Culture, Unit 1

Question 1

lararium

Answer 1

shrine to household gods, usually in the atrium

Question 2

mosaics

Answer 2

floor decorations made up of tiny tiles, common in fancy Roman houses

Question 3

frescoes

Answer 3

wall paintings, common in fancy Roman houses

Question 4

forum

Answer 4

center for business, government, and religion

Question 5

palaestra

Answer 5

exercise area in the thermae, the imperial baths. An open area surrounded by a colonnade.

Question 6

amphitheater

Answer 6

arena for gladiatorial games

Question 7

Campania

Answer 7

region of Italy where Pompeii is located

Question 8

toga

Answer 8

long wool cloth, draped over the body. Togas are only worn by male citizens and their children

Question 9

tunica

Answer 9

short-sleeved woolen garment reaching to the knees worn by men, women, and children

Question 10

stola

Answer 10

long dress worn by married women

Question 11

comitium

Answer 11

town council of 100 men, self-electing. Serve for life

Question 12

duoviri

Answer 12

two senior officials of a roman town; served as judges in the basilica, elected annually.

Question 13

basilica

Answer 13

a court house

Question 14

aediles

Answer 14

town officials who supervised the public markets, the police force, the baths, arenas, water supply, and sewers. Made sure taxes were spent wisely

Question 15

balnea

Answer 15

Roman baths. public bathing houses

Question 16

toga candida

Answer 16

special toga worn by Romans seeking election. These togas were rubbed with chalk to make them very white. Toga candida literally means “bright toga.”

Question 17

hypocaust

Answer 17

underfloor heating found in the baths. The floor was built raised on “pilae” (beams) and a furnace heated air that circulated in the space under the floor. The heat was then drawn up the walls because of carefully placed vents on the roof

Question 18

strigil

Answer 18

metal scraper used to remove dirt and oil from the skin

Question 19

tepidarium

Answer 19

warm room at the baths. Bathers typically began in this room to warm up gently

Question 20

apodyterium

Answer 20

changing room. Bathers left clothes in niches, usually guarded by slaves

Question 21

frigidarium

Answer 21

cold room in the baths were bathers cooled down

Question 22

caldarium

Answer 22

hot room in the baths where bathers were cleaned by oil and strigils

Question 23

ludi magister

Answer 23

teacher of 7-10 year olds; taught reading, Greek, arithmatic. Literally means “master of the school”

Question 24

grammaticus

Answer 24

teacher of 11-15 year olds; taught Roman and Greek literature

Question 25

Homer

Answer 25

Greek epic poet studied by Roman school boys

Question 26

Horace

Answer 26

Roman poet studied by school boys. He invented the term “carpe diem”

Question 27

paedagogus

Answer 27

a slave who accompanied boys to school and made sure they behaved. Also made sure they completed their homework at home. Ideally, paedagogi were Greek and well-educated so that they could help teach Roman boys Greek, but this wasn’t always the case.

Question 28

rhetor

Answer 28

teacher for 16-18 year olds, taught the art of public speaking

Question 29

Vergil

Answer 29

Roman poet who wrote the Aeneid, a national epic of Rome, about the Trojan prince Aeneid who escapes from Troy and travels to Italy, where he settles the area that would later become Rome

Question 30

stilus

Answer 30

writing implement. It had a pointed end for writing in the wax of a wax tablet and a flat end for smoothing the wax back over