The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (69 page)

megalomaniac
Greek for “huge madness.” A megalomaniac has delusions of grandeur and conceives of himself as a person or divinity of enormous power and prestige.

metalling
Does not refer to “metal” (as in iron or bronze) in this context, but to the top surface of the road (such as the pavement) which bears the wear and tear of use and weather.

Middle Ages
The period between the fall of the Roman empire in the west (470) and the beginning of the European Renaissance in the 1400s. This period is also known as Medieval (which also means “pertaining to the Middle Ages”). The “early” Middle Ages run approximately 500–1100, the “high” Middle Ages from 1100–1500.

Mithridates VI
(134–63
B
.
C
.
E
.) The powerful king of Pontus (on the Black Sea). Forty years of Roman oppression made the east ripe for rebellion against Rome and pro-Roman governments. When Mithridates invaded the province of Asia and then Greece in 88
B
.
C
.
E
., these areas welcomed him as a liberator and attacked Roman citizens and interests. Sulla was appointed commander against Mithridates that same year.

Monasticism
The practice of living as a monk (from the Greek
monachos
, “hermit”) usually according practices prescribed by tradition and rules handed on by other monks of a certain order.

Monophysitism
Holds that Christ's two natures (human and divine) had become one (divine absorbing human) in the substance of one person.

Montanism
Developed from the apocalyptic prophesies of Monatanus (ca 172), a charismatic Phrygian priest and preacher. His followers (Tertullian was the most
prominent) treated his writings as scripture in their fervor for the end times. The sect was suppressed quickly, but continued in remote parts of Phrygia into the seventh century.

mystery religions
Contain secret forms of religious practice and doctrine, which are revealed only to initiated members and which usually involve beliefs about the afterlife. Initiates generally must undergo trials and oaths of secrecy before being allowed the revelations that admit them into the circle of believers.

neoplatonism
The most influential pagan philosophy of late antiquity, it was a complicated synthesis of philosophic and spiritual teachings. It not only influenced early Christian theologians (like Augustine), but also Medieval and Renaissance thinkers and writers.

Nicene Creed
“Nicene” from the Council of Nicea, “Creed” from the Latin
credo
, “I believe.” A fundamental declaration and definition of what (orthodox) Christians believe. It lays out the basic tenants of faith regarding the nature of God, the trinity (God the Father, God the Son [Jesus], God the Holy Spirit) and the church.

Octavian
Historians and Classicists refer to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus as “Octavian” in his Republican days before 27
B
.
C
.
E
. and as Augustus for the period after he was given this title.

Optimates
Favored the ultimate power of the senate and pursued their ambitions by traditional means.

pagan
From the Latin
paganus
, meaning “country peasant,” it stems from Christianity being mostly an urban phenomenon in which the county dwellers (the
pagani
) were the last to convert. The same is true of the term “heathen,” which refers to the primitive dwellers who lived in the wild “heaths” of Europe and England.

Panathenaic festival
A yearly civic and religious festival held in Athens in honor of the city's patron goddess, Athena.

Pater Patriae
Means “the Father of his country,” the title Cicero (and later Augustus) was given by the senate.

patrician
An honorary title bestowed by the emperor, not an official office.

pax Romana
Means “the Roman Peace” and is the term that refers to the peace and stability that Rome maintained (within its borders) during the early empire.

periodic style
Refers to a style of composing complex sentences to contain clauses and subordinate constructions within the structure of the main sentence. These sentences have a form that goes somewhat like A-b-c-c*-b*-A* (if a letter indicates the beginning of a grammatical construction and the letter* indicates its completion). For example: “Periodic sentences are, for students who study Latin, the language of Cicero, or any language, very tedious to read.”

philhellene
A lover of Greek culture and arts.

pontifex maximus
The high priest of Rome, the head of Roman state religion, and the head of the college of pontiffs. He appointed and oversaw the vestal virgins. Julius Caesar, all emperors, and finally the popes had this position and title.

