Minutus Meager in size.
modius The customary measure of grain. A modius occupied 2 U.S. gallons or 8 liters, and weighed about 13 (presumably Roman) pounds. The public grain was doled out in increments of 5 modii per month, this equaling one medimnus (see this entry also for information about bread). mos maiorum The established order of things, used to describe the habits and customs of government and public institutions. Perhaps the best definition is to say that the mos maiorum was Rome's unwritten constitution. Mos meant established custom; and in this context maiores meant ancestors or forebears. To sum up, the mos maiorum was how things had always been done-and how they should always be done in the future too!
mundus A beehive-shaped pit which was divided into two parts and normally kept covered. Its exact purpose is a mystery, but it seems to have been believed in late Republican times to be an entranceway to the Underworld. The lid was removed thrice in the year on dies religiosi (q.v.) in order to allow the shades of the dead to walk the city.
myoparo A small war galley much favored by pirates before they began to band together in much larger ships to sail as properly admiraled fleets capable of attacking and beating professional navies. The myoparo is somewhat mysterious as to its size and type, but it seems to have been an improvement upon the hemiolia (q.v.) and preferred to the hemiolia. The only drawing of it is not informative, though it does seem to indicate that the myoparo had only one bank of oars rowed over the top of the gunwale rather than through ports, and also possessed mast and sail.
nefas Sacrilege; an impious or sacrilegious act.
Nesaean horse See horse, Nesaean.
nobleman Nobilis. A man and his descendants were described as noble once he had achieved the consulship. This was an artificial aristocracy invented by the plebeians in order
to cut the inarguably noble patricians down to size; once the first century of the Republic was over, more plebeians reached the consulship than did patricians. Nobility mattered enormously.
nomen The family, clan, or gentilicial name–the name of the gens in (for men) masculine form. Cornelius, Julius, Domitius, Licinius were all nomina (plural).
Nones The second of the three named days of the month which represented the fixed points of the month. Dates were reckoned backward from each of these points–Kalends, Nones, Ides. The Nones occurred on the seventh day of the long months (March, May, July and October), and on the fifth day of the other months. The Nones were sacred to Juno.
non pro consule, sed pro consulibus The famous phrase of Lucius Marcius Philippus when proposing that Pompey be given command of Nearer Spain in the war against Quintus Sertorius. As a piece of hair-splitting it was brilliant, and reconciled many in the Senate to Pompey who were obdurately against a proconsular command going to a man outside the Senate. It said, more or less, "not as a man after his consulship, but as a man acting on behalf of the consuls of the year."
numen, numina, numinous Pertaining to gods who were absolutely spirits or forces, having no bodies, faces, sex, or mythology. See the glossary of The First Man in Rome for much fuller explanation.
nundinum The interval between one market day and the next; the eight-day Roman week. Save for the Kalends, Nones and Ides, the days of the Roman calendar were not named; on the calendars themselves they are allocated a letter between A and H, with A (presumably) being the market day. When the Kalends of January coincided with the market day, the whole year was considered to be unlucky, but this did not happen regularly because of intercalations and the fact that the eight-day round of letters was continued on without an interruption between last day of the old year and first (Kalends) day of the new year.
nundinus, nundinae (plural) The market day, occurring every eighth day; the singular, nundinus, was less used than the plural, nundinae. Under normal circumstances the courts were open on nundinae, but the Assemblies were not.
October Horse See Horse, October.
Olympia The famous temple and precinct of Zeus was nowhere near Mount Olympus in Thessaly; it lay on the Alpheus River in the district of Elis, in the western Peloponnese.
opus incertum The oldest of several ways in which the Romans built their walls. A facing of irregular small stones mortared together was constructed with a hollow interior or cavity; this was filled with a mortar composed of black pozzolana and lime mixed through an aggregate of rubble and small stones (caementa). Even in the time of Sulla, opus incertum was still the most popular way to build a wall. It was probably also cheaper than brick.
Ordo Equester The name given to the knights by Gaius Gracchus. See the entry on knights.
