Spartacus: Rebellion (60 page)

Hades: the underworld – hell. The god of the underworld was also called Hades.

haruspex (pl. haruspices): a soothsayer. A man trained to divine in many ways, from the inspection of animal entrails to the shapes of clouds and the way birds fly. In addition, many natural phenomena – thunder, lightning, wind – could be used to interpret the present, past and future.

Hera: wife of Zeus and one of the most significant Greek goddesses.

Hercules (or, more correctly, Heracles): the greatest of Greek heroes, who completed twelve monumentally difficult labours.

Hermes: the messenger god.

Horatius: called Horatio in modern times, an ancient Roman hero who held the Sublician bridge over the Tiber against an invading army until it could be cut down. He then swam to safety across the river.

Hydra: a mythical, many-headed beast with poisonous breath that lived in a lake in the Peloponnese region of Greece. It was slain by Hercules as one of his twelve labours.

Iberia: the Iberian peninsula. In the first century
BC
, it was divided into two Roman provinces, Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior.

Illyria (or Illyricum): the Roman name for the lands that lay across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, including parts of modern-day Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

imperium
: supreme power, involving command in wars and the understanding and implementation of law (including capital punishment), which was granted to consuls, proconsuls, military tribunes, praetors, propraetors and other magistrates. This power was symbolised by the fasces carried by the lictores.

impluvium
: see
atrium
.

Juno: sister and wife of Jupiter, she was the Roman goddess of marriage and women.

Jupiter: often referred to as
Optimus Maximus
– ‘Greatest and Best’. Most powerful of the Roman gods, he was responsible for weather, especially storms.

Lactans: a god of crops.

lanista
(pl.
lanistae
): a gladiator trainer, often the owner of a
ludus
, a gladiator school.

lararium
: a shrine found in Roman homes, where the household gods were worshipped.

latifundium
(pl.
latifundia
): a large estate, usually owned by Roman nobility, and which utilised large numbers of slaves as labour.
Latifundia
date back to the second century
BC
, when vast areas of land were confiscated from Italian peoples defeated by Rome, such as the Samnites.

Latin: in ancient times this was not just a language. The Latins were the inhabitants of Latium, an area close to Rome. By about 300
BC
it had been vanquished by the Romans.

latro
(pl.
latrones
): thief or brigand. The word also meant ‘insurgent’.

legate: the officer in command of a legion, and a man of senatorial rank.

liburnian: a bireme adapted by the Romans from the lembus, an Illyrian vessel. It probably had between fifty and sixty oarsmen.

licium
: linen loincloth worn by nobles. It is likely that all classes wore a variant of this.

lictor (pl. lictores): a magistrates’ enforcer. Lictores were essentially the bodyguards for the consuls, praetors and other senior Roman magistrates. Such officials were accompanied at all times in public by set numbers of lictores (the number depended on their rank). Each lictor carried fasces, the symbol of justice: a bundle of rods enclosing an axe.

Lucania: modern-day Basilicata, a mountainous region of southern Italy.

ludus
(pl.
ludi
): a gladiator school.

lyre: an ancient Greek musical instrument with varying numbers of strings.

Maedi (also spelt Maidi): a Thracian tribe from which Spartacus may have originated.

maenads: women inspired to
mania
, or ritual ecstasy, by Dionysus. Euripides reported that they ate raw meat, handled snakes and tore live animals apart.

Marius, Gaius (
c.
157–86
BC
): another prominent Roman politician of the late second century and early first century
BC
. He served as consul a record seven times, and was a very successful general, but was outwitted by Sulla’s march on Rome in 87
BC
. Marius was also responsible for extensive remodelling of the Roman army. He was married to Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar.

Mars: the Roman god of war.

Messana: modern-day Messina.

Minerva: the Roman goddess of war and also of wisdom.

Mithridates (also spelt Mithradates): the greatest and most famous king of Pontus in Asia Minor. In the first century
BC
, he was one of Rome’s foremost enemies, fighting three wars against the Republic.

Mount Camalatrum: possibly the modern-day Mount Soprano.

Mount Garganus: the modern-day Promontorio del Gargano, the ‘spur’ above the heel of the Italian ‘boot’.

mulsum
: a drink made by mixing four parts wine with one part honey. It was commonly drunk before meals and with lighter courses during them.

munus
(pl.
munera
): a gladiatorial combat, staged originally during celebrations honouring someone’s death. Their popularity meant that by the late Roman Republic, rival politicians were regularly staging
munera
to win the public’s favour and to upstage each other.

Mutina: modern-day Modena.

Neptune: in Latin, Neptunus. The god of water, he was linked with Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.

Numantia: modern-day Garray near Soria in Spain.

Numidian: someone from Numidia, the area to the south and west of Carthage in North Africa.

Ops: a goddess of the harvest.

optio
(pl.
optiones
): the officer who ranked immediately below a centurion; the second-in-command of a century.

Ostia: a city at the mouth of the River Tiber; for centuries, the main port for Rome. (In my opinion, the site is a ‘must-see’ for anyone interested in ancient Rome.)

Padus: the River Po.

Paestum: modern-day Pesto, a town south-east of Naples that was founded
circa
600
BC
.

