Nobody Loves a Centurion (31 page)

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. Once the supreme ruling body, by the late Republic the Senate’s former legislative and judicial functions had devolved upon the courts and the Popular Assemblies and its chief authority lay in foreign policy and the nomination of generals. Senators were privileged to wear the tunica laticlava.

Servile War
The slave rebellion led by the Thracian gladiator Spartacus in 73-71
B.C
. The rebellion was crushed by Crassus and Pompey.

Sica
A single-edged dagger or short sword of varying size. It
was favored by thugs and used by the Thracian gladiators in the arena. Classified as an infamous rather than an honorable weapon.

Signifer
A legionary standard-bearer.

Solarium
A rooftop garden and patio.

Spatha
The Roman cavalry sword, longer and narrower than the gladius.

SPQR
“Senatus populusque Romanus.” The Senate and People of Rome. The formula embodying the sovereignty of Rome, used on official correspondence, documents, and public works.

Stirps
A subfamily of a
gens
. The cognomen gave the name of the stirps (e.g., Caius Julius
Caesar
). Caius of the stirps Caesar of
gens
Julia.

Strigil
A bronze implement, roughly S-curved, used to scrape sand and oil from the body after bathing. Soap was unknown to the Roman Republic.

Strophium
A cloth band worn by women beneath or over the clothing to support the breasts.

Subligaculum
A loincloth, worn by men and women.

Subura
A neighborhood on the lower slopes of the Viminal and Esquiline, famed for its slums, noisy shops, and raucous inhabitants.

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 Jupiter Capitolinus
The most important temple of the state religion. Triumphal processions ended with a sacrifice at this temple.

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.

Tonsores
A slave trained as a barber and hairdresser.

Trans-Tiber
A newer district on the right or western bank of the Tiber. It lay beyond the old city walls.

Tribal Assemblies
There were two: the
comitia tributa
, an assembly of all citizens by tribes, elected the lower magistrates—
curule aediles
, and
quaestors
, also the military tribunes; and the
concilium plebis
, consisting only of plebeians, elected the tribunes of the plebs and the plebeian aediles.

Tribe
Originally, the three classes of patricians. Under the Republic, all citizens belonged to tribes of which there were four city tribes and thirty-one country tribes. New citizens were enrolled in an existing tribe.

Tribune
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.

Triumph
A magnificent ceremony celebrating military victory. The honor could be granted only by the Senate, and until he received permission, the victorious general had to remain outside
the city walls, as his command ceased the instant he crossed the
pomerium
. The general, called the triumphator, received royal, near-divine honors and became a virtual god for a day. A slave was appointed to stand behind him and remind him periodically of his mortality lest the gods become jealous.

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.

Tuba
A straight trumpet used for most signaling.

Tunica
A long, loose shirt, sleeveless or short-sleeved, worn by citizens beneath the toga when outdoors and by itself indoors. The tunica laticlava had a broad purple stripe from neck to hem and was worn by Senators and patricians. The tunica angusticlava had a narrow stripe and was worn by the equities. The tunica picta, purple and embroidered with golden palm branches, was worn by a general when he celebrated a triumph.

Usus
The most common form of marriage, in which a man and woman lived together for a year without being separated for three consecutive nights.

Via
A highway. Within the city, viae were streets wide enough for two wagons to pass one another. There were only two viae during the Republic: the Via Sacra, which ran through the Forum and was used for religious processions and triumphs; and the Via Nova, which ran along one side of the Forum.

Vigile
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.

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