Oscan The language spoken by the Samnites, Campani, Lucani, Apuli, Bruttii and other Italian peoples of the more southern part of the Italian peninsula; it was the chief language of > central Italy even during the latter decades of the Republic. It was Indo-European, but not closely allied to Latin; some of the peoples who spoke Oscan used a Latin alphabet to write it, but more (including the widest group of Oscan speakers, the Samnites) used an alphabet derived from Etruscan. Many Romans could speak and understand Oscan. The Atellan mimes were sometimes staged in Rome with the cast speaking in Oscan.
paean A song or hymn of praise, sometimes composed in honor of a living man, more often relating to the gods.
pantheon, The word used nowadays to encompass collectively the whole array of gods in a polytheistic system of religious belief.
Parvus So small as to be of no account.
paterfamilias The head of the family unit. His right to do as he pleased with the various members of his family was rigidly protected at law.
patrician, Patriciate The Patriciate was the original Roman aristocracy. To an ancestor-revering, birth-conscious people like the Romans, the importance of belonging to patrician stock can hardly be overestimated. The older among the patrician families were aristocrats before the Kings of Rome, the youngest among them (the Claudii) apparently emerging at the very beginning of the Republic. All through the Republic they kept the title of patrician, as well as a prestige unattainable by any plebeian–and this in spite of the nobility, the “new aristocracy" ennobled above mere plebeian status by having consuls in the family. However, by the last century of the Republic a patrician owned little distinction beyond his blood; the wealth and energy of the great plebeian families had steadily eroded original patrician rights. Sulla, a patrician himself, seems to have tried in small ways to elevate the patrician above his plebeian brothers, but did not dare legislate major privileges. Yet entitlement and privilege under the constitution mattered not a scrap to most Romans: they knew the patrician was better. During the last century of the Republic the following patrician families were still producing senators, and some praetors and consuls: Aemilius, Claudius, Cornelius, Fabius (but through adoption only), Julius, Manlius, Pinarius, Postumius, Sergius, Servilius, Sulpicius, and Valerius.
patron, patronage Republican Roman society was organized into a system of patronage and clientship (see also client). Though perhaps the smallest businessmen and the lowly of Rome were not always participants in the system, it was nevertheless prevalent at all levels in society, and not all patrons were from the upper echelons of society. The patron undertook to offer protection and favors to those who acknowledged themselves his clients. Freed slaves were in the patronage of their ex-masters. No woman could be a patron. Many patrons were clients of patrons more powerful than themselves, which technically made their clients also the clients of their patron. The patron might do nothing for years to obtain help or support from a client, but one day the client would be called upon to do his patron a favor-vote for him, or lobby for him, or perform some special task. It was customary for the patron to see his clients at dawn in his house on "business" days in the calendar; at these matinees the clients would ask for help or favor, or merely attend to offer respect, or offer services. A rich or generous patron often bestowed gifts of money upon his clients when they assembled at such times. If a man became the client of another man w
hom in earlier days he had hated to the point of implacable enmity, that client would thereafter serve his erstwhile enemy, now his patron, with complete fidelity, even to death (vide Caesar the Dictator and Curio the Younger).
Pavo A peacock.
pedarius A senatorial backbencher (see entry on the Senate).
People of Rome This term embraced every single Roman who was not a member of the Senate; it applied to patricians as well as plebeians, and to the Head Count as well as to the First Class.
perduellio High treason. Until first Saturninus and then Sulla redefined treason and passed new treason laws, perduellio was the only form treason had in Roman law. Old enough to be mentioned in the Twelve Tables (q.v.), it required a trial process in the Centuriate Assembly, a most cumbersome affair. It carried an automatic death penalty, of crucifixion on a cross tied to an unlucky tree (that is, a tree which had never borne fruit).
peristyle An enclosed garden or courtyard which was surrounded by a colonnade and formed the outdoor area of a house.
phalerae Round, chased, ornamented silver or gold discs about 3 to 4 inches (75 to 100mm) in diameter. Originally they were worn as insignia by Roman knights, and also formed a part of the trappings of a knight's horse. Gradually they came to be military decorations awarded for exceptional bravery in battle. Normally they were given in sets of nine (three rows of three each) upon a decorated leather harness of straps designed to be worn over the mail shirt or cuirass. piaculum A sacrifice made as atonement for some offense.
