The Amber Road

by Harry Sidebottom

  Caelian Hill: One of the Seven Hills of Rome, a fashionable residential district in antiquity.

  Caesar: Name of the adopted family of the first Roman emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office.

  Caldarium: Hot room in Roman baths.

  Caledonian: Roman name for people from the modern Highlands of Scotland.

  Calumnia: Roman legal term for a false or malicious accusation.

  Camarae: Flat-bottomed ships with arched covers used on the Black Sea.

  Cambodunum: Modern Kempten, a town in southern Germany at the foot of the Bavarian Alps.

  Campania: Region of west-central Italy, renowned in antiquity for its gentle climate and fertility.

  Cantabrians: Celtic peoples of northern Spain, long under Roman rule.

  Cape Arcona: Headland on the island of Rügen, lying off the eastern Baltic coast of Germany.

  Cape Hippolaus: Name given by Herodotus to a promontory lying between the Hypanis and Borysthenes rivers.

  Capua: Town in Campania, notorious for the luxurious lifestyle of its inhabitants.

  Caracoticum: Modern town of Harfleur, lying on the north-western coast of France.

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

  Carthage: Ancient Punic city in North Africa, destroyed by the Romans in 146BC, and later rebuilt as a Roman colony.

  Castle of Achilles: In this novel, the most northerly Greek settlement along the Hypanis.

  Castle of Alector: According to Dio of Prusa, a fort near the mouths of the Hypanis and Borysthenes.

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

  Chalcedon: Town sited opposite Byzantium on the shores of the Bosporus, now a suburb of the modern city of Istanbul.

  Chali: German tribe living on the Jutland peninsula.

  Charon: In Greek mythology, the ferryman who rowed the souls of the dead to the underworld.

  Choosers of the Slain: Literal meaning of ‘Valkyrie’. In Norse mythology, maidens who picked out men to be slain in battle and transported them to Valhalla.

  Cilicia: Roman province in the south of Asia Minor.

  Cimbric peninsula: Ancient name for the Jutland peninsula, from the Cimbri, an early tribe who migrated from there into Gaul in the first century BC.

  Circus Maximus: Great chariot-racing stadium in Rome.

  Civilis Princeps: Courteous or civil ruler, one who treats his subjects with respect.

  Clavenna: Modern Ciavenna, a town on the Italian side of the Alps near the border with Switzerland.

  Clementia: Latin, the virtue of mercy.

  Cognomen: Third name of a Roman citizen, often a family name or a nickname, but could also be earned in notable military victories.

  Cohort (plural, cohortes): From the Latin cohors. Unit of Roman soldiers, usually about five hundred men strong.

  Cold Crendon: In this novel, a village of the Angles on Varinsey; literally, Cold Creoda’s Hill.

  Collegium: Latin, an association or society.

  Colonia Agrippinensis: Important Roman city on the Rhine, capital of Postumus’s breakaway empire; modern Cologne.

  Colonia Vienna: Major Roman city on the banks of the Rhodanus river in western France; modern Vienne.

  Comes (plural, comites): Latin, companion; term applied to an emperor’s attendants.

  Comitatus: Latin, a following or retinue; term originally used of barbarian war bands, but came to denote a mobile field army under the direct command of the Roman emperor.

  Commilito (plural, commilitones): Latin, comrade, fellow-soldier.

  Comum: Town in the Italian Alps, giving its name to the modern Lake Como.

  Concordia Augusta: Deified abstraction of Imperial Accord, worshipped as a goddess; also a guardian of matrimonial harmony.

  Consilium: Council, body of advisors, of a Roman emperor, official, or elite private person.

  Consul: Originally the highest office of the Roman Republic; two consuls were elected annually. Under the emperors, it became a largely honorific position, with many favourites installed by appointment each year.

  Consul Ordinarius: One of the consuls in office at the beginning of the year, the most prestigious position as the year would thereafter be known by the name of the office-holders: ‘the year in which X and Y were consuls’.

  Controversiae: Form of showpiece legal speech dealing with model cases taken from history and mythology, the more melodramatic the better.

  Contubernium: Group of ten (or perhaps eight) soldiers who shared a tent.

  Cornucopias: Large horns filled with food, emblems of the lares.

