(Definitions apply to the year 695 of the Republic.)
Acta Diurna Literally, “daily acts.” An account of the doings of the Senate and other news, painted on white boards and posted in the Forum. It was probably instituted by Julius Caesar during his aedileship and became immensely popular, the newspaper of its day.
Arms Like everything else in Roman society, weapons were strictly regulated by class. The straight, double-edged sword and dagger of the legions were classed as “honorable.”
The Gladius was a short, broad, double-edged sword borne by Roman soldiers. It was designed primarily for stabbing.
The Caestus was a boxing glove, made of leather straps and reinforced by bands, plates, or spikes of bronze. The curved, single-edged sword or knife called a sica was “infamous.” Sicas were used in the arena by Thracian gladiators and were carried by street thugs. One ancient writer says that its curved shape made it convenient to carry sheathed beneath the armpit, showing that gangsters and shoulder-holsters go back a long way.
Carrying of arms within the pomerium (the ancient city boundary marked out by Romulus) was forbidden, but the law was ignored in troubled times. Slaves were forbidden to carry weapons within the city, but those used as bodyguards could carry staves or clubs. When street fighting or assassination were common, even senators went heavily armed and even Cicero wore armor beneath his toga from time to time.
Shields were not common in the city except as gladiatorial equipment. The large shield (scutum) of the legions was unwieldy in Rome’s narrow streets but bodyguards might carry the small shield (parma) of the light-armed auxiliary troops. These came in handy when the opposition took to throwing rocks and roof tiles.
Balnea Roman bathhouses were public and were favored meeting places for all classes. Customs differed with time and locale. In some places there were separate bathhouses for men and women. Pompeii had a bathhouse with a dividing wall between men’s and women’s sides. At some times women used the baths in the mornings, men in the afternoon. At others, mixed bathing was permitted. The balnea of the republican era were far more modest than the tremendous structures of the later empire, but some imposing facilities were built during the last years of the Republic.
Basilica A meeting place of merchants and for the administration of justice.
Campus Martius A field outside the old city wall, formerly the assembly area and drill field for the army, named after its altar to Mars. It was where the popular assemblies met during the days of the Republic.
Circus The Roman racecourse and the stadium that enclosed it. The original, and always the largest, was the Circus Maximus. A later, smaller circus, the Circus Flaminius, lay outside the walls on the Campus Martius.
Curia The meetinghouse of the Senate, located in the Forum, also applied to a meeting place in general. Hence Curia Hostilia, Curia Pompey, and Curia Julia. By tradition they were prominently located with position to the sky to observe omens.
Eleusinian Mysteries The most famous mystery cult of the ancient world. Their exact form is unknown because initiates were forbidden to discuss them or write about them. The initiation ceremony took several days and seems to have involved fasting, a descent into the underworld, and culminated in some sort of demonstration of life after death. Cicero, a rational and sceptical man, was an initiate and called his experience one of the most profound of his life, so it must have been an impressive ritual.
Eques (pl. equites) Formerly, citizens wealthy enough to supply their own horses and fight in the cavalry, they came to hold their status by meeting a property qualification. They formed the moneyed upper-middle class.
Families and Names Roman citizens usually had three names. The given name (praenomen) was individual, but there were only about eighteen of them: Marcus, Lucius, etc. Certain praenomens were used only in a single family: Appius was used only by the Claudians, Mamercus only by the Aemilians, and so forth. Only males had praenomens. Daughters were given the feminine form of the father’s name: Aemilia for Aemilius, Julia for Julius, Valeria for Valerius, etc.
Next came the nomen. This was the name of the clan (gens). All members of a gens traced their descent from a common ancestor, whose name they bore: Julius, Furius, Licinius, Junius, Tullius, to name a few. Patrician names always ended in ius. Plebeian names often had different endings.
Stirps A subfamily of a gens. The cognomen gave the name of the stirps, i.e., Caius Julius Caesar. Caius of the stirps Caesar of gens Julia.
Then came the name of the family branch (cognomen). This name was frequently anatomical: Naso (nose), Ahenobarbus (bronzebeard), Sulla (splotchy), Niger (dark), Rufus (red), Caesar (curly), and many others. Some families did not use cognomens. Mark Antony was just Marcus Antonius, no cognomen.
Other names were honorifics conferred by the Senate for outstanding service or virtue: Germanicus (conqueror of the Germans), Africanus (conqueror of the Africans), Pius (extraordinary filial piety).
