A Mixture of Madness, Book II of The Bow of Heaven (65 page)

Curule Magistrates
the highest dignitaries of the state, distinguished from all others by enjoying the privilege of sitting on ivory chairs when engaged in their public functions.
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Decimation
A punishment for cowardice in the legions. One of every ten men in a century or cohort or any military unit is selected at random and beaten to death by his fellow soldiers.
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Decuri
on
A Roman cavalry officer.
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Denarius
  Silver Roman coin worth four sesterces.
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Domina
  Mistress of a Roman household.
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Dominus
  Master of a household.
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Domus
  A Roman house. For more information, click on the diagram to the right, or go to these links: 

penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Domus

roman-empire.net/society/soc-house.html

mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_homes

Even the richest estates usually followed some variation of the pictured layout, though the rooms were larger, more ornate, more plentiful, often with the additions of private baths and exercise rooms.
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Familia
  The family members, including servants and slaves, of a Roman household.
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Fasces
  The fasces was the symbol of power and authority in ancient Rome. Made of wooden rods, perhaps birch, surrounding an axe, bound together with red leather. The fasces was carried by a lictor, the guardian for curule magistrates who held imperium. The rods symbolized the power of scourging, and the axe the power of capital punishment. When inside the pomerium, the lictors removed the axes from the fasces to symbolize that a citizen could not be executed without a trial, and that within the city, the power over life and death resided with the people’s assemblies, not magistrates with imperium. Upon entering the Comitia Centuriata (where the people elected the magistrates), the lictors would lower the fasces as a demonstration that the powers of the consuls derive from the people.
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(Image courtesy:  http://www.friesian.com/rome.htm)

Fibula
  Clasp or brooch.
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Fortuna
  Goddess of Luck.
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Forum
  If the
comitium
was the center of all political life in Rome, then the forum was its heart. Encompassing the
comitium
, over the centuries, it included many temples, basilicas, shops and plazas. In the 80’s, Sulla raised the entire plaza almost a meter and covered it with black marble paving stones.
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Frigidarium
  The bathing pool in Roman baths left unheated, often used after exercise and warmer pools had opened the pores.
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Furina
  Goddess of thieves.
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Garum
  Aromatic fish sauce.
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Gladius
  Short sword, plural: gladii.
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Imperator
General who has won a great victory.
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Imperium
the power of magistrates to command armies and (within limits) to coerce citizens.
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Impluvium
A shallow pool,  usually to be found in the atrium, that captured rainwater from an opening in the roof (the compluvium).
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Insulae
  Apartment houses. Singular—insula.
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Lacerna
  A cloak fastened on the right shoulder by a buckle (fibula).
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Lares Domestici
  Minor Roman deities whose function was to guard and oversee all that transpired in the home.
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Lararium
  Household shrine usually found in the Atrium.
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Latrunculi
A popular Roman board game, similar to the Japanese game of Go. Learn more at
http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/wxk116/Roman/BoardGames/latruncu.html
.
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Latifundium
  Large Roman farming estate.
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Laudatio Funebris
  Eulogy.
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Laverna
  Roman goddess of cheats, thieves and pickpockets, perhaps evolved from the Etruscan goddess, Furina, protector of thieves.
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Law of the Twelve Tables
The foundation of the Roman constitution, written in the middle of the fifth century BCE. It established basic rights for citizens, the result of the class war between the patricians and the plebeians. The original documents were lost when the Gauls destroyed Rome in 390 BCE.
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Lectus
  Couch, bed. Romans ate reclining. Sitting in chairs around a dining table during the late Republic was unknown. A slightly larger version of the dining
lectus
was used for sleeping, although, as always, the rich tended to larger, more ostentatious sizes, materials and trappings.
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Legate
  Commander of a legion; one with authority delegated by a consul or magistrate.
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Legion
The Roman legion of the post-Marian era toward the end of the Republic was ideally composed of 10 cohorts, 6 six centuries of 80 men in each cohort. There were 10 contuberniums per century, each with eight men. Therefore, each cohort contained 480 soldiers.
However
, legions rarely fought at the full strength of 4,800 fighting men. For example, Caesar often fought in Gaul with legions totaling only approximately 3,500 men. I have guestimated that Crassus was understaffed at the outset, with seven legions of 30,000 soldiers. Due to the catastrophe of the crossing from Brundisium to Dyrrachium, I have reduced the army’s strength to 28,000 legionaries, 4,000 light infantry, and 4,000 cavalry (including Publius’ contribution of 1,000 Gallic horse).
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Liburna
  A faster and more maneuverable warship than the trireme, it was powered by only one level of rowers sitting below-deck. It could transport about a century (80 legionaries). Picture courtesy of easypedia.gr.
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Lictor
  A bodyguard for high-ranking Roman magistrates. The more powerful the office, the more lictors were assigned to you. Each consul was accompanied in every public appearance by twelve lictors; praetors – six abroad, two within Rome; proconsuls and propraetors – six; curule aediles – 2; vestal virgins – 1; dictator - 24.
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Lorarius
  A slave whose job it was to punish other slaves by flogging; also, in the arena, a person who encouraged reluctant animals or humans with a whip.
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Lorica
  Armor.
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Lorum
  A short leather whip, often with two leather strips, thirty inches long, knotted at the ends.
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Magus
  Sorcerer, magician.
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Malaria
  The Romans called malaria the "rage of the Dog Star," since the disease was most prevalent during the
caniculares dies
, the dog days of summer, when Sirius disappeared in the brightness of the sun.
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Medicus
  A Roman physician. While doctors in the military were surprisingly adept at healing wounds, performing surgery, even using antiseptic techniques, the local physician was typically regarded as a charlatan and a quack. Knowledge of the healing arts was expected of each pater familias, and doctors were not generally trusted. This attitude continued until the advent of Galen of Pergamon, arguably the most famous physician of the second century CE, made the practice of medicine respectable.
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Merda
  Excrement.
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Ministratore
  Servant, waiter.
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Mi
thra
  (also Mithras) The central god of Mithraism, an ancient Persian cult possibly having its origins in Zoroastrianism, which gained widespread popularity throughout the Roman Empire into the 4
th
century CE.
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Mundus
  A round pit, possibly located on the Palatine Hill, which served as an opening to the underworld. (It may also have been were the precious seed-corn for the planting of grain was stored). On three days of the year, August 24, October 5 and November 8, the cover of the mundus was removed and spirits were allowed to roam free about the city. On these days, public business was forbidden, no battles were to be fought and no marriages were to take place.
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Nobiles
  A mix of old patrician families and wealthy plebs who had amassed most of the power in the Republic, generally applied to those who had served as consul. Their wealth came from land ownership, because commercial enterprise or trade of any kind was beneath a nobile, and sometimes illegal. A man like Crassus, therefore, used intermediaries to manage his vast holdings and business ventures.
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Optimates
  Conservative, aristocratic senators who wished to limit the power of the popular assemblies in favor of the senate. They were opposed by the
populares
, of which Julius Caesar was the most famous. Men like Pompeius and Cicero switched back and forth between factions. Marcus Crassus sided with the optimate Sulla until his death, but thereafter, his business interests were better served by being a purported voice of the people. The truth is, most senators backed whichever party could give them more personal wealth and power. The people’s needs had to be met only to the extent that it kept them in power.
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Optio
  Junior officer, assistant to a centurion.
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Orarium
  A small, linen handkerchief for wiping the face.
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