Fortune's Favorites

by Colleen McCullough

  ager publicus Land vested in Roman public ownership, most of it acquired by right of conquest or confiscated from its original owners as a punishment for disloyalty. This latter was particularly common within Italy itself. Roman ager publicus existed in every overseas province, in Italian Gaul, and inside the Italian peninsula. Responsibility for its disposal (usually in the form of large leaseholds) lay in the purlieus of the censors, though much of the foreign ager publicus lay unused.

  Agger An agger was a double rampart bearing formidable fortifications. The Agger was a part of Rome's Servian Walls, and protected the city on its most vulnerable side, the Campus Esquilinus.

  agora The open space, usually surrounded by colonnades or some kind of public buildings, which served any Greek or Hellenic city as its public meeting place and civic center. The ,Roman equivalent was a forum.

  Ague The old name for the rigors of malaria.

  Allies Any nation or people or individual formally invested

  with the title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People'' was an Ally. The term usually carried with it certain privileges in trade, commerce and political activities. (See also Italian Allies, socii).

  AMOR Literally, "love." Because it is "Roma" spelled backward, the Romans of the Republic commonly believed it was Rome's vital secret name, never to be uttered aloud in that context.

  Anatolia Roughly, modern Asian Turkey. It incorporated the ancient regions of Bithynia, Mysia, Asia Province, Phrygia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Armenia Parva.

  Ancus Marcius The fourth King of Rome, claimed by the family Marcius (particularly that branch cognominated Rex) as its founder-ancestor; unlikely, since the Marcii were plebeians. Ancus Marcius is said to have colonized Ostia, though there is some doubt as to whether he did this, or whether he took the salt pits at the mouth of the Tiber from their Etruscan owners by force of arms. Rome under his rule flourished. His one lasting public work was the building of the Wooden Bridge, the Pons Sublicius. He died in 617 b.c., leaving sons who did not inherit the throne-a source of later trouble.

  animus The Oxford Latin Dictionary has the best definition, so I will quote it: "The mind as opposed to the body, the mind or soul as constituting with the body the whole person." There are further definitions, but this one is pertinent to the way animus is used herein. One must be careful, however, not to attribute belief in the immortality of the soul to Romans.

  arcade A long line of shops on both sides of a narrow walkway within a roofed building. The Covered Bazaar in Istanbul is probably very like (if much larger than) an ancient arcade.

  Armenia Magna In ancient times, Armenia Magna extended from the southern Caucasus to the Araxes River, east to the corner of the Caspian Sea, and west to the sources of the Euphrates. It was immensely mountainous and very cold.

  Armenia Parva Though called Little Armenia, this small land occupying the rugged and mountainous regions of the upper Euphrates and Arsanius Rivers was not a part of the Kingdom of Armenia. Until taken over by the sixth King Mithridates of Pontus, it was ruled by its own royal house, but always owed allegiance to Pontus, rather than to Armenia proper.

  armillae The wide bracelets, of gold or of silver, awarded as prizes for valor to Roman legionaries, centurions, cadets and military tribunes of more junior rank.

  Arvernian Pertaining to the Gallic tribe Arverni, who occupied lands in and around the northern half of the central massif of the Cebenna, in Gaul-across-the-Alps.

  Assembly (comitia) Any gathering of the Roman People convoked to deal with governmental, legislative, judicial, or electoral matters. In the time of Sulla there were three true Assemblies-the Centuries, the People, and the Plebs.

  The Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata) marshaled the People, patrician and plebeian, in their Classes, which were filled by a means test and were economic in nature. As this was originally a military assemblage, each Class gathered in the form of Centuries (which, excepting for the eighteen senior Centuries, by the time of Sulla numbered far in excess of one hundred men per century, as it had been decided to limit the number of Centuries). The Centuriate Assembly met to elect consuls, praetors, and (every five years usually) censors. It also met to hear charges of major treason (perduellio), and could pass laws. Because of its originally military nature, the Centuriate Assembly was obliged to meet outside the pomerium, and normally did so on the Campus Martius at a place called the saepta. It was not usually convoked to pass laws or hear trials.

