The Amber Road

by Harry Sidebottom

  Hymenaee Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaee: Traditional song chanted at Roman weddings, invoking the god Hymen.

  Hypanis river: Flowing north-west to south-east in western Ukraine, now known as the Southern Bug river.

  Hyperborea: Land of fantastical peoples of the extreme north, beyond the north wind and far from civilization.

  Iberia (1): Ancient name for the lands of modern Spain and Portugal, taking its name from the Ebro river.

  Iberia (2): Kingdom to the south of the Caucasus (the name led some ancient writers to state that its inhabitants had migrated from Spain).

  Icarus: In Greek mythology, boy whose artificial wings melted as he flew too close to the sun, with tragic results.

  Iliad: Great epic poem of the Greeks, telling the story of the Trojan War; written by Homer.

  Ilion: Alternative name for the legendary city of Troy.

  Imperator: Originally an epithet bestowed by troops on victorious generals, became a standard title of the princeps, and thus origin of the English word ‘emperor’.

  Imperium: Power to issue orders and exact obedience; official military command.

  Imperium Romanum: Power of the Romans, i.e. the Roman empire, often referred to simply as the imperium.

  Interamna: Literally, Between Rivers; modern Terni in the Italian region of Umbria.

  Invictus: Unconquered, a title of the Roman emperors.

  Invidia: Latin for malicious envy; phthonos in Greek.

  Io Cantab!: Hurrah, Cantabrians!

  Ionic columns: Style of column originating in Ionia, the eastern coast of modern Turkey settled by Greeks in antiquity.

  Isis: Egyptian goddess of reincarnation, adopted by the Romans.

  Islands of the Blessed: In Greek myth, a place in the west where the souls of the fortunate dead dwell.

  Ister: Ancient name for the lower reaches of the Danube river.

  Iuliobona: Modern Lillebonne, a town on the north-western coast of France.

  Iuthungi: German tribe belonging to the Alamanni confederation, living to the north of the headwaters of the Rhine and Danube.

  Ixion: In Greek mythology, the first man to kill a member of his own family (his father-in-law). Punished by being broken on a wheel.

  Julier pass: Important mountain pass though the Alps in south-eastern Switzerland.

  Juno: Genius of a woman.

  Jupiter Optimus Maximus: Jupiter Greatest and Best, the chief god of Roman religion.

  Kalends: First day of the month.

  Kurgan: Name for a burial mound in the Slavic or Turkic languages spoken to the north of the Black Sea.

  Lacedaemon: Alternative name for the Greek state of Sparta, renowned for its warlike inhabitants and militaristic society.

  Laestrygonians: Tribe of mythical giants in the Odyssey of Homer which practised cannibalism.

  Lake Benacus: Roman name for Lake Garda in northern Italy.

  Langobard (plural, Langobardi): Latin, Tribe living on the banks of the river Elbe in central Germany.

  Lares: Gods worshipped domestically by the Romans, protectors of the home and its inhabitants.

  Latris: Baltic island mentioned by Pliny, here identified as the group of islands to the south of Zealand and home of the Wrosns.

  Legio I Minerva: First Minervan Legion. Originally raised by the emperor Domitian in AD83; stationed in Germania Inferior, its fortress was the modern city of Bonn. Although troops on detachment fought for Gallienus, the legion itself supported Postumus. Commanded by Marcus Aurelius Dialis.

  Legio II Adiutrix: The Helpful Second. Formed by Nero in AD66/67, later stationed in Pannonia to defend the Danube frontier.

  Legio II Parthica: Second Parthian Legion. Raised by Septimius Severus in AD195/196 for his campaigns in the east. Detachments formed the core of Gallienus’s comitatus.

  Legio III Italica Concors: Third Harmonious Italians. Recruited by Marcus Aurelius in AD165, stationed in Raetia and falling within Postumus’s empire. At one time commanded by Simplicinius Genialis, now by Bonosus.

  Legio IV Scythica: Fourth Scythian Legion; from the second half of the first century AD, based at Zeugma in Syria Coele; commanded by Ballista against the Persians.

  Legio V Macedonica: Fifth Macedonian Legion. Raised in the civil wars of the Roman Republic, stationed in Dacia from AD167. Loyal to Gallienus, detachments saw service in his comitatus.

