Read To the Death Online

Authors: Peter R. Hall

To the Death (39 page)

DIGNITAS -
Marked a man's ethical worth, his reputation and entitlement to respect.

DOMINUS /DOMINA -
Lord/lady

ETHNARCH -
The Greek term for a city magistrate.

FORUM -
An open air public meeting place for many levels of business, both public and private.

FORUM CASTRUM -
The meeting space inside a Roman military camp. Positioned next to the general's command tent.

FREEDMAN -
A manumitted slave who remained in the patronage of his former master. If his former master was a citizen of Rome, he too became a Roman citizen.

FREEMAN -
A man born free and never sold into slavery.

GARUM -
A popular (particularly with the army) fish sauce. Very concentrated and eye-wateringly pungent.

GODS (ROMAN) -
The Roman attributed their position as a world power as a result of maintaining good relations with the gods. Religion was seen as a source of social order and was part of daily life. Every home, rich or poor, had a household shrine that housed the family's ancestral deities, to which prayers and libations were offered daily. Imported religions, some offering salvation in the afterlife, were permitted but they came second to Roman gods. Religions that were
thought
might pose a threat to Roman gods were ruthlessly put down. Ironically, Rome's gods were borrowed from the Greeks, though they did change their names, e.g. Zeus, god of the sky and the king of Olympus, the home of the 12 gods and goddesses who ruled the universe, was renamed Jupiter. From the second century BC, Rome's emperors were attributed at death to not dying but becoming gods and joining Jupiter and the Olympian gods on Mount Olympus. In his final years Nero demanded to be addressed as ‘Divinity' or Apollo, the god of music and healing.

HELLENIC -
The term used to describe Greek culture.

IMPERIUM -
Was the degree of authority invested in a magistrate. Having
Imperium
meant a man had the authority of his office and could not be gainsaid. It also applied to military commanders appointed as governors and procurators appointed to Roman provinces.

KNIGHTS -
The
equities
, the members of the
Ordo Equestor. To qualify as a knight a man had to have property or income in excess of 400,000
sesterces
.

LEGATE/LEGATUS -
The most senior members of the Roman general's staff were his legates. In order to be classified as a legatus, a man had to be of senatorial status. Often was consular in rank. Legates answered only to the commanding general and were senior to all types of military
tribune
s.

LEGION -
The smallest Roman military unit capable of fighting a war on its own. It was self-sufficient in manpower and equipment. C6,000 men.

LEGIONARY -
The correct word for a soldier in a Roman legion' though I have used legionnaire because of its familiarity in today's usage.

LICTOR -
A public servant in the employ of the People of Rome through the Senate. They provided escorts for all holders of Imperium at home and abroad.

MAGISTRATES -
The elected executives of the Senate of People of Rome. They represented the executive arm of government.

OSTIA -
Rome's closest seaport, situated at the mouth of the river Tiber. It had its own granaries to receive the daily arrivals of grain ships from Egypt.

OPTIO -
A legion's second in command. Had to be literate and numerate. Responsible for the legion's administration. He was quartermaster, responsible for all records, down to every single soldier. He held this job prior to being promoted to Centurion.

PATRICIANS -
The original Roman aristocracy – old money.

PORT OF ROME – Portus -
On the Tiber, a collection of wharves to service the heavy traffic of barges and small merchantmen that came up from Ostia.

PRAETOR -
Next to the most senior Roman magistrates.

PRAETORIAN -
A former Praetor. A member of the Emperor's bodyguard.

PREFECTUS -
A general term used for different army ranks.

PRINCEPS SENATUS -
Chosen, as a patrician senator of unimpeachable integrity, to lead the senate.

PRO-CONSUL -
One serving as a consul. This imperium was usually given to a man who had just finished serving as a consul, who went on to govern a province or command an army in the name of the Senate and the People of Rome. He could also be assigned a specific task by the Senate.

QUASTOR -
A quastor's principal duties were fiscal.

REPUBLIC -
Founded by the Romans as an alternative to monarchy.

SESTERTIUS/SESTERCES(pl) -
The commonest Roman coin. A small silver coin it was worth one quarter of a denarius.

SUFFECT CONSUL -
A temporary un-elected stand-in when an elected consul died in office.

TOGA -
Could only be worn by a full citizen of Rome. Made of finely spun wool.

TRIBUNE -
One of six assistants to a legion commander, the
Primus Pilus
. Usually a young senator learning the basics of his career.

TUNIC -
This was the basic item of clothing worn by the ancient Mediterranean peoples. A simple shift with or without sleeves, pulled over the head like a night-shirt. Could be belted.

VILLA -
A country house, completely self-contained, with farmland, farm buildings and stables.

VESTAL VIRGINS -
Chosen by lot at the age of seven from a group of specially selected, physically perfect, girls, to serve the goddess Vesta. Took vows of chastity. Their chastity was Rome's luck. If deemed unchaste, she was tried. If found guilty, she was burned alive.

Appendix III

Other Sources & Evidence That
Jesus Had Siblings

Encyclopaedia Britannica
,
under James: One of the Lord's brethren.

The Bible
:
In Matthew XII: 47 and Mark VI: 3 we read of James who, together with Joses, Judas and Simon was a ‘brother' of the Lord. The Epithanian view is that Jesus' brothers and sisters were born after the birth of Jesus.

The
Helvidian theory
as propounded by Helvidius and apparently accepted by Tertullian, makes James a brother of the Lord, as truly as Mary was his mother. This seems to be more in keeping with the Gospels (see W. Patrick
James the Brother of the Lord
1906, page
5
).

James the brother of Jesus who became leader of the Church in Jerusalem. The Lion Handbook of the Bible
, page 666, James 1:3 (Lion Publishing). He was traditionally the author of the Epistle of the New Testament which bears his name (see Epistle of James).

According to
Hegesippus
(see Eus H.E. 11 23) he was a Nazarite and because of his eminent righteousness was called ‘Just' and ‘Oblias'. So great was his influence with the people that he was appealed to by the scribes and Pharisees for a true (as they hoped) unfavourable judgement about the Messiahship of Christ. But from a pinnacle of the temple he made public confession of his faith and was seized by the temple priests, hurled to the ground and murdered.

A detailed account of this event is covered on pages
99
to
100
under the heading The Martyrdom of James ‘ the Lord's Brother' in
Eusabius'
The History of the Church
, published by Penguin Classics in 1965, translation by G. A. Williamson. This was immediately before the Roman Siege. Deuteronomy 20.16.18 Passage refers to alleged order from the God of the Jews to commit genocide against the Canaanites.

Josephus
(Antiq. xx 911) tells that it was by the order of Ananus the high priest that James was put to death. Josephus' narrative gives the idea of some sort of judicial examination, for he says that James and some others were brought before an assembly of judges, by whom they were condemned and delivered to be stoned to death.

Josephus is also cited by
Eusabius
(H.E. ii 23) to the effect that the miseries of the siege of Jerusalem which was led by Vespasian, were due to divine vengeance for the murder of James. According to Eusabius (H.E. vii 19), his Episcopal chair was still shown at Jerusalem.

St. Paul
also corroborates the existence of James as the brother of Christ in Galatians 1:20 on making a trip to Jerusalem. “I saw only James, the brother of the Lord”.

A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature
edited by Henry Wace, DD, Dean of Canterbury and William C Piercy, MA, Dean and Chaplain of Whitelands College SW, published by John Murray 1911. See page 436 an account by Hegesippus of James the brother of Jesus being brought before Ananus the high priest and the assembled judges of the Sanhedrin, accused of blasphemy and stoned to death.

Penguin Classics
Eusabius, History of the Church
.
Introduction page
9
, James, the Lord's brother was the Bishop of Jerusalem.

Encyclopaedia of the Occult
by Fred Gittings, Century Hutchinson.

The Later Herods
by Stewart Perowne, MA, FSA, Hodder and Stoughton 1958.

The First Century. Emperors, Gods and Everyman
,
by William Klingaman, BA, PhD, Gould Publishing 1990.

The complete works of Flavius Josephus
by William Whiston, M.A., Cambridge, England. T. Nelson and Sons, London, Edinburgh and New York.

Flavius Josephus
by Rev. A. R. Shilleto. M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, England. Whiston's translation revised. George Bell and Sons, London 1890.

Josephus The Jewish War
by G. A. Williamson. Penguin 1959.

Myth, Magic and Morals
by Fred Cornwallis Conybeare, M.A., Oxford. Watts & Co., London 1910.

The Satanic Cult
by Gerhard Zacharias. George Allan and Unwin 1980.

The Book of Ceremonial Magic
by Arthur Edward Waite. Rider 1911.

The Heirarchy of Hell
by Lauran Paine. Robert Hale, London 1972.

Myth and Ritual in Christianity
by Alan Watts. Thames & Hudson 1954.

The Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft and Demonology
by Russell Hope Robbins. Spring Books, London 1959; Crown Publishers, New York 1959.

Quo Vadis
by Henryk Sienkiewicz, J.M. Dent, London 1898.

Other books

Running: The Autobiography by O'Sullivan, Ronnie
The Colombian Mule by Massimo Carlotto, Christopher Woodall
Amongst the Dead by Robert Gott
If You Believe in Me by Natalie J. Damschroder
Game by London Casey, Ana W. Fawkes
Front Yard by Norman Draper
The Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman
Sweet Peas in April by Clare Revell