  Cornutus (plural, cornuti): Latin; literally, horned ones. Roman military units raised from the German tribes.

  Corrector Totius Orientis: Overseer of all the Orient; a title applied to Odenathus of Palmyra.

  Corycus: Town on the southern coast of modern Turkey, scene of one of Ballista’s victories over the Persians.

  Croesus: King of Lydia, proverbial in antiquity for his wealth.

  Ctesiphon: Capital city of the Parthian and Sassanid empires, south of modern Baghdad.

  Cubicula: Latin; literally, a little room; bedchamber.

  Cularo: Roman town in the Alps, modern Grenoble.

  Curia (1): Roman public building in which a town council met, modelled on the senate house or curia of Rome.

  Curia (2): Small Alpine village controlling the Julier pass; modern Chur.

  Cursus Publicus: Imperial Roman posting service, whereby those with official passes, diplomata, could send messengers and get remounts.

  Cybele: Eastern mother goddess adopted by the Greeks and Romans.

  Cyclops: In Greek mythology, mythical one-eyed giant who imprisoned the hero Odysseus.

  Cyllene: Mountain in the Peloponnese associated with various deities in Greek mythology.

  Cynics: Followers of the counter-cultural philosophy founded by Diogenes of Sinope in the fourth century BC.

  Cyning: Old English, king.

  Cyreneans: Philosophical sect advocating pure hedonism, founded by Aristippus in the fourth century BC.

  Cyzicus: Greek city on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara.

  Dacia: Roman province on the northern bank of the Danube, occupying much of the Carpathian mountains and modern Romania.

  Dactylic hexameter: The rhythmic meter of ancient epic poetry.

  Daedalus: Skilled craftsman in Greek mythology, credited, among other things, with building the labyrinth.

  Daemon: Supernatural being; could be applied to many different types: good/bad, individual/collective, internal/external, and ghosts.

  Damocles: Courtier of Dionysius II of Syracuse; after praising the good fortune of the king, he was made to sit on the throne under a sword suspended by a single thread to appreciate the constant fear in which he lived.

  Danubian: Inhabitant of one of the Roman frontier provinces abutting the Danube river.

  Dauciones: Germanic tribe living in eastern Scadinavia.

  Decorum: Latin, seemly, proper, well-mannered.

  Delphi: Sanctuary in central Greece, sacred to the god Apollo.

  Demeter: Greek goddess of the harvest.

  Deuso: Settlement of the Lower Rhine, probably located in the modern Netherlands.

  Diana of the Lake: Roman goddess of the moon, hunting and the underworld, worshipped at Lake Nemi.

  Didyma: Greek sanctuary on the western shore of modern Turkey, now known as Didim.

  Dignitas: Important Roman concept which covers our idea of dignity but goes much further; famously, Julius Caesar claimed that his dignitas meant more to him than life itself.

  Dioscuri: Roman name for the divine twins Castor and Pollux, said to appear at times of crisis to help those who worshipped them.

  Disciplina: Latin, discipline. Romans considered that they had this quality and non-Romans did not.

  Dominus: Latin, Lord, Master, Sir; a title of respect.<
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  Draco (plural, dracones): Latin, snake or dragon; name given to a windsock-style military standard shaped like a dragon.

  Dramatis personae: Latin, characters of the drama, play.

  Duguo: Old English, a warrior with experience of combat.

  Duguth: Old English, the veteran warriors of a warlord’s retinue.

  Dux: Roman commander, or duke, of a frontier or field army.

  Egnatii: Roman family name attested from the second century BC onwards.

  Eorl: Danish, an earl, nobleman.

  Ephesus: Major Greek city on the western coast of Turkey where Ballista was forced to rescue his family from an earthquake.

  Epicureans: Greek philosophers who either denied the gods existed or held they were far away and did not intervene in the affairs of mankind.

  Epigrammatic: From short, pithy poems called Epigrammata in Greek, originally carved on to funerary monuments; grew into a major ancient literary genre.

  Epiphany: From the Greek, a miraculous, sudden appearance.

  Epithalamium: Roman word borrowed from Greek; literally, before the bedroom; a wedding poem sung in praise of the bride and groom.

