Saturnalia (30 page)

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.