  Legio VII Augusta: Seventh Augustan Legion. First raised by Julius Caesar for the conquest of Gaul, stationed at modern Strasbourg in Germania Superior from AD70. Detachments saw active service in the field army of Simplicinius Genialis.

  Legio XI Claudia: Eleventh Claudian Legion. Stationed in Moesia Inferior from the beginning of the second century AD; detached vexillationes for service around the Black Sea region.

  Legio XXII Primigenia: Twenty-second First-born. Founded in the mid-first century AD and quartered for much of the time thereafter in the modern city of Mainz in Germania Superior, a province controlled by Postumus.

  Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix: Thirtieth Ulpian Victorious Legion. Recruited by Trajan and taking one of his names, was posted in AD122 to the modern city of Xanten in Germania Superior. Commanded by Lollianus, an adherent of Postumus.

  Legion: Unit of heavy infantry, usually about five thousand men strong; from mythical times, the backbone of the Roman army; the numbers in a legion and the legion’s dominance in the army declined during the third century AD as more and more detachments, vexillationes, served away from the parent unit and became more or less independent units.

  Legionary: Roman regular soldier serving in a legion.

  Lesbian: From the Greek island of Lesbos. Wine from this island was highly praised in antiquity. To accuse a man of ‘playing the Lesbian’ was to accuse him of performing fellatio.

  Leuce: Greek, White Island, lying in the Black Sea off the coast of the Ukraine. Sacred to Achilles in antiquity, now known in English as Snake Island.

  Lex de Imperio: Resolution of the senate conferring power on an emperor, a constitutional fiction not always observed.

  Libation: Offering of drink to the gods.

  Licinii: One of the most important families in early Rome, providing many of the consuls.

  Liguria: Ancient name for the north-western area of Italy, modern Piedmont and Genoa.

  Little Belt: Sea channel between the Cimbric (modern Jutland) peninsula and the island of Varinsey (modern Funen).

  Loki: In Norse mythology, the trickster, bad god.

  Lucullan: From the Roman Lucullus, a notorious gourmand.

  Lugdunum: Important Roman city in central France, modern Lyon.

  Lugii: Confederation of German tribes living roughly in the region of modern Poland.

  Macedonia: Roman province covering much of the southern Balkan peninsula, not to be confused with the modern state.

  Macriani: Collective name for the family of Macrianus the Lame, a general who proclaimed his sons emperors in AD260.

  Maeotis: Sea of Azov.

  Maiestas: Latin, majesty. The majesty of the Roman imperium was a core component of imperial ideology. Offences against Roman maiestas, personified by the emperor, were considered treasonous and punishable by death; in time, the term began to be used for the crime as well as the positive quality.

  Mandata: Instructions issued by the emperors to their governors and officials.

  Manimi: Tribe belonging to the Lugii.

  Manubiae: Latin, spoils of war. A Roman general was expected to be open-handed with the plunder won on campaign, sharing it among his soldiers. Yet at the same time, under the principate, according to the law, it was all to go to the emperor.

  Marcomanni: German confederation of tribes that invaded the Roman Danubian provinces in the late second century AD, and were expelled only with great bloodshed.

  Maremma: Breed of Roman hunting dog from northern Italy.

  Massilia: Roman port on the southern shores of Gaul; modern Marseilles.

  Mauretania: Area of western No
rth Africa divided into two Roman provinces, Tingitana and Caesariensis, covering much of modern Morocco.

  Mediolanum: Roman city in north Italy; modern Milan.

  Megareans: Followers of the philosopher Stilpo of Megara, who taught the essential unity of all things.

  Middle Earth: In Norse culture, the world of men, as opposed to Asgard, the realm of the gods.

  Miletus: Major Greek city on the western coast of modern Turkey, saved by Ballista from the Goths.

  Mirkwood: Name of several great forests in the legends of the Norse sagas.

  Moesia: Ancient geographical region following the south bank of the Danube river in the Balkans.

  Moesia Inferior: Roman province south of the lower reaches of the Danube river, bordering the Black Sea.

  Mos (plural, mores): Latin, customs, modes of conduct.

  Mos maiorum: Important Roman concept: traditional customs, the ways of the ancestors.

  Murmillo: Type of heavily armed gladiator who could be recognized by the shape of his helmet, which had a crest in the shape of a fish.

