Midterm Flashcards
aedile
maintain public buildings, public festivals
ager (publicus, Gallicus, etc.)
Ager publicus (“public land”) was property owned by the Roman state that it could assign or lease (for rent), normally through the censors
Sources for Antiquity
Literary texts, documentary texts, epigraphic documents, archaelogical sites, material culture
annona
“food supply,” especially then supply of grain to the city of Rome
atrium
central entrance and reception room in a Roman house
auctoritas
unofficial influence exercised by, and prestige enjoyed by, those individuals or corporate bodies whose advice and recommendations gained special respect.
auspicium
divination, the search for and interpretation of signs in nature by augurs
auxilia
auxiliary troops (often calvary or specialized fighters) who aided the legions
auxilium (aid)
aid for plebeians provided by Tribune of Plebs
Campus Martius (Field of Mars)
Area at the TIber RIvers’s “bend.” During the Republic, it lay beyond Rome’s pomerium. Named after an early altar of Mars located here.
Capitolium (Mons Capitolinus)
(“Capitoline hill,” Capitol) Smallest of Rome’s seven hills, and the site of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
census
In the Republic, the official list of Roman citizens (only, not the entire population) was drawn up by censors every five years. From Augustus’s time, emperors periodically organized censuses of the entire empire and its population.
centuira (pl. centuriae)
voting units or”centuries” (193 total) into which the Roman citizen body was divided in the comitia centuriata (“Centuriate Assembly”)
centurion
Title of the officers responsible for the day-to-day functioning of a Roman legion
clementia (“clemency”)
willingness to pardon enemies
client (cliens, pl. clientes)
A free man with ties (sometimes hereditary) to an individual of higher standing termed his patron (patronus).
client kingdom
a state usually on the fringes of Roman territory, which remained independent but whose ruler agreed to maintain and advance Roman interests; Rome offered protection in return
cognomen (pl. cognomina)
last component of the typical Roamn trinomina (“three names”), representing the surname of a Roman family, e.g., Gaius Julius Caesar, who is of the Caesar family. A cognomen might also be acquired, and even become hereditary, through military distinction, e.g. L. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, following his victories in Africa. Some Roman families never had a cognomen; others had more than one.
cohors (cohort)
a group of one kind or another, frequently a tactical unitwithin a legion, but also a governor’s entourage, for example
comitium
In all Roman communities, a designated place for citizens to meet when summoned by officials. The plural comitia denotes such a citizen assemble itself.
consul
chief annual magistrate of the Roman Republic (always one of a pair); given right to imperium; right of command; entrusted with auspicium entitled to same trappings as king
contio
pulic meeting convened by an officeholder to discuss (only) a matter of current concern (legislative, judicial in particular).
conubium
Marriage and the right to enter into a marriage recognized by Roman law
curia (curiae)
1) The earliest groups into which Roman citizens were divided; 2) the meeting place of a citizen unit, in particular a senate or town council
cursus honorum
literally “sucession of offices,” the prescribed series of magistracies that Roman senators sought to hold in order to become leading public figures
decurion
city counselor, theequivalent at a local level to a seantor at Rome
dictator
magistrate appointed to take sole control of the state temporarily in order to overcome a crisis
dignitas
“High rank” and hence the all important esteem due to the holder of it
eques (pl. equites)
(“horseman or knight”; also termed equestrian) Roman citizens who received the highestrating in a census and originally served as calvary men. Free birth, respectability, and wealth of at least 400,000 sesterces were required.
fasces
Bundle of rods surmounted by an axehead carried by official attendants (lictores) before a Roman magistrate as a symbol of his authority
fasti
calendar recording, say, recurrent events (festivals), or days for conducting different kinds ofbusiness (assembly meetings). Also chronological lists of past holders of an office or honor.
forum
In Roman communities, a designated area for conducting political, judicial, and commercial business, and hence usually a town’s focal point
freedman
Freed (or manumitted) slave. Almost all slaves freed by Roman owners received not only freedom, but also Roman citizenship. Freedmen customarily took the noemn of their former owner, whonow became their patronus
gens
extended family or clan linked by a common ancestor
imperium
Supreme authority in Rome’s affairs vested in certain officeholder, who alone could command troops and impose the death penalty.
intercessio
power of veto
legatus
Common term: 1) an envoy; 2) a senior military officer, often the commander of a legion; 3) a high-ranking assistant to a provincial governor
legion
The standard large Roman military formation comprising around 5000 heavily armed infantry.