  The Assembly of the People (comitia populi tributa) allowed the full participation of patricians, and was tribal in nature. It was convoked in the thirty-five tribes into which all Roman citizens were placed. Called together by a consul or praetor, it normally met in the lower Forum Romanum, in the Well of the Comitia. It elected the curule aediles, the quaestors, and the tribunes of the soldiers. It could formulate and pass laws, and conduct trials until Sulla established his standing courts.

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  The Plebeian Assembly (comitia plebis tributa or concilium plebis) met in the thirty-five tribes, but did not allow the participation of patricians. The only magistrate empowered to convoke it was the tribune of the plebs. It had the right to enact laws (strictly, plebiscites) and conduct trials, though the latter more or less disappeared after Sulla established his standing courts. Its members elected the plebeian aediles and the tribunes of the plebs. The normal place for its assemblage was in the Well of the Comitia. (See also voting and tribe.)

  atrium The main reception room of a Roman domus, or private house. It mostly contained an opening in the roof (the compluvium) above a pool (the impluvium) originally intended as a water reservoir for domestic use. By the time of the late Republic, the pool had become ornamental only.

  auctoritas A very difficult Latin term to translate, as it meant far more than the English word "authority" implies. It carried nuances of pre-eminence, clout, public importance and- above all-the ability to influence events through sheer public reputation. All the magistracies possessed auctoritas as an intrinsic part of their nature, but auctoritas was not confined to those who held magistracies; the Princeps Senatus, Pontifex Maximus, other priests and augurs, consulars, and even some private individuals outside the ranks of the Senate also owned auctoritas. Though the King of the Backbenchers, Publius Cornelius Cethegus, never held a magistracy, his auctoritas was formidable.

  augur A priest whose duties concerned divination. He and his fellow augurs comprised the College of Augurs, an official State body which had numbered twelve members (usually six patricians and six plebeians) until in 81 b.c. Sulla increased it to fifteen members, always intended thereafter to contain at least one more plebeian than patrician. Originally augurs were co-opted by their fellow augurs, but in 104 b.c. Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus brought in a law compelling election of future augurs by an assembly of seventeen tribes chosen from the thirty-five by lot. Sulla removed election in 81 b.c., going back to co-optation. The augur did not predict the future, nor did he pursue his auguries at his own whim; he inspected the proper objects or signs to ascertain whether or not the projected undertaking was one meeting with the approval of the gods, be the undertaking a contio (q.v.), a war, a new law, or any other State business, including elections. There was a standard manual of interpretation to which the augur referred: augurs "went by the book." The augur wore the toga trabea (see that entry), and carried a curved staff called the lituus.

  auxiliary A legion of non-citizens incorporated into a Roman army was called an auxiliary legion; its soldiers were also known as auxiliaries, and the term extended to cover cavalry units as well. By the time of Sulla's dictatorship, auxiliary infantry had more or less disappeared, whereas auxiliary cavalry was still very much in evidence.

  Bacchic Pertaining to the god Bacchus (in Greek, Dionysos), who was the patron of wine, and therefore by extension the patron of carousing. During the early and middle Republic excesses of a Bacchic nature were frowned upon, and even leg
islated against; by the time of Sulla, however, some degree of tolerance had crept in.

  barbarian Derived from a Greek word having strong onomatopoeic overtones; on first hearing these peoples speak, the Greeks thought they sounded "bar-bar," like animals barking. It was not a word used to describe any people settled around the Mediterranean Sea, but referred to races and nations deemed uncivilized, lacking in an admirable or desirable culture. Gauls, Germans, Scythians, Sarmatians and other peoples of the Steppes were considered barbarian.

  basilica A large building devoted to public activities such as courts of law, and also to commercial activities in shops and offices. The basilica was two-storeyed and clerestory-lit, and incorporated an arcade of shops under what we might call verandah extensions along either length side. Though the aediles looked after these buildings once erected, their actual building was undertaken at the expense of a prominent Roman nobleman. The first basilica was put up by Cato the Censor on the Clivus Argentarius next door to the Senate House, and was known as the Basilica Porcia; as well as accommodating banking institutions, it was also the headquarters of the College of the Tribunes of the Plebs. At the time of this book, there also existed the Basilica Aemilia, the Basilica Sempronia, and the Basilica Opimia, all on the borders of the lower Forum Romanum.