Populares
Promoted their interests through the popular assembly and protected (when it suited their interests) the rights of the tribunes such as
intercessio
and
veto.

post hoc propter hoc
One of many informal logic fallacies that still bear Latin names. In English, it translates as “after this (then) because of this” and describes the fallacy of claiming a cause and effect between two events based on their succession in time.

Praetorian Guard
Evolved from the bodyguards that protected a general. Augustus established several units from his own troops, and they became the later emperors's personal elite force.

Praetors
Second to consuls. They were primarily judicial officials (judges) and could have the power of
imperium.
They had to be at least 39 years old.

Principate
From
princeps
, “first citizen,” it covers the period from Augustus (27
B
.
C
.
E
.) to the emperor Diocletian (
C
.
E
. 293).

proscriptions
Published lists of names. A man on the list was declared a public outlaw and could be hunted down and killed for a reward. His sons lost their citizenship, and his property was confiscated and given to Sulla's friends or sold to pay his veterans. Many of the proscribed were guilty of nothing more than being rich.

Provincia
Originally meant an area within which military
imperium
could be exercised; provincial governors were, in effect, military commanders in occupation of conquered territory.

Punic
Derived from the Latin
Punici,
which the Romans called the Carthaginians. The word comes from their origin as Phoenicians. Classicists and historians therefore refer to the Roman wars with Carthage as the Punic, not Carthaginian, Wars.

pyrrhic victory
The cost of a “pyrrhic victory” is so great that it brings eventual defeat. In other words, you win the battle but (because of the cost of the battle) lose the war.

Quaestors
Public finance and record officials (roughly a Purser or Treasurer). They had to be at least 25 years old.

Republic
Refers to the period of Roman history from the overthrow of the monarchy (509
B
.
C
.
E
.) to the Principate of Augustus (27
B
.
C
.
E
.).

Romance languages
Those European languages descended from Latin, namely French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Romanitas
The Latin term for “Roman-ness,” it refers to the Roman way or manner of doing things.

Rostra
The speaker's platform in the forum from which orators such as Cicero delivered orations (public addresses). It was named for the Carthaginian ramming prows or “beaks” (
rostrae
) put on display there after the First Punic War (264–241
B
.
C
.
E
.).

satire
A Latin poetic form that addresses any subject of life. The Romans were very proud of satire, which was completely their genre, or as the poet Horace put it,
satura tota nostra est
(“Satire is completely our own”).

The
Second Sophistic
A period of renaissance in Greek oratory and rhetoric in the late second and third centuries.

senatus consultum ultimum
Allowed the consul to take any steps he saw fit for protecting the Republic.

sesterce
A primary coin of the realm. It was worth 2
¹
⁄
2
of the main small coins, asses (no relation to the animal), and four sesterces made up a denarius, the principal large coin. A Roman soldier made about 900 sesterces a year, so Vitellius's banquets could have funded the legions for about a millennium!

Silver Age
A period of Latin Literature from 14
C
.
E
. to roughly the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180.

standards
The banners and/or emblems carried before the troops. It was Marius who introduced the silver eagle on the standard of the legion.

Stoics
Named the
Stoa
(public colonnade) in Athens where they taught, they were founded in 315
B
.
C
.
E
. by Zeno. Stoics emphasized self-control, detachment, and independence from the world, which they nevertheless believed was regulated by a divine reason for the common good. They recognized a common nature for all humanity. The Cynics originated with Antisthenes (ca 450
B
.
C
.
E
.).

syncretism
Greek “blended together.” The blending of different beliefs and customs into a synthesis that accommodates elements of each.

theocracy
When the state is ruled by a god or by an authority thought to be divinely guided and ruling in the god's name.

tragedy
A play about inescapable and inordinate suffering brought on by the human condition.

tribute
Tributum,
it was the yearly assessment of taxes. Provinces and conquered peoples also paid installments as a part of treaties to cover the costs of conquest (yes, conquered people paid for their own subjugation).

vestal virgins
An ancient line of priestesses of the goddess of the hearth, Vesta. A vestal entered service at about six to ten years old and served for 30 years. After 30 years, a vestal was free to marry—though few did. Vestals oversaw a number of rituals and objects thought vital to the preservation of the Roman State.