Freed slaves became citizens and took the family name of their master. Thus the vast majority of Romans named, for instance, Cornelius would not be patricians of that name, but the descendants of that family’s freed slaves. There was no stigma attached to slave ancestry.
Adoption was frequent among noble families. An adopted son took the name of his adoptive father and added the genetive form of his former nomen. Thus when Caius Julius Caesar adopted his great-nephew Caius Octavius, the latter became Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus.
All these names were used for formal purposes such as official documents and monuments. In practice, nearly every Roman went by a nickname, usually descriptive and rarely complimentary. Usually it was the Latin equivalent of Gimpy, Humpy, Lefty, Squint-eye, Big Ears, Baldy, or something of the sort. Romans were merciless when it came to physical peculiarities.
Fasces A bundle of rods bound around with an ax projecting from the middle. They symbolized a Roman magistrate’s power of corporal and capital punishment and were carried by the lictors who accompanied the curule magistrates, the Flamen Dialis, and the proconsuls and propraetors who governed provinces.
Forum An open meeting and market area. The premier forum was the Forum Romanum, located on the low ground surrounded by the Capitoline, Palatine, and Caelian hills. It was surrounded by the most important temples and public buildings. Roman citizens spent much of their day there. The courts met outdoors in the Forum when the weather was good. When it was paved and devoted solely to public business, the Forum Romanum’s market functions were transferred to the Forum Boarium, the cattle market, near the Circus Maximus. Small shops and stalls remained along the northern and southern peripheries, however.
Freedman A manumitted slave. Formal emancipation conferred full rights of citizenship except for the right to hold office. Informal emancipation conferred freedom without voting rights. In the second or at latest third generation, a freedman’s descendants became full citizens.
Gracchi, the In the late second century B.C. the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, although members of the nobility, championed the cause of the urban and rural poor. The Senate regarded them as dangerous radicals. Tiberius was killed by a mob and Gaius forced to commit suicide. Eventually, almost all their reforms were adopted by the Senate and they were revered by the plebeians. Their mother, Cornelia, was always referred to as Mother of the Gracchi and became the model for the Roman mother who raised her sons to serve the public good whatever the cost.
Haruspex A member of a college of Etruscan professionals who examined the entrails of sacrificial animals for omens.
Imperium The ancient power of kings to summon and lead armies, to order and forbid and to inflict corporal and capital punishment. Under the Republic, the imperium was divided among the consuls and praetors, but they were subject to appeal and intervention by the tribunes in their civil decisions and were answerable for their acts after leaving office. Only a dictator had unlimited imperium.
Insula Literally, “island.” A detached house or block of flats let out to poor families.
Janitor A slave-doorkeeper, so called for Janus, god of gateways.
Legion They formed the fighting force of the Roman army. Through its soldiers, the Empire was able to control vast stretches of territory and people. They were known for their discipline, training, ability, and military process.
Lictor Bodyguards, usually freedmen, who accompanied magistrates and the Flamen Dialis, bearing the fasces. They summoned assemblies, attended public sacrifices, and carried out sentences of punishment.
Ludus (pl. ludi). The official public games, races, theatricals, etc. Also training schools for gladiators, although the gladiatorial exhibitions were not ludi.
Mollossian Hound These were enormous dogs renowned in antiquity for their ferocity. Probably some sort of mastiff rather than true hounds, they were originally hunting dogs but were bred to fight. They were used to execute felons in the arena, hunt runaway slaves, and by the army to run down fleeing enemies. What they looked like is unknown but they were universally acknowledged to be terrifying.
Munera Special games, not part of the official calendar, at which gladiators were exhibited. They were originally funeral games and were always dedicated to the dead.
Mundus An opening into the underworld. There were several located around the Mediterranean. They were used for rituals involving the cthonic deities and to convey messages to the dead.
Municipia Towns originally with varying degrees of Roman citizenship. A citizen from a municipium was qualified to hold any public office. An example is Cicero, who was not from Rome but from the municipium of Arpinum.
Novus Homo Literally, “new man.” A man who is the first of his family to hold a curule office in Rome, giving his family the status of nobiles.
October Horse, the Each year, in mid-October, a horse race was held in honor of Mars. The winning horse was sacrificed and beheaded, then the men of two city districts, the Via Sacra and the Subura, fought over the head, each trying to carry it back to their own district, where it would be displayed and bring the district good fortune for the next year. It was a rite so old that the Romans no longer remembered why they did it.