Pegasus: the immortal horse who carries the thunder and lightning of Zeus.

phalera
(pl.
phalerae
): a sculpted disc-like decoration for bravery which was worn on a chest harness over a Roman soldier’s armour.
Phalerae
were commonly made of bronze, but could be made of more precious metals as well.

Phrygian helmets: these originated in Phrygia, a region in Asia Minor. They had a characteristic forward curving crest.

pilum
(pl.
pila
): the Roman javelin. It consisted of a wooden shaft approximately 1.2 m (4 ft) long, joined to a thin iron shank approximately 0.6 m (2 ft) long, and was topped by a small pyramidal point. The range of the
pilum
was about 30 m (100 ft), although the effective range was probably about half this distance.

Pisae: modern-day Pisa.

Placentia: modern-day Piacenza.

Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus (106–48
BC
): Son of a leading politician, ‘Pompey’ fought at a young age in the Social War. He led three private legions to Sulla’s aid in the civil war, helping Sulla to gain power. In 77
BC
, he was sent to Iberia as proconsul, his mission to defeat the rebel Sertorius.

Pontifex Maximus: the leading member and spokesman of the four colleges of the Roman priesthood.

Pontus: the area of Asia Minor that included the south coast of the Black Sea.

praetors: senior magistrates who administered justice in Rome and in its overseas possessions such as Sardinia, Sicily and Spain. They could also hold military commands and initiate legislation. The main understudy to the consuls, the praetors convened the Senate in their absence.

proconsul: a magistrate who operated outside Rome in place of a consul (or in the case of a propraetor, a praetor). His position lay outside the normal annual magistracy and was usually used for military purposes, i.e. to conduct a war on Rome’s behalf.

propraetor: see proconsul.

pteryges
(also spelt
pteruges
): this was a twin layer of stiffened linen strips that protected the waist and groin of the wearer. It either came attached to a cuirass of the same material, or as a detachable piece of equipment to be used below a bronze breastplate. Although
pteryges
were designed by the Greeks, many nations used them, including the Romans and Carthaginians.

Pyrrhus: a king of Epirus who is best known for his bloody war against Rome on behalf of the Tarentines, a Greek people living in third century
BC
Italy. The term ‘Pyrrhic victory’ originates from his habit of winning battles but suffering heavy losses of his own.

Rhegium: modern-day Reggio di Calabria.

Samnites: the people of Samnium, a confederated area in the central southern Apennines. A warlike people, the Samnites fought three wars against Rome in the fourth and third centuries
BC
. They also backed Pyrrhus of Epirus and Hannibal against the Republic. Their fight against Sulla in the civil war was their last gasp. The large number of Samnite prisoners of war is thought to have given rise to the gladiator class.

Saturnus: a puzzling god, who may have been connected with the sowing of seed, or with an older Etruscan god. The word ‘Saturday’ derives from his name.

Saturnalia: in the first century
BC
this was a seven-day festival held in mid-December and one of the most important celebrations in the Roman calendar.

scutum
(pl.
scuta
): an elongated oval Roman army shield, about 1.2 m (4 ft) tall and 0.75 m (2 ft 6 in) wide. It was made from three layers of wood, the pieces laid at right angles to each other; it was then covered with linen or canvas, and leather. The
scutum
was heavy, weighing between 6 and 10 kg (13–22 lbs).

Scylla: a mythical monster with twelve feet and six heads that dwelt in a cave opposite the whirlpool Charybdis, in the modern Straits of Messina.

Scythians: a fierce, nomadic people who lived to the north of the Black Sea. They were tattooed, warlike and superlative horsemen, who were widely feared, and whose women are reputed to have given rise to the legend of the Amazons. By the first century
BC
, however, their heyday was long gone.

Senate: a body of six hundred senators (historically, it had been three hundred, but Sulla doubled its number), who were prominent Roman noblemen. The Senate met in the Curia, and its function was to advise the magistrates – the consuls, praetors, quaestors etc. – on domestic and foreign policy, religion and finance. By the first century
BC
, its position was much weaker than it had ever been.

Sertorius, Quintus (
c.
126–73
BC
): a prominent noble who allied himself to Cinna. He was given control of Spain in 83
BC
, but proscribed a year or so later. His campaign against Rome was initially very successful, but his own defeats and those of his lieutenants in 76
BC
cost him dearly, reducing his activities from then on to guerrilla warfare.

sestertius
(pl.
sestertii
): a silver coin, it was worth two and a half
asses
; or a quarter of a
denarius
; or one hundredth of an
aureus
. By the time of the late Roman Republic, its use was becoming more common.

sica
: a large curved sword used by Thracian cavalry in the first century
BC
. Sadly, little is known about the sica; it may have been similar to the
kopis
, a Greek weapon, or the traditional Thracian curved sword.

signifer
(pl.
signiferi
): a standard-bearer and junior officer. This was a position of high esteem, with one for every century in a legion. Often the
signifer
wore scale armour and an animal pelt over his helmet, which sometimes had a hinged decorative face piece, while he carried a small, round shield rather than a
scutum
. His
signum
, or standard, consisted of a wooden pole bearing a raised hand, or a spear tip surrounded by palm leaves. Below this was a crossbar from which hung metal decorations, or a piece of coloured cloth. The standard’s shaft was decorated with discs, half-moons, ships’ prows and crowns, which were records of the unit’s achievements and may have distinguished one century from another.

Silarus, River: modern-day River Sele.