  Equestrian: Second rank down in the Roman social pyramid, the elite order just below the senators.

  Equites Singulares Augusti: Permanent cavalry bodyguard of the emperor.

  Equites Singulares Consularis: Temporary unit recruited from auxiliary cavalry to be the bodyguard of a provincial governor.

  Eros: Greek god of love.

  Ethiopia: Ancient term for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

  Eupatrid: From the Greek, well-born, an aristocrat.

  Eutes: Tribe that migrated to the Steppe from the area of modern Denmark and adopted nomadism.

  Euxine: From the Greek word euxenos; literally, kindly to strangers. Ancient name for the Black Sea.

  Exegesis: From the Greek; literally, to lead out; a critical discussion or investigation.

  Fairguneis: Thunder god. One of the most important deities of the Goths.

  Falernian: Very expensive white wine particularly prized by the Romans.

  Familia: Latin, family, and by extension the entire household, including slaves.

  Farodini: North German tribe; in this novel placed south of the Jutland peninsula.

  Feliciter: Good luck, hurrah; according to the Roman poet Juvenal, the cry of guests at weddings.

  Felix: Latin, lucky; an attribute of emperors and some legions.

  Fenris: In Norse mythology, a monstrous wolf that will break its chains at the end of days, Ragnarok, and devour Woden, father of the gods.

  Ferryman: In Greek and Roman mythology, rows the souls of the dead across the river Styx to the underworld. Required a toll, thus the practice of leaving coins in the mouths of the dead.

  Fides (1): Latin, faith, as in ‘good faith’, keeping one’s word to men and the gods.

  Fides (2): Name of a patrol boat on the Ister river.

  Fiend: Old English for an adversary or enemy.

  Fifeldor: Legendary battle mentioned in Norse sagas.

  Fimbulvetr: In Norse mythology, a series of severe winters that foretell the end of the world, Ragnarok.

  Finni: Nomadic tribe of hunter gatherers living in the far north of Scadinavia.

  Fiscus: Originally the private assets of the emperor, the fiscus eventually played the role of state treasury.

  Flyting: In Norse and Germanic cultures, the ritualized exchange of insults and abuse, a competition of invention, quick thinking and hardiness.

  Forum: Public square of a Roman town, the centre of administration, commerce and legal business.

  Forum Romanum: Ancient political and legal centre of Rome.

  Forum of Trajan: Complex of public buildings erected by the emperor Trajan in central Rome, held to be the most magnificent in the whole of the empire.

  Framadar: Persian military officer.

  Franks: Confederation of German tribes.

  Freyja: Norse goddess of fertility.

  Frisia: Coastal region along the shores of the modern Netherlands and western Germany.

  Frisii: North German tribe inhabiting Frisia.

  Frugundiones: Also called Burgundiones in ancient sources, a German tribe living along the Vistula river.

  Frumentarius (plural, frumentarii): Military unit based on the Caelian Hill in Rome; the emperor’s secret police; messengers, spies and assassins.

  Gallia Belgica: Roman province occupying northern France and southern Belgium.

  Gallia Lugdunensis: Roman province of north-western and central France.

  Gallia Narbonensis: Roman province roughly corresponding to the French regions of Provence and Languedoc.

  Gallic Channel: Literal translation of the Roman name for the English Channel.

  Gaois: Old Norse, the growing or whirling one. A sword inscribed with this name has been excavated in Norway.

  Geats: North Germanic tribe; in this novel inhabiting Solfell, the island of Gotland.

  Genius: Divine part of man, some ambiguity, whether external (like a guardian angel) or internal (divine spark); that of the head of a household was worshipped as one of the household gods, that of the emperor publicly worshipped.

  Gepidae: East German tribe.

  Germania: Lands where the German tribes lived; free (as opposed to Roman) Germany.

  Germania Inferior: Roman province along the south bank of the lower Rhine river, occupying much of modern Belgium and parts of the Netherlands.

  Germania Superior: Roman province astride the upper Rhine, in the French region of Alsace and the German Rhineland.

  Germanicus Maximus: Title adopted by the Roman emperors symbolizing victories over the German tribes.

  Gesoriacum: Modern Boulogne, a major military and naval base used by the Romans’ Channel fleet.

