The Amber Road (50 page)

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
AD
250.

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
AD
224 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.

Reudigni
: German tribe living on the Jutland peninsula.

Rhodanus
: Roman name for the Rhone river.

Rotomagus
: Important Roman city in northern France; modern Rouen.

Rugii
: German tribe living on the southern coasts of the Baltic.

Rugium
: Town of the Rugii named by Ptolemy; here placed on the lower Vistula.

Runes
: Germanic writing system, thought to have magical powers.

Sacramentum
: Roman military oath, taken extremely seriously.

Sacred Way
: Road leading from the
forum
in Rome, used as a processional route for state occasions.

Salus
: Roman personification of safety and prosperity, worshipped as a goddess.

Samarobriva
: Roman city in north-western France; modern Amiens.

Sarcophagus
(plural,
sarcophagi
): Greek; literally, flesh-eater; a stone coffin, often highly carved and displayed above ground.

Sarmatians
: Nomadic peoples living north of the Danube.

Sassanid
: Persian, from the dynasty that overthrew the Parthians in the 220s
AD
and was Rome’s great eastern rival until the seventh century
AD
.

Saxons
: North Germanic tribe.

Scadinavia
: Ancient name for the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, thought to be an island in antiquity.

Scop
: In Norse and Angle culture, an itinerant poet, reciting epic verse on heroic themes of battle.

Scrithiphini
: Scandinavian tribe.

Scylla and Charybdis
: Two monsters from the
Odyssey
, guarding either side of a narrow strait.

Scythians
: Nomadic peoples living north and east of the Black Sea, roughly bordered by the Danube in the west, the Volga in the east and the Caucasus to the south. A source of fantastical tales for ancient geographers.

Sebaste
: Elaiussa Sebaste, a Roman town on the southern coast of Turkey where Ballista successfully routed the Persians.

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

Senator
: Member of the senate, the council of Rome. The senatorial order was the richest and most prestigious group in the empire, often entrusted with military commands and imperial offices.

Serapis
: God of the harvest, worshipped by the Greek inhabitants of Egypt and later adopted by the Romans.

Sesterces
: Standard denomination in the Roman coinage system.