  Museum: Temple of the Muses in Alexandria, an institution that attracted leading intellectuals from all over the Greek world, who came to study in its vast library and would lecture in its precincts. Origin of the modern word ‘museum’.

  Myrgings: Saxon clan living to the south of the Angles along the Eider river.

  Naharvali: German tribe of the Lugii. According to Tacitus, they worshipped at a sacred grove led by a transvestite priest.

  Narbo: Roman city on the southern coast of France; modern Narbonne.

  Nasu: Persian, Demon of Death. Name by which the Persians know Ballista.

  Necropolis: Greek; literally, city of the dead; a cemetery.

  Nemean lion: Mythical beast killed by Hercules whose pelt, impervious to mortal weapons, was subsequently worn by the hero as a cloak.

  Nemi: Roman sanctuary sacred to Diana, whose priest was an escaped slave. His position was precarious, as he could be replaced by a challenger through a fight to the death.

  Neophytes: From the Greek, recent converts to a religion or cult; those who must undergo an initiation ritual.

  Neo-Pythagoreans: Philosophers who revived the teachings of Pythagoras in the first century BC, reintroducing an element of spirituality and mysticism into the then dominant philosophy of Plato.

  Nereids: In Greek mythology, the fifty daughters of the son of Pontus (the sea); water spirits.

  Nerthus: Germanic earth goddess.

  Niflheim: In Norse mythology, the underworld for those who do not die in battle.

  Nithing: Germanic word for a coward, a wretch. Highly derogatory.

  Nocturnal council: In the ideal state sketched by the philosopher Plato, a body meeting before sunrise which seems to have been entrusted with the preservation of the constitution and education of future leading citizens.

  Noricum: Roman province lying to the south of the Danube river, occupying most of modern Austria.

  Norns: In Norse mythology, the three goddesses responsible for weaving the destinies of gods and men.

  Norvasund: The Narrow Sound, an unidentified place mentioned in the Norse sagas and here identified as the modern Gudsø Vig, an inlet on the Jutland peninsula.

  Novae: Town on the south bank of the Danube; successfully defended from Gothic attack by the future emperor Gallus in AD250.

  Numidia: Ancient geographical region and Roman province on the coast of North Africa; now modern Algeria and western Tunisia.

  Odyssey: Greek epic poem telling the long, difficult and dangerous journey home of Odysseus from the Trojan War; written by Homer.

  Oikoumene: Greek, the inhabited world; term became synonymous with the Roman empire.

  Olbia: City originally founded as a Greek colony near the mouth of the Hypanis river; in modern southern Ukraine.

  Olympus: Mountain in northern Greece, its peak thought to be the home of the gods.

  Ombrones: German tribe living north of the source of the Vistula river.

  Oneiromancy: Interpretation of dreams to divine the future. Elaborated into a complex system and widely practised in antiquity.

  Optio: Junior officer in the Roman army, ranked below a centurion.

  Ordo: Latin, social or professional class.

  Orpheus: Entered the underworld in a doomed attempt to bring back his wife, became a popular figure in ancient literature and religion.

  Ouiadoua bank: A river of this name is mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy; probably the modern Oder; the shallow waters and lagoons at its mouth are now known as Stettin Bay.

  Oxygala: Greek sour milk or yoghurt.

  Paideia: Culture; Greeks considered it marked them off from the rest of the world, and the Greek elite considered it marked them off from the rest of the Greeks.

  Palatine: One of the Seven Hills of Rome, overlooking the forum; eventually engulfed by the imperial palace.

  Palmyra: Now-abandoned city in central Syria. In the chaos of the third century AD, its ruler was put in charge of the Roman province of Syria by the emperor Valerian.

  Palmyrene: Inhabitant of Palmyra.

  Panegyric: Highly formalized speech of praise delivered to an emperor in gratitude for some favour.

  Pannonia: Ancient geographical region lying south of the upper reaches of the Danube river and north of the Dalmatian mountains, in the region of modern Austria and Slovenia, divided into two Roman provinces.

  Pans: Greek gods of the mountains, shepherds and rustic music; half man, half goat.

  Panticapaeum: Greek: literally, All-cradling. Trading city at the eastern end of the Crimean peninsula, capital of the kingdom of the Bosporus, now modern Kerch.