Lex (law)
Statute passed by a citizen assembly or issued by the emperor, and then generally known by the name(s) of its proposers: for example Lex Manilia
lictor (lictores)
official attendant who carried fasces and escorted a Roman magistrate
nobilis (nobles)
Rome’s governing elite. More specifically, the members of those families with an ancestor who had attained the consulship
novus homo (new man)
first member of a family to become a Roman senator
optimates, populares
Terms used to describe the holders of contrasting political attitudes from the late second century BCE. Optimates (the best people) continued to uphold tradioinal methods of competition among senators. Populares (people’s men) sought wider popularity among citizens
patrician
Member of the more privileged group of Roman citizens that controlled wealth and had numerous clients
plebs
the “plebians,” the less privileged group of Roman citizens; range of wealth and status, but not from elite families
pomerium
sacred boundary of a city ritually marked by a priest
pontifex
member of one of the major groups or “colleges” of Roman priests, headed by the pontifex maximus
praetor
annual magistracy with imperium, an important step in the cursus honorum
proconsul
ex-consul who, at the end of his term in office, accepted an assignment that continued, or “prorogued,” his magistrate’s authority
proletarii
Roman citizens whose property at a census was too low to qualify them for military service; all they could offer the state was their children (proles)
propraetor
ex-praetor who, at the end of his term in office, accepted an assignment that continued, or “prorogued” his magistrate’s authority
proscription
publication of a list of individuals who could be killed with impunity
provincia
the sphere of activity which a magistrate was assigned to exercise his authority; hence, in particular,a foreign territory
publicanus
private individual who performed work for the Roman state under contract. Larger contracts might require a group to work together as a “syndicate”; basically a tax collector
Punic
In latin usage,Phoenician, hence Carthaginian
quaestor
state treasury, audit
senatus -> senate
advisory council first of Rome’s kings, theresfter of the state’s senior magistrates
senatus consultum
Resolution of decree of the senate
Struggle of the Orders
prolonged struggle (early fifth to early third centuries BCE) by Rome’s plebeian citizens to overcome domination of the state’s affairs by the patricians.
tribune (tribunus, pl. tribuni)
from the early fifth century BCE “tribunes of the plebs” with their own authority were recognized as the leaders of the plebeian citizen body. In addition, and quite separately, “military tribunes” were army officers
triumph
voted by the senate to honor a general who had soundly defeated a non-Roman enemy; celebrated by a procession through Rome
Twelve Tables
Rome’s first set of written laws (c. 450 BCE)
753 BCE
Traditional Date for the foundation of Rome
509 BCE
Republic established
146 BCE
Carthage, Corinth destroyed
44 BCE
Caesar assasinated
509 BCE
Conspiracy against rule of Etruscan kings intiated by Brutus
494 BCE
First Secession
450 BCE
Laws of 12 tables
367 BCE
plebeians became eligible for consulship
396 BCE
Fall of Veii
390 BCE
Gauls sack Rome
264-241 BCE
1st Punic War
218-201 BCE
2nd Punic War
323 BCE
Death of Alexander the Great
280-275 BCE
Pyrrhic War
215-205 BCE
1st Macedonian War
91-87 BCE
Social War
88 BCE
Sulla marches on Rome (1st time)
82-81 BCE
Proscriptions; Sulla is Dictator
73 BCE
Spartacus leads uprising of enslaved
70 BCE
Crassus and Pompey are consuls
63 BCE
Conspiracy of Catiline
Changes of Marius (army)
- enlistment of soldiers from lower property classes
- soldiers carried their own equipment and tools
- introduced eagle as the standard
- changed fighting style; soldiers equipped with sword and spear
- changes structure of the army to make them more nimble
Etruscans Facts
- wealth of mineral resources
- powerful elite and patronage practices
- bury in rock-cut tombs
- major trading entity
- independent city-states
- polytheistic religion
censor
maintain census, public morality
How many kings of Rome?
Seven starting with Romulus and ending with Superbus
Hannibal
Carthaginian general who took over most of Italy within two months and had elephants :)
Punic War(s)
264-241; 218-201(mid 3rd century); 149-146 (2nd century)
Macedonian War
215-205 (end of 3rd century)
Gracchi
The two brothers caused a good deal of drama by being Tribunes of Plebs and trying to push forward a series of laws that dealt with land redistribution, etc.
Reforms of Gaius Gracchus
- Established uniform grain supply to Rome
- condemned the use of tribunals for capital punishment
- moved trials of magistrates from the senate to Equestrian order
- new colonies
121 BCE
More violence breaks out in Rome after the death of Gaius Gracchus
Marius
novus homo, elected for consul five times, made major changes to the organization of the Roman army
Saturninus
Tribune of Plebs 103; allotted land to Marius’s veterans (vetoed) and then condemned with SCU and killed
Sulla
-served under Marius in Jurgurthian war
-success in Social war
-consulship in 88
-first march on Rome after T of Plebs passes legislation to remove command from Sulla
-becomes dictator and does proscriptions ordering tons of people to be killed
Enslavement in Rome
-serfdom, debt bondage, “true” slavery
-not based on race/ethnicity
-agricultural, household, specialty, state-owned, miners
31 BCE
Battle of Actium
42 BCE
Battle of Philipi
30 BCE
Death of Cleopatra
