. It was Indo—European, but not closely allied to Latin; some of the peoples who spoke Oscan used a Latin alphabet to write it, but more (including the widest group of Oscan speakers, the Samnites) used an alphabet derived from Etruscan. Many Romans could speak and understand Oscan. The Atellan mimes were sometimes staged in Rome with the cast speaking in Oscan.
paean A song or hymn of praise, sometimes composed in honor of a living man, more often relating to the gods.
pantheon, The word used nowadays to encompass collectively the whole array of gods in a polytheistic system of religious belief.
Parvus So small as to be of no account.
paterfamilias The head of the family unit. His right to do as he pleased with the various members of his family was rigidly protected at law.
patrician, Patriciate The Patriciate was the original Roman aristocracy. To an ancestor—revering, birth—conscious people like the Romans, the importance of belonging to patrician stock can hardly be overestimated. The older among the patrician families were aristocrats before the Kings of Rome, the youngest among them (the Claudii) apparently emerging at the very beginning of the Republic. All through the Republic they kept the title of patrician, as well as a prestige unattainable by any plebeian—and this in spite of the nobility, the “new aristocracy” ennobled above mere plebeian status by having consuls in the family. However, by the last century of the Republic a patrician owned little distinction beyond his blood; the wealth and energy of the great plebeian families had steadily eroded original patrician rights. Sulla, a patrician himself, seems to have tried in small ways to elevate the patrician above his plebeian brothers, but did not dare legislate major privileges. Yet entitlement and privilege under the constitution mattered not a scrap to most Romans: they knew the patrician was better. During the last century of the Republic the following patrician families were still producing senators, and some praetors and consuls: Aemilius, Claudius, Cornelius, Fabius (but through adoption only), Julius, Manlius, Pinarius, Postumius, Sergius, Servilius, Sulpicius, and Valerius.
patron, patronage Republican Roman society was organized into a system of patronage and clientship (see also client). Though perhaps the smallest businessmen and the lowly of Rome were not always participants in the system, it was nevertheless prevalent at all levels in society, and not all patrons were from the upper echelons of society. The patron undertook to offer protection and favors to those who acknowledged themselves his clients. Freed slaves were in the patronage of their ex-masters. No woman could be a patron. Many patrons were clients of patrons more powerful than themselves, which technically made their clients also the clients of their patron. The patron might do nothing for years to obtain help or support from a client, but one day the client would be called upon to do his patron a favor—vote for him, or lobby for him, or perform some special task. It was customary for the patron to see his clients at dawn in his house on “business” days in the calendar; at these matinees the clients would ask for help or favor, or merely attend to offer respect, or offer services. A rich or generous patron often bestowed gifts of money upon his clients when they assembled at such times. If a man became the client of another man whom in earlier days he had hated to the point of implacable enmity, that client would thereafter serve his erstwhile enemy, now his patron, with complete fidelity, even to death (vide Caesar the Dictator and Curio the Younger).
Pavo A peacock.
pedarius A senatorial backbencher (see entry on the Senate).
People of Rome This term embraced every single Roman who was not a member of the Senate; it applied to patricians as well as plebeians, and to the Head Count as well as to the First Class.
perduellio High treason. Until first Saturninus and then Sulla redefined treason and passed new treason laws, perduellio was the only form treason had in Roman law. Old enough to be mentioned in the Twelve Tables (q.v.), it required a trial process in the Centuriate Assembly, a most cumbersome affair. It carried an automatic death penalty, of crucifixion on a cross tied to an unlucky tree (that is, a tree which had never borne fruit).
peristyle An enclosed garden or courtyard which was surrounded by a colonnade and formed the outdoor area of a house.
phalerae Round, chased, ornamented silver or gold discs about 3 to 4 inches (75 to 100mm) in diameter. Originally they were worn as insignia by Roman knights, and also formed a part of the trappings of a knight’s horse. Gradually they came to be military decorations awarded for e
xceptional bravery in battle. Normally they were given in sets of nine (three rows of three each) upon a decorated leather harness of straps designed to be worn over the mail shirt or cuirass. piaculum A sacrifice made as atonement for some offense.
Picenum That part of the eastern Italian peninsula roughly occupying the area of the Italian leg’s calf muscle. Its western boundary formed the crest of the Apennines; Umbria lay to the north, and Samnium to the south. The original inhabitants were of Italiote and Illyrian stock, but there was a tradition that Sabines had migrated east of the Apennine crest and settled in Picenum, bringing with them as their tutelary god Picus, the woodpecker, from which the region got its name. A tribe of Gauls called the Senones also settled in the area at the time Italy was invaded by the first King Brennus in 390 B.C. Politically Picenum fell into two parts: northern Picenum, closely allied to southern Umbria, was under the sway of the great family called Pompeius; and Picenum south of the Flosis or Flussor River was under the sway of peoples allied to the Samnites.
pilum, pila The Roman infantry spear, especially as modified by Gaius Marius. It had a very small, wickedly barbed head of iron and an upper shaft of iron; this was joined to a shaped wooden stem which fitted the hand comfortably. Marius modified it by introducing a weakness into the junction between iron and wooden sections, so that when the pilum lodged in an enemy shield or body, it broke apart, and thus could not be hurled back by the enemy. After a battle all the broken pila were collected from the field; they were easily mended by the artificers.
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