Offices A Tribune was a representative of the plebeians with power to introduce laws and to veto actions of the Senate. Only plebeians could hold the office, which carried no imperium. Military tribunes were elected from among the young men of senatorial or equestrian rank to be assistants to generals. Usually it was the first step of a man’s political career.
A Roman embarked on a political career had to rise through a regular chain of offices. The lowest elective office was quaestor: bookkeeper and paymaster for the treasury, the grain office, and the provincial governors. These men did the scut work of the Empire.
Next were the aediles. They were more or less city managers who saw to the upkeep of public buildings, streets, sewers, markets, and the like. There were two types: the plebeian aediles, and the curule aediles. The curule aediles could sit in judgment on civil cases involving markets and currency, while the plebeian aediles could only levy fines. Otherwise, their duties were the same. They also put on the public games. The government allowance for these things was laughably small, so they had to pay for them out of their own pockets. It was a horrendously expensive office but it gained the holder popularity like no other, especially if his games were spectacular. Only a popular aedile could hope for election to higher office.
Third was praetor, an office with real power. Praetors were judges, but they could command armies and after a year in office they could go out to govern provinces, where real wealth could be won, earned, or stolen. In the late Republic there were eight praetors. Senior was the praetor urbanus, who heard civil cases, between citizens of Rome. The praetor peregrinus heard cases involving foreigners. The others presided over criminal courts. After leaving office, the ex-praetors became propraetors and went to govern propraetorian provinces with full imperium.
The highest office was consul. Supreme office of power during the Roman Republic. Two were elected each year. For four years they fulfilled the political role of royal authority, bringing all other magistrates into the service of the people and the city of Rome. The office carried full imperium. On the expiration of his year in office, the ex-consul was usually assigned a district outside Rome to rule as proconsul. As proconsul, he had the same insignia and the same number of lictors. His power was absolute within his province. The most important commands always went to proconsuls.
Censors were elected every five years. It was the capstone to a political career but it did not carry imperium and there was no foreign command afterward. Censors conducted the census, purged the senate of unworthy members, and doled out the public contracts.They could forbid certain religious practices or luxuries deemed bad for public morals or generally “un-Roman.” There were two censors, and each could overrule the other. They were usually elected from among the ex-consuls, and the censorship was regarded as the capstone of a political career.
Under the Sullan Constitution, the quaestorship was the minimum requirement for membership in the Senate. The majority of senators had held that office and never held another. Membership in the Senate was for life unless expelled by the censors.
No Roman official could be prosecuted while in office, but he could be after he stepped down. Malfeasance in office was one of the most common court charges.
The most extraordinary office was dictator. In times of emergency, the senate could instruct the consuls to appoint a dictator, who could wield absolute power for six months. Unlike all other officials, a dictator was unaccountable: He could not be prosecuted for his acts in office. The last true dictator was appointed in the third century B.C. The dictatorships of Sulla and Julius Caesar were unconstitutional.
Patrician The noble class of Rome.
Plebeian All citizens not of patrician status; the lower classes, also called plebs.
Popular Assemblies There were three: the centuriate assembly (comitia centuriata) and the two tribal assemblies: comitia tributa and consilium plebis, q.v.
Populares The party of the common people.
Princeps: “First Citizen” An especially distinguished senator chosen by the censors. His name was the first called on the roll of the Senate and he was first to speak on any issue. Later the title was usurped by Augustus and is the origin of the word “prince.”
Priesthoods In Rome, the priesthoods were offices of state. There were two major classes: pontifexes and flamens. Pontifexes were members of the highest priestly college of Rome. They had superintendence over all sacred observances, state and private, and over the calendar. Head of their college was the pontifex maximus, a title held to this day by the pope. The flamens were the high priests of the state gods: the Flamen Martialis for Mars, the Flamin Quirinalis for the deified Romulus, and, highest of all, the Flamen Dialis, high priest of Jupiter. The Flamen Dialis celebrated the Ides of each month and could not take part in politics, although he could attend meetings of the Senate, attended by a single lictor. Each had charge of the daily sacrifices wore distinctive headgear,and were surrounded by many ritual taboos.
Another very ancient priesthood was the Rex Sacrorum, “King of Sacrifices.” This priest had to be a patrician and had to observe even more taboos than the Flamen Dialis. This position was so onerous that it became difficult to find a patrician willing to take it.