  Parthian: From the empire centred around north-eastern Iran, conquered in AD224 by Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid empire.

  Patrician: Men of the highest birth in Rome, whose families could trace their aristocratic origins back to the legendary foundation of Rome and the first senate.

  Pax: Roman personification of Peace, worshipped as a goddess.

  Peace-weaver: In Germanic culture, a woman who acts to establish peace between feuding families or individuals.

  Pegasus: Winged horse of Greek mythology, famed as a battle charger.

  Pelion heaped upon Ossa: In Greek mythology, the sons of Poseidon attempted to climb to heaven by stacking Pelion and Ossa (mountains in north-eastern Greece) on top of Mount Olympus; an image used in the Aeneid of Virgil.

  Peloponnese: Large peninsula formed by southern Greece.

  Peripatetics: Literally, the wanderers; philosophers who followed the scientific and physical teachings of Aristotle.

  Peristyle: From the Greek, surrounded by colonnades.

  Phalanx: Greek, a military formation; heavy infantry standing in line, many ranks deep.

  Phoenician: To act the Phoenician was to perform cunnilingus, considered by the Romans to be a disgusting and degrading act. Slang term originating in the ethnic stereotyping of the Phoenicians, a people of the eastern Mediterranean, early enemies of Rome; see Lesbian.

  Phthonos: Greek, malicious envy; invidia in Latin.

  Pius: Latin, god-fearing, properly religious; a quality of all good Romans.

  Plataea: Battle in which a small alliance of Greek states fought successfully for their freedom against the invading Persians.

  Platonist: Follower of the philosophy of Plato.

  Platonopolis: According to Porphyry, a project conceived by the philosopher Plotinus and patronized by the emperor Gallienus to refound a ruined city in Campania that would be run along the lines of the ideal state theorized by Plato.

  Plebs: Lowest social class in Rome, more or less despised by the elite; often referred to as the dregs of the population.

  Polis: Greek, a city state; living in one was a key marker in being considered Greek and/or civilized.

  Pontifex Maximus: Chief priest of the Roman religion, an office assumed by the emperor and included among his titles.

>   Poseidon: Greek god of the sea.

  Praefectus Castrorum: Roman officer in charge of the baggage train and camp; normally an ex-centurion.

  Praefectus Legionis: Equestrian commander of a legion.

  Praefectus Vigilum: Important administrator in the city of Rome; in charge of the vigiles.

  Praetorian Prefect: Commander of the Praetorians, an equestrian.

  Praetorians: Members of the Praetorian Guard, the emperor’s bodyguard and the most prestigious and highly paid unit in the empire.

  Praetorium: Tent of a Roman general; a military headquarters.

  Prefect: From the Latin praefectus, a flexible term for many officials and officers; on its own, typically the commander of an auxiliary unit.

  Prefect of Cavalry: Senior military post introduced in the mid-third century AD.

  Prefect of the City: Official controlling the judiciary of Rome; also commanded a military unit for the maintenance of order in the city.

  Priene: Greek town on the eastern coast of modern Turkey.

  Primus Pilus: Senior centurion of a legion; on retirement, could expect to be made an equestrian.

  Princeps (plural, principes): Latin, leading man; thus a polite way to refer to the emperor. In the plural, often denoted senators or great men of the empire, but might also be used of any important persons.

  Princeps Peregrinorum: Commander of the frumentarii.

  Protector (plural, protectores): Group of high-ranking military officers singled out by the emperor Gallienus to act as his staff.

  Puer (plural, pueri): Latin, boy; used by owners of their male slaves, and by soldiers of each other.

  Pulchritude: From the Latin, beauty.

  Pythagoreans: First followers of the philosopher Pythagoras, who taught a form of mysticism based on mathematics.

  Quadi: Bellicose tribe of Germans living on the Roman frontier beside the Danube river.

  Quaestors: Most junior office in the public career system of the Roman elite, granting the holder the rank of senator.

  Raetia: Roman Alpine province including the modern Tyrol and parts of Switzerland and Bavaria.

  Ragnarok: In Norse paganism, the death of gods and men; the end of time.

  Ran: Norse goddess of the sea.

  Reiks: Gothic chief or warlord.

  Res Publica: Latin, the Roman Republic; under the emperors, continued to mean the Roman empire.