  Getae: Thracian tribe living along the banks of the lower Danube in modern Romania and Bulgaria.

  Gift-stool: Literal translation of the Old English term for a throne or seat for formal occasions.

  Gladius: Roman military short sword; generally superseded by the spatha by the mid-third century AD; also slang for penis.

  Gladsheim: Old Norse, bright home, the meeting house of the gods in Asgard.

  Gnitaheath: Old Norse; literally, Glittering Heath; in this novel, a heath on the island of Abalos where Unferth has his hall.

  Goths: Loose confederation of Germanic tribes.

  Graeculus (plural, Graeculi): Latin, Little Greek; Greeks called themselves Hellenes; Romans tended not extend that courtesy but called them Graeci; with casual contempt, Romans often went further, to Graeculi.

  Grethungi: Gothic tribe living on the Steppe north of the Black Sea.

  Gudme: Major early settlement and trading post on the island of Varinsey (modern Funen).

  Gudmestrand: Fictional name for the port of the settlement at Gudme, known today as Lundeborg.

  Gymnasium: Exercise ground. Formed from the Greek word gymnos, naked, as all such activities were performed in the nude.

  Hades: Greek underworld.

  Hansa: Gothic, army, band or force.

  Harii: Germanic tribe living around the headwaters of the Vistula.

  Hearth-companions: Translation from the Old English, retainers, companions.

  Hearth-troop: From the Old English, a war band bound to a particular leader through ties of personal loyalty.

  Heathobards: German tribe; in this novel, living south-east of the Jutland peninsula.

  Hecate: Sinister, three-headed underworld goddess of magic, the night, crossroads and doorways.

  Hedinsey: Island in the Baltic known from the Norse sagas, here identified as Zealand.

  Heimdall: Norse god who watches for signs of the beginning of Ragnarok.

  Hel: Underworld in Norse mythology, reserved for those who do not die a warrior’s death.

  Helisii: German tribe living along the banks of a tributary of the Borysthenes.

  Hellas: Greek name for
Greece.

  Hellene: Greeks’ name for themselves. Often used with connotations of cultural superiority.

  Hellenism: Civilization of Ancient Greece.

  Hellespont: From the Greek, Sea of Helle (a figure in Greek mythology); narrow channel separating Europe and Asia and linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, also known as the Dardanelles.

  Hercules: Hero who became a god, popular among Greeks and Romans. Known to the former as Heracles.

  Hercules Deusoniensis: Hercules of Deuso, a localized version of the god Hercules.

  Herul (plural, Heruli): East Germanic tribe living to the north of the Black Sea, having migrated from Scandinavia in the early third century AD.

  Hibernia: Modern Ireland.

  Hilleviones: German tribe living on Scadinavia.

  Himlings: Fictional dynasty ruling over the Angles from the island of Hedinsey.

  Hindafell: Literally, Deer Mountain, a place mentioned in the Norse sagas; here identified as the island of Öland, and home of the Wylfings.

  Hispania: Roman name for Spain.

  Hispania Tarraconensis: Roman province covering much of the Iberian peninsula except the south-western corner, which was shared between two much smaller provinces.

  Hlymdale: Literally, Valley of Uproar, a place name mentioned in the Norse sagas and here given to the ancient site excavated at modern Himlingøje on the island of Zealand; home of the Himlings on Hedinsey.

  Hoi polloi: Greek written as English, the many: thus the common herd.

  Homonoia: Greek political concept of concord, unity, the absence of factionalism.

  Homunculi: Latin, little men, dwarfs.

  Hronesness: Headland of the Whales, a place mentioned in the Norse sagas.

  Hubris: From the Greek hybris, pride, which expresses itself in the demeaning of others, and taken to excess results in divine punishment.

  Humanitas: Latin, an important ethical concept incorporating notions of humane, civilized, cultivated conduct; the opposite of barbaritas. The Romans thought themselves and Greeks (at least upper-class ones), and occasionally other peoples (usually very remote) possessed it, while the majority of mankind did not.

  Hygeia: In Greek mythology, the daughter of the god Asclepius, the goddess of health and cleanliness.

  Hylaea: Area of forests and marshes bordering the Borysthenes river.

  Hymen: Greek god of marriage and weddings.