Technically, pontifexes and flamens did not take part in public business except to solemnize oaths and treaties, give the god’s stamp of approval to declarations of war, etc. But since they were all senators anyway, the ban had little meaning. Julius Caesar was pontifex maximus while he was out conquering Gaul, even though the pontifex maximus wasn’t supposed to look upon human blood.
Rostra (sing, rostrum) A monument in the Forum commemorating the sea battle of Antium in 338 B.C., decorated with the rams, rostra, of enemy ships. Its base was used as an orator’s platform.
Saturnalia Feast of Saturn, December 17–23, a raucous and jubilant occasion when gifts were exchanged, debts were settled, and masters waited on their slaves.
Senate Rome’s chief deliberative body. It consisted of three hundred to six hundred men, all of whom had won elective office at least once. It was a leading element in the emergence of the Republic, but later suffered degradation at the hands of Sulla.
Sibylline Books These mysterious books of prophecies were brought to Rome in legendary times and were kept by a college of priests called, in pedantic Roman fashion, the Quin-quedecemviri (the Fifteen Men). In times of extraordinary calamity the Senate could order a consultation of the Sybilline Books. The prophecies were usually interpreted to mean that the gods wanted a foreign deity brought to Rome. Thus Rome built a temple to Ceres, a goddess of Asia Minor, and others. When the deity was Greek, the rites remained in the Greek rather than the Roman fashion.
Soothsayers The Roman government used two types: First were the augurs. These were actual officials who belonged to a college and it was a great honor for a Roman to be adopted into the College of Augurs. They interpreted omens involving heavenly signs: lightning and thunder, the flight and other behavior of birds, etc. There were strict guidelines for this and personal inspiration was not involved. An augur could call a halt to all public business while he watched for omens. The augur wore a special, striped robe called a toga trabaea and carried a crook-topped staff called a lituus, which survives to this day as a part of the Roman Catholic bishop’s regalia.
The second type was the haruspex (pl. haruspices). These were not officials but professional soothsayers and most were Etruscans. They took omens by examining the livers and other organs of sacrificial animals. Highly educated Romans considered them fraudulent but the plebs insisted on taking the haruspices (the term also referred to the omens themselves) before embarking on any important public project.
Official Roman soothsayers did not predict the future, a practice that was, in fact, forbidden by law. Omens were taken to determine the will of the gods at that time. They had to be taken repeatedly because the gods could always change their minds.
SPQRSenatus populusque Romanus. The Senate and people of Rome. The formula embodying the sovereignty of Rome. It was used on official correspondence, documents, and public works.
Tarpeian Rock A cliff beneath the Capitol from which traitors were hurled. It was named for the Roman maiden Tarpeia who, according to legend, betrayed the Capitol to the Sabines.
Temple of Saturn The state treasury was located in a crypt beneath this temple. It was also the repository for military standards.
Temple of Vesta Site of the sacred fire tended by the vestal virgins and dedicated to the goddess of the hearth. Documents, especially wills, were deposited there for safekeeping.
Toga The outer robe of the Roman citizen. It was white for the upper class, darker for the poor and for people in mourning. The toga praetexta, bordered with a purple stripe, was worn by curule magistrates, by state priests when performing their functions, and by boys prior to manhood. The toga picta, purple and embroidered with golden stars, was worn by a general when celebrating a triumph, also by a magistrate when giving public games.
Transtiber A newer district on the left or western bank of the Tiber. It lay beyond the old city walls.
Triumvir A member of a triumvirate-a board or college of three men. Most famously, the three-man rule of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. Later, the triumvirate of Antonius, Octavian, and Lepidus.
Vigiles A night watchman. The vigiles had the duty of apprehending felons caught committing crimes, but their main duty was as a fire watch. They were unarmed except for staves and carried fire buckets.
Witches The Romans recognized three types. Most common were saga, “wise women” who were simply herbalists and specialists in traditional cures for disease and injury. More ominous were striga, true witches (“strega” still means witch in modern Italian). These could cast spells, had the power of the evil eye, could lay curses, and so forth. Most feared were venefica “poisoners.” Ancient peoples had a supernatural dread of poison and lumped its use together with sorcery rather than pharmacology. The punishments for poisoning were dreadful even by Roman standards. The Romans associated all forms of witchcraft and magic with the Marsians, a neighbor people who spoke the Oscan dialect.