Picenum That part of the eastern Italian peninsula roughly occupying the area of the Italian leg's calf muscle. Its western boundary formed the crest of the Apennines; Umbria lay to the north, and Samnium to the south. The original inhabitants were of Italiote and Illyrian stock, but there was a tradition that Sabines had migrated east of the Apennine crest and settled in Picenum, bringing with them as their tutelary god Picus, the woodpecker, from which the region got its name. A tribe of Gauls called the Senones also settled in the area at the time Italy was invaded by the first King Brennus in 390 b.c. Politically Picenum fell into two parts: northern Picenum, closely allied to southern Umbria, was under the sway of the great family called Pompeius; and Picenum south of the Flosis or Flussor River was under the sway of peoples allied to the Samnites.
pilum, pila The Roman infantry spear, especially as modified by Gaius Marius. It had a very small, wickedly barbed head of iron and an upper shaft of iron; this was joined to a shaped wooden stem which fitted the hand comfortably. Marius modified it by introducing a weakness into the junction between iron and wooden sections, so that when the pilum lodged in an enemy shield or body, it broke apart, and thus could not be hurled back by the enemy. After a battle all the broken pila were collected from the field; they were easily mended by the artificers.
plebeian, Plebs All Roman citizens who were not patricians were plebeians; that is, they belonged to the Plebs (the e is short, so that Plebs rhymes with webs, not glebes). At the beginning of the Republic no plebeian could be a priest, a magistrate, or even a senator. This situation lasted only a very short while; one by one the exclusively patrician institutions crumbled before the onslaught of the Plebs, who far outnumbered the patricians-and several times threatened to secede. By the late Republic there was very little if any advantage to being a patrician-except that everyone knew patrician was better.
Plebeian Assembly See the entry under Assemblies.
podex An impolite word for the posterior fundamental orifice: an arsehole rather than an anus. Pollux The ever-forgotten Heavenly Twin. See Castor.
pomerium The sacred boundary enclosing the city of Rome. Marked by white stones called cippi, it was reputedly inaugurated by King Servius Tullius, and remained without change until Sulla's dictatorship. The pomerium did not exactly follow the Servian Walls, one good reason why it is doubtful that the Servian Walls were built by King Servius Tullius-who would certainly have caused his walls to follow the same line as his pomerium. The whole of the ancient Palatine city of Romulus was enclosed within the pomerium, whereas the Aventine lay outside it. So too did the Capitol. Tradition held that the pomerium might be enlarged, but only by a man who significantly increased the size of Roman territory. In religious terms, Rome herself existed only inside the pomerium; all outside it was merely Roman territory.
pontifex Many Latin etymologists think that in very early times the pontifex was a maker of bridges (pans: bridge), and that the making of bridges was considered a mystical art putting the maker in close touch with the gods. Be that as it may, by the time the Republic came along the pontifex was a priest. Incorporated into a special college, he served as an adviser to Rome's magistrates and comitia in all religious matters-and would inevitably himself become a magistrate. At first all pontifices had to be patrician, but a lex Ogulnia of 300 b.c. stipulated that half the College of Pontifices had to be plebeian. During periods when the pontifices (and augurs) were co-opted into the college by other members, new appointees tended to be well under senatorial age; the early twenties were common. Thus the appointment of Caesar at twenty-seven years of age was not at all unusual or remarkable.
