Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Glossary

Achilles fought in the Trojan War (most of it) on the side of the Greeks. His mother is said to have made him invulnerable apart from a small spot on his heel.
aedil or aedile the second civil office in the cursus honorum. Aediles had the supervision of streets or the public games.
Aemilia Lepida wife of Drusus Iulius Caesar, big brother of Caligula, said to have passed evidence against her husband to Sejanus in the conspiracy of Sejanus against Drusus by passing information.
Agrippina Maior (14 BC - 33 AD) Daughter of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Augustus' daughter Julia, wife of Germanicus, children: Nero, Drusus, Caligula (Gaius), (Julia) Agrippina Minor, (Julia) Drusilla, Julia (Livilla); accompanied her husband on all campaigns and sued his murderer, after his death was convinced Tiberius had ordered her husband's death and would kill her too (at one of his dinners she touched neither food nor drink - a great insult to Tiberius); was accused of lèse majesté in 29, together with her eldest son Nero, and banished to the island of Pandataria, where she died either voluntarily or of forced starvation
Ajax 1) son of Telamon, after Achilles the best Greek warrior in the Trojan War, killed himself in shame after losing his duel against Odysseus for the weapons of the fallen Achilles, 2) son of Oileus, Greek warrior in the Trojan War, smaller than 1) but almost as nimble as Achilles.
amita engl. aunt
amphitheatre (Greek round theatre) used by the Romans as a venue for gladiator fights and animal shows, among other things
Amphitrite goddess of the sea and wife of Neptune/Poseidon
Apollo, among other things, god of healing, poetry and divination; among the Romans he took over the duties of Helios, the sun god, and drove the sun chariot.
Argus, Greek. Argos, giant with a hundred eyes, guardian of Io, who was turned into a cow by Zeus (Ovid, Metamorphoses I, 568-688)
atrium "Entrance hall" of a Roman villa, usually with an impluvium to catch rainwater. With the expansion of the public water supply, the need for a private cistern greatly diminished.
augur special type of priest who interprets the will of the gods on the basis of the auspices.
Aurora, Roman goddess of the dawn
auspices religious practice of Roman state religion in which the augurs obtained the approval of the gods for a certain undertaking; for example, observation of the flight of birds, counting of birds, observation of the feeding behaviour of birds, inspection of the entrails of sacrificial animals
avia dt. grandmother
avunculus engl. uncle

Bona Dea Roman fertility goddess whose cult was exclusively for women, her real name is still uncertain today apart from a few conjectures such as Fauna
bulla amulet for the protection of a boy, which he only takes off together with the toga praetexta during his ritual transition to manhood (donning the toga virilis).

calamus antique, hollow writing instrument, usually made of wood, papyrus stalk, calamus or bronze
caliga German soldier's boot, diminutive: caligula
Carcer Tullianus Rome's state prison with a special execution chamber, built in the 3rd century BC, prisoner e.g. Drusus Caesar, death sentence carried out there e.g. Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura (63 BC supporter of Catilina, stepfather of Marcus Antonius)
Capri island in the Bay of Naples
Catilinaric conspiracy 63 BC failed coup attempt by Sergius Catilina, especially known for the Ciceroredes, who was consul in that year
Valerius Catullus (84-54 BC), lyricist, neotericist, especially known for his lesbian poems
catulus engl. little kitten
Capitoline one of the seven hills of Rome with the Capitoline Temple dedicated to the divine Triad
Circus Maximus (engl. largest circus) famous circus in Rome, probably built as early as the royal period and repeatedly rebuilt thereafter; racecourse for chariot races with 150,000 seats (in Augustan times), the number of laps completed was marked by the lowering of a dolphin, Egyptian obelisk added in the middle of the spina (turn marker) by Augustus
Ceres Greek. Demeter goddess of agriculture and farming
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) famous orator, lawyer and politician in the Late Republic
Publius Clodius Pulcher (actually Claudius, 93-52 BC), Roman politician in the Late Republic, made famous by the Bona Dea scandal in 62 BC, 59 adopted by plebeians because patricians were not allowed to become tribunes of the people (at that time probably also renounced the aristocratic gentile name Claudius and adopted the plebeian form Clodius), 58 tribune of the people (among other things ensured Cicero's banishment from Rome), 52 murdered by Miro
codex book in our sense (pages bound in a volume, successor and supersedor of the scroll)
Commentarii de bello Gallico - Gaius Julius Caesar's (100-44 BC) account of his campaign against the Gauls (58-ca. 51 BC)
Cosa Roman colony on the coast of Etruria, in what is now southern Tuscany
cursus honorum traditional career of office with a fixed sequence (quaestor - aedile - praetor - consul) and minimum age for the individual magistrates (however, there were many exceptions, especially in the imperial period)