SERIES - GLOSSARY - POTENTIAL SPOILERS

[Bea]

"King Mithridates"



p. 67 - mentioned as Rome's old enemy

Mithridates VI of Pontus 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great (Megas) and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia (now Turkey) from about 120 BC to 63 BC. Mithridates is remembered as one of the Roman Republic’s most formidable and successful enemies, who engaged three of the prominent generals from the late Roman Republic in the Mithridatic Wars: Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey.

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithrida...

[Bea]

"Pharnaces"



portrait of Pharnaces II. On the reverse side, displays the ancient Greek God Apollo semi-draped, seated on a lion-footed throne, holding a laurel branch over a tripod. Apollo’s left elbow is resting on a cithara at his side. On top and between Apollo is inscribed his royal title in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΦΑΡΝΑΚΟΥ, which means of King of Kings Pharnaces the Great - valued by auction site at $20-25,000

p. 74 - mentioned in Aulus Gabinius in his speech to the Senate as supporting the pirates

Pharnaces II of Pontus also known as Pharnaces II (about 97 BC-47 BC) was prince, then King of Pontus and the Bosporan until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. Pharnaces II was the youngest son and child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen Laodice.

Pharnaces II was raised as his father's successor and treated with distinction. However, we know little of his youth from writers of the time and find him first mentioned after Mithridates VI had taken refuge from the Roman General Pompey during the Third Mithridatic War.

For more (with spoilers) go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharnace...

[Bea]

Gaius Verres

p.74 - Aulus Gabinus refers to this former Roman Governor of Sicily in his speech

Gaius Verres (ca. 120 BC – 43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily.

Politically, Verres initially supported Gaius Marius and the Populares, but soon went over to the Optimates. Sulla made him a present of land at Beneventum, and secured him against punishment for embezzlement. In 80 BC, Verres was quaestor in Asia on the staff of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, governor of Cilicia. The governor and his subordinate plundered in concert until 78 BC, when Dolabella had to stand trial at Rome. He was convicted, mainly on the evidence of Verