by Paulo Barata
The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city.
The Ancient Agora of Athens was the best-known example, birthplace of democracy.
Ambrosia
Mythical food/drink of the Greek gods
Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods' other form of sustenance, nectar. The two terms may not have originally been distinguished; though in Homer's poems nectar is usually the drink and ambrosia the food of the gods; it was with ambrosia Hera "cleansed all defilement from her lovely flesh", and with ambrosia Athena prepared Penelope in her sleep, so that when she appeared for the final time before her suitors, the effects of years had been stripped away and they were inflamed with passion at the sight of her.
The consumption of ambrosia was typically reserved for divine beings. Upon his assumption into immortality on Olympus, Heracles is given ambrosia by Athena, while the hero Tydeus is denied the same thing when the goddess discovers him eating human brains. In one version of the myth of Tantalus, part of Tantalus' crime is that after tasting ambrosia himself, he attempts to steal some away to give to other mortals. Those who consume ambrosia typically had not blood in their veins, but ichor.
Acheron
River in the underworld of Greek mythology
In ancient Greek mythology, Acheron was known as the river of pain, and was one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld. In the Homeric poems the Acheron was described as a river of Hades, into which Cocytus and Phlegethon both flowed.
The Roman poet Virgil called it the principal river of Tartarus, from which the Styx and Cocytus both sprang. The newly-dead would be ferried across the Acheron by Charon in order to enter the Underworld.
The Suda describes the river as "a place of healing, not a place of punishment, cleansing and purging the sins of humans."
Basilica
Edifice reserved for assemblies
The Latin word basilica, has three distinct applications in modern English. The word was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town.
By extension it was applied to Christian buildings of the same form and continues to be used in an architectural sense to describe those buildings with a central nave and aisles.
Later, the term came to refer specifically to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rights by the Pope.
Bireme / Trireme
A ship of Greek origin, with 2 or 3 decks of oars
A trireme was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.
The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar. The early trireme was a development of the penteconter, an ancient warship with a single row of 25 oars on each side, and of the bireme, a warship with two banks of oars, probably of Phoenician origin.
As a ship it was fast and agile, and became the dominant warship in the Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC, when they were largely superseded by the larger quadriremes and quinqueremes. Triremes played a vital role in the Persian Wars, the creation of the Athenian maritime empire, and its downfall in the Peloponnesian War.
Cardo
Urban street - north to south orientation
The cardo was a north/south-oriented street in Roman cities, military camps, and coloniae. The cardo, an integral component of city planning, was lined with shops and vendors, and served as a hub of economic life. The main cardo was called cardo maximus.
Most Roman cities also had a Decumanus Maximus, an east-west street that served as a secondary main street. Due to varying geography, in some cities the decumanus is the main street and the cardo is secondary, but in general the cardo maximus served as the primary road. The Forum was normally located at the intersection of the Decumanus and the Cardo.
Castrum
Military camp or edifice
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position.
In classical Latin the word castra always means "great legionary encampment", both "marching", "temporary" ones and the "fortified permanent" ones, while the diminutive form castellum was used for the smaller forts, which were usually, but not always, occupied by the auxiliary units and used as logistic bases for the legions.
Chatti
Germanic tribe
The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of the Weser River and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder, Fulda and Weser River regions, a district approximately corresponding to Hesse-Kassel, though probably somewhat more extensive.
Consul
Supreme magistrate of Rome
Consul (Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city-states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic.
Christians
Religious group, followers of Jesus Christ
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. "Christian" derives from the Koine Greek word Christ, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term Messiah.
Central to the Christian faith is the gospel, the teaching that humans have hope for salvation through the message and work of Jesus, and particularly, his atoning death on the cross and resurrection. Christians also believe Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible.
Most Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity ("tri-unity"), a description of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This includes the vast majority of churches in Christianity.
Christ
Messiah / The Anointed One
In Jewish eschatology, the term came to refer to a future Jewish King from the Davidic line, who will be "anointed" with holy oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age.
Traditional and current Orthodox thought have mainly held that the Messiah will be the anointed one, descended from his father through the Davidic line of King David via Solomon, who will gather the Jews back into the Land of Israel, usher in an era of peace, build the Third Temple, have a male heir and re-institute the Sanhedrin, among other things. Jewish tradition alludes to two redeemers, both are called Mashiach and are involved in ushering in the Messianic age: Mashiah ben David and Mashiach ben Joseph. In general, the term Messiah unqualified always refers to Mashiach ben David (Messiah the descendant of David and Salomon) of the tribe of Judah. He will be the final redeemer who shall rule in the Messianic age.
Curia Julia
Assembly building of the roman senate
Curia Julia is the third named Curia, or Senate House, in the ancient city of Rome. It was built in 44 BC when Julius Caesar replaced Faustus Cornelius Sulla's reconstructed Curia Cornelia, which itself had replaced the Curia Hostilia.
Caesar did this in order to redesign both spaces within the Comitium and Forum Romanum. The alterations within the Comitium reduced the prominence of the senate and cleared the original space. The work, however, was interrupted by Caesar's assassination at the Theatre of Pompey where the Senate had been meeting temporarily while the work was completed. The project was eventually finished by Caesar's successor Augustus in 29 BC.
Decumanus
Urban street - east to west orientation
In Roman city planning, a decumanus was an east-west-oriented road in a Roman city, castra (military camp), or colonia. The main decumanus was the Decumanus Maximus, which normally connected the Porta Praetoria (in a military camp, closest to the enemy) to the Porta Decumana (away from the enemy).
Sacred Disease
Epilepsy
Dominus
Roman salutation, lord, master
Domus/Villa/Insulae
Residential house
In ancient Rome, the domus was the type of house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras.
It comes from the Ancient Greek word domi meaning structure since it was the standard type of housing in Ancient Greece. It could be found in almost all the major cities throughout the Roman territories.
Along with a domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a separate country house known as a villa. While many chose to live primarily, or even exclusively, in their villas, these homes were generally much grander in scale and on larger acres of land due to more space outside the walled and fortified city.
The elite classes of Roman society constructed their residences with elaborate marble decorations, inlaid marble paneling, door jambs and columns as well as expensive paintings and frescoes.
Many poor and lower middle class Romans lived in crowded, dirty and mostly rundown rental apartments, known as insulae. These multi-level apartment blocks were built as high and tightly together as possible and held far less status and convenience than the private homes of the prosperous.
Ecclesis
A place for assemblies, church, temple
The first house church is recorded in Acts 1:13, where the disciples of Jesus met together in the "Upper Room" of a house, traditionally believed to be where the Cenacle is today.
For the first three centuries of the church, known as Early Christianity, Christians typically met in homes, if only because intermittent persecution (before the Edict of Milan in 313) did not allow the erection of public church buildings.
Erratum
Corrective text of a published work
Forum
Public square in predominantly roman cities
A forum (Latin, "place outdoors") was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls.
Many forums were constructed at remote locations along a road by the magistrate responsible for the road, in which case the forum was the only settlement at the site and had its own name, such as Forum Popili or Forum Livi.
In addition to its standard function as a marketplace, a forum was a gathering place of great social significance, and often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions and debates, rendezvous, meetings, et cetera. In that case it supplemented the function of a conciliabulum.
Every Italian city had a forum. Forums were the first feature of any civitas whether Latin, Italic, Etruscan, Greek, Celtic or some other.
Hades
The underworld in Greek mythology
Insula
Residential building with multiple floors
Iseum
A temple in honor of the goddess Isis
Khaire
Greek salutation
Koine
Greek dialect in the antiquity
Legate
General / Governor of a roman province
A legatus (often Anglicized as legate) was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes.
Legates received large shares of the army's booty at the end of a successful campaign, which made the position a lucrative one, so it could often attract even distinguished consuls.
There were two main positions; the legatus legionis was an ex-praetor given command of one of Rome's elite legions, while the legatus propraetor was an ex-consul, who was given the governorship of a Roman province with the magisterial powers of a praetor, which in some cases gave him command of four or more legions.
Ludi
Plays and theatrical games
Ludi (Latin plural) were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people. Ludi were held in conjunction with,