  Bellona The Italian goddess of war. Her temple lay outside the pomerium of Rome on the Campus Martius, and was vowed in 296 b.c. by the great Appius Claudius Caecus. A group of special priests called fetiales conducted her rituals. A large vacant piece of land lay in front of the temple, known as Enemy Territory.

  bireme A ship constructed for use in naval warfare, and intended to be rowed rather than sailed (though it was equipped with a mast and sail, usually left ashore if action was likely). Some biremes were decked or partially decked, but most were open. It seems likely that the oarsmen did sit in two levels at two banks of oars, the upper bank and its oarsmen accommodated in an outrigger, and the lower bank's oars poking through ports in the galley's sides. Built of fir or another lightweight pine, the bireme could be manned only in fair weather, and fight battles only in very calm seas. It was much longer than it was wide in the beam (the ratio was about 7:1), and probably averaged about 100 feet (30 meters) in length. Of oarsmen it carried upward of one hundred. A bronze-reinforced beak made of oak projected forward of the bow just below the waterline, and was used for ramming and sinking other vessels. The bireme was not designed to carry marines or grapple to engage other vessels in land-style combat. Throughout Greek, Republican Roman and Imperial Roman times, all ships were rowed by professional oarsmen, never by slaves. The slave oarsman was a product of Christian times. Boreas The north wind. Brothers Gracchi See Gracchi. caelum grave et pestilens Malaria.

  Calabria Confusing for modern Italians! Nowadays Calabria is the toe of the boot, but in ancient times Calabria was the heel. Brundisium was its most important city, followed by Tarentum. Its people were the Illyrian Messapii.

  Campus Esquilinus The area of flattish ground outside the Servian Walls and the double rampart of the Agger. It lay between the Porta Querquetulana and the Colline Gate, and was the site of Rome's necropolis.

  Campus Lanatarius An area of flattish ground inside the Servian Walls on that part of the Aventine adjacent to the walls. It lay between the Porta Raudusculana and the Porta Naevia. Here were extensive stockyards and slaughtering yards.

  Campus Martius The Field of Mars. Situated north of the Servian Walls, the Campus Martius was bounded by the Capitol on its south and the Pincian Hill on its east; the rest of it was enclosed by a huge bend in the Tiber River. In Republican times it was not inhabited as a suburb, but was the place where triumphing armies bivouacked, the young were trained in military exercises, horses engaged in chariot racing were stabled and trained, the Centuriate Assembly met, and market gardening vied with public parklands. At the apex of the river bend lay the public swimming holes called the Trigarium, and just to the north of the Trigarium were medicinal hot springs called the Tarentum. The Via Lata (Via Flaminia) crossed the Campus Martius on its way to the Mulvian Bridge, and the Via Recta bisected it at right angles to the Via Lata. Capena Gate The Porta Capena. One of Rome's two most important gates in the Servian Walls (the other was the Porta Collina, the Colline Gate). It lay beyond the Circus Maximus, and outside it was the common highway which branched into the Via Appia and the Via Latina about half a mile from the gate.

  capite censi Literally, the Head Count. See that entry.

  career A dungeon. The other name for the Tullianum was simply Career.

  Carinae One of Rome's more exclusive addresses. Incorporating the Fagutal, the Carinae was the northern tip of the Oppian Mount on its western side; it extended between the Velia and the Clivus Pullius. Its outlook was southwestern, across the swamps of the Palus Ceroliae toward the Aventine.

  cartouche The personal hieroglyphs peculiar to each individual Pharaoh of Egypt, enclosed within an oval (or rectangular with rounded corners) framing line. The practice continued through to rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

  Cassiterides The Tin Isles. Now known as the Scilly Isles, off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. The tin mined in Cornwall was shipped to the Cassiterides, which was used as a way station. Crassus's father voyaged there in 95 b.c.

