Harry Sidebottom - Blood and Steel

Curule Chairs : Ivory folding stool, the mark of office of important Roman officials.

Custos : Latin, literally ‘a guardian’; a male attendant would accompany an upper-class woman, in addition to her maids, when she went out in public.

Cynic : The counter-cultural philosophy founded by Diogenes of Sinope in the fourth century BC; its adherents were popularly associated with dogs (the name itself is from the Greek for ‘dog’) for their barking and snapping at contemporary morality and social customs.

Cyrenaica : Roman province of eastern Libya and the Island of Crete.

Cyrene : City originally founded by Greek settlers near modern Shahhat on the northeastern coast of Libya.

Dacia : Roman province north of the Danube, in the region around modern Romania.

Daemon : Supernatural being; could be applied to many different types: good/bad, individual/collective, internal/external, and ghosts.

Dalmatia : Roman province along the eastern shore of the Adriatic.

Damocles : In Greek mythology, punished in the afterlife by having a sword hung from a thread suspended over his head.

Darics : Ancient system of weighing precious metals based on a standard Persian gold coin, the Daric. Roughly 8.4g.

Decii : Members of the Decius family.

Decurion : A junior Roman cavalry officer in charge of a squadron of around 30 troopers.

Decus et Tutamen : Latin, literally ‘honour and safeguard’.

Delphix : From the tripod tables, originally designed in Delphi, that furnished imperial dining rooms.

Demavend : The highest mountain in Parthia, prominent in Persian culture and mythology; located in northern Iran.

Demiurge : In some Greek philosophical systems, the divine figure that fashioned (but did not necessarily create) the Cosmos.

Denarii (singular Denarius ): A Roman silver coin; originally a day’s wage for a labourer, though by this period much debased.

Dignitas : Important Roman concept that covers our idea of dignity but goes much further; famously, Julius Caesar claimed that his dignitas meant more to him than life itself.

Dionysus : Greek god of wine.

Diplomata (singular Diploma ): From the Greek term for a letter folded in two; in the Roman empire, an official pass given to persons travelling in the provinces.

Diptych : A writing tablet with two leaves; those from the Emperor were often made of costly materials such as ivory and intricately carved on the outside.

Domina : Latin, ‘lady’, ‘mistress, ‘ma’am’; a title of respect.

Domus Rostrata : Home of the Republican general Pompey in the fashionable Carinae quarter; decorated with the ramming beaks (Rostra) of the pirate ships he captured, and from which it took its name.

Drafsh-i-Kavyan : The royal standard of the Sassanid Kings, encrusted with jewels and showing a star on a purple field, claimed to have mythical origins.

Dravus river : The modern Drava, rising in the Alps and flowing eastwards to the Danube.

Dreinos river : The modern Drina, a tributary of the Danube, forming the northern border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.

Druid : Priest of Celtic religion.

Eclogues : Title of a collection of poems by Virgil; from the Greek ekloge, ‘extracts’.

Edessa : Frontier city periodically administered by Rome, Parthia and Armenia in the course of the third century; modern Anhurfa in southern Turkey.

Edessenes : People from Edessa.

Elysian Fields : In Greek mythology, the heaven that awaits the souls of heroes and the virtuous.

Emesa : Modern Homs in Syria.

Emesenes : Inhabitants of the city of Emesa and surrounding area, modern Homs in Syria.

Emona : Modern Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Ephesus : Major city founded by Greek colonists on the western coast of modern Turkey.

Epicureanism : Greek philosophical system, whose followers either denied that the gods existed or held that they were far away and did not intervene in the affairs of mankind.

Epilogue : In ancient rhetoric, the conclusion of a speech; from Greek ‘to say in addition’.

Epiphany : The visual manifestation of a deity; in sun-worship, the dawn is thus an epiphany.

Equestrian : Second rank down in the Roman social pyramid; the elite order just below the senators.

Equirria : Roman chariot or horse racing festival sacred to Mars, celebrated on the day before the Ides of March.

Equites Indigenae Sagittarii : Regular unit of native horse archers, often recruited along the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire.

Equites Singulares Augusti : Mounted unit protecting the Emperor.

Esquiline : One of the seven hills of Rome, rising east of the Roman Forum.

Esuba : Ancient village in North Africa, location uncertain.

Eternal City : Nickname given to the city of Rome.

Etruria : Region of Italy to the northwest of Rome; roughly modern Tuscany.

Eulogy : In ancient rhetoric, a speech in praise of someone; from the Greek ‘good language’.

Exedra : In ancient architecture, a semi-circular recess.

Exemplum : Latin, ‘example’.

Exordium : In ancient rhetoric, the introduction of a speech.

Factio : Latin, ‘political faction’.

Falernian : Very expensive white wine from northern Campania, particularly prized by the Romans.

Familia : A Roman household; for the well-off, this included slaves and other dependents; that of the Emperor comprised both servants and the imperial bureaucracy; largely staffed by slaves and freedmen.

Fanum Fortunae : Modern Fano, on the northeastern shore of the Italian peninsula.

Fasces : Bundles of rods for beating malefactors tied around an executioner’s axe; symbol of a Roman magistrate’s or Emperor’s authority.

Father of the Country : Honorific title bestowed very rarely in the Roman Republic on outstanding individuals for saving the state; in the imperial period, increasingly became a standard title claimed by Roman Emperors at accession.

Father of the House : The most senior Senator.

Fiscus : Originally the Emperor’s privy purse; took over the functions of the state treasury.

Flaminia : Ancient region of Italy to the northeast of Rome on the Adriatic side of the Apennines.

Flavian Amphitheatre : Giant arena for gladiatorial fights seating 60,000 spectators; now known as the Coliseum, in antiquity known after the Flavian dynasty of Emperors who built and dedicated the structure.