Pontifex Maximus The head of Rome's State-administered religion, and most senior of all priests. He seems to have been an invention of the infant Republic, a typically masterly Roman way of getting round an obstacle without demolishing it and ruffling feelings. In the time of the Kings of Rome, the Rex Sacrorum had been the chief priest, this being a title held by the King himself. Apparently considering it unwise to abolish the Rex Sacrorum, the anti-monarchical rulers of the new Republic of Rome simply created a new priest whose role and status were superior to the Rex Sacrorum. This new priest was given the title of Pontifex Maximus. To reinforce his statesmanlike position, it was laid down that he should be elected, not co-opted (the other priests were all co-opted). At first he was probably required to be a patrician, but soon could as easily be a plebeian. He supervised all the members of the various priestly colleges-and the Vestal Virgins. The State gave him its most imposing house as his residence, but in Republican times he shared this residence with the Vestal Virgins, apparently on a half-and-half basis. His official headquarters had the status of an inaugurated temple: the little old Regia in the Forum Romanum just outside his State house. popa He was a public servant attached to religious duties, and his only job appears to have been to wield the big stunning hammer; the cutting of the beast's throat was the province of the cultarius (see that entry).
population of Rome A vexed question upon which much ink has been expended by modern scholars. I think there is a tendency to underestimate the number of people who actually dwelt inside Rome herself, few if any of the scholars admitting to a number as great as one million. The general consensus seems to be half a million. However, we do know the dimensions of the Republican city inside the Servian Walls: in width, one-plus kilometers, in length, two-plus kilometers. Then as now, Rome was a city of apartment dwellers, and that is a strong clue to the actual population. Of Roman citizens-that is, males on the census rolls-there were perhaps a quarter of a million; plus wives and children; and plus slaves. It was an absolutely penurious household which did not have at least one slave in service; the Head Count seem to have owned slaves too. Then there were the non-citizens, of whom Rome had hordes: Jews, Syrians, Greeks, Gauls, all sorts. With wives, children, and slaves. Rome teemed with people, its insulae were multitudinous. Non-citizens, wives, children and slaves must have pushed that quarter-million well above a million. Otherwise the insulae would have been half empty and the city smothered in parks. I think two million is closer to the mark.
porta A city or town gate. Rome's gates were all equipped with mighty oak doors and portcullises.
portico The word I have chosen to indicate a large covered porch forming an entrance to a building or temple.
porticus Not a porch, but a whole building incorporating some sort of large central courtyard. The actual building was usually longer than wide, and constru
cted on a colonnade principle. The Porticus Margaritaria in the upper Forum Romanum was a squarer version of the porticus, and housed Rome's most expensive shops. The Porticus Aemilia in the Port of Rome was a very long building which housed firms and agents dealing with shipping, import and export.
praefectus fabrum One of the most important men in a Roman army, technically the praefectus fabrum was not even a part of it; he was a civilian appointed to the post by the general. The praefectus fabrum was responsible for equipping and supplying the army in all respects, from its animals and their fodder to its men and their food. Because he let out contracts to businessmen and manufacturers for equipment and supplies, he was a very powerful figure-and unless he was a man of superior integrity, in a perfect position to enrich himself. The evidence of Caesar's praefectus fabrum, the Gadetanian banker Lucius Cornelius Balbus, indicates just how important and powerful these suppliers of armies were.
praenomen A Roman man's first name. There were very few praenomina (plural) in use, perhaps twenty, and half of them were not common, or else were confined to the men of one particular gens, as with Mamercus, confined to the Aemilii Lepidi, and Appius, confined to the patrician Claudii. Each gens or clan favored certain praenomina only, perhaps two or three out of the twenty. A modern scholar can often tell from a man's praenomen whether he was a genuine member of the gens: the Julii, for instance, favored Sextus, Gaius and Lucius only, with the result that a man called Marcus Julius is highly suspect. The Licinii favored Publius, Marcus and Lucius; the Pompeii favored Gnaeus, Sextus and Quintus; the Cornelii favored Publius, Lucius and Gnaeus; the Servilii of the patrician gens favored Quintus and Gnaeus. One of the great puzzles for modern scholars concerns that Lucius Claudius who was Rex Sacrorum during the late Republic; Lucius was not a patrician Claudian praenomen, yet the Rex Sacrorum was certainly a patrician Claudius. I have postulated that there was a certain branch of the Claudii bearing the praenomen Lucius which always traditionally provided Rome with her Rex Sacrorum. The whole subject of praenomina has me in stitches whenever I watch one of those Hollywood Roman epics; they always get it wrong!