  Castor The never-forgotten Heavenly Twin. Though the imposing temple in the Forum Romanum was properly the temple of Castor and Pollux (also called the Dioscuri), it was always referred to by Romans as Castor's. This led to many jokes about dual enterprises in which one of the two prime movers was consistently overlooked. Religiously, Castor and Pollux were among the principal deities worshipped by Romans, perhaps because, like Romulus and Remus, they were twins.

  cavalry Horse-mounted soldiers. By the time of the late Republic, all cavalry incorporated into Roman armies was auxiliary in nature: that is, composed of non-citizens. Germans, Gauls, Thracians, Galatians and Numidians commonly formed Roman cavalry units, as these were all peoples numbering horse-riding tribes among them. There seems at most times to have been adequate volunteers to fill cavalry ranks; Gauls and Numidians apparently were the most numerous. The cavalry was formed into regiments of five hundred horsemen, each regiment divided into ten squadrons of fifty troopers. They were led by officers of their own nationality, but the overall commander of cavalry was always Roman.

  cavea See the entry on theaters.

  cella A room without a specific name (or function, in domestic dwellings). A temple room was always just a cella.

  Celtiberian The general term covering the tribes inhabiting northern and north-central Spain. As the name suggests, racially they were an admixture of migratory Celts from Gaul and the more ancient indigenous Iberian stock. Their towns were almost all erected upon easily fortified crags, hills or rocky outcrops, and they were past masters at guerrilla warfare.

  censor The censor was the most august of all Roman magistrates, though he lacked imperium and was therefore not entitled to be escorted by lictors. Two censors were elected by the Centuriate Assembly to serve for a period of five years (called a lustrum); censorial activity was, however, mostly limited to the first eighteen months of the lustrum, which was ushered in by a special sacrifice, the suovetaurilia, of pig, sheep and ox. No man could stand for censor unless he had been consul first, and usually only those consulars of notable auctoritas and dignitas bothered to stand. The censors inspected and regulated membership in the Senate and the Ordo Equester, and conducted a general census of Roman citizens throughout the Roman world. They had the power to transfer a citizen from one tribe to another as well as one Class to another. They applied the means test. The letting of State contracts for everything from the farming of taxes to public works was also their responsibility. In 81 b.c. Sulla abolished the office, apparently as a temporary measure.

  census Every five years the censors brought the roll of the citizens of Rome up to date. The name of every Roman citizen male was entered on these rolls, together with informati
on about his tribe, his economic class, his property and means, and his family. Neither women nor children were formally registered as being Roman citizens, though there are cases documented in the ancient sources that clearly show some women awarded the Roman citizenship in their own right. The city of Rome's census was taken on the Campus Martius at a special station erected for the purpose; those living elsewhere in Italy had to report to the authorities at the nearest municipal registry, and those living abroad to the provincial governor. There is some evidence, however, that the censors of 97 b.c., Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Antonius Orator, changed the manner in which citizens living outside Rome but inside Italy proper were enrolled.

  centunculus A coat or quilt made out of patches in many colors.

  Centuriate Assembly See the entry under Assembly, centurion The regular professional officer of both Roman citizen and auxiliary infantry legions. It is a mistake to equate him with the modern noncommissioned officer; centurions enjoyed a relatively exalted status uncomplicated by modern social distinctions. A defeated Roman general hardly turned a hair if he lost even senior military tribunes, but tore his hair out in clumps if he lost centurions. Centurion rank was graduated; the most junior commanded an ordinary century of eighty legionaries and twenty noncombatant assistants, but exactly how he progressed in what was apparently a complex chain of progressive seniority is not known. In the Republican army as reorganized by Gaius Marius, each cohort had six centuriones (singular, centurio), with the most senior man, the pilus prior, commanding the senior century of his cohort as well as the entire cohort. The ten men commanding the ten cohorts which made up a full legion were also ranked in seniority, with the legion's most senior centurion, the primus pilus (this term was later reduced to primipilus), answering only to his legion's commander (either one of the elected tribunes of the soldiers, or one of the general's legates). During Republican times promotion to centurion was up from the ranks. The centurion had certain easily recognizable badges of office: he wore greaves on his shins, a shirt of scales rather than chain links, a helmet crest projecting sideways rather than front-to-back, and carried a stout knobkerrie of vine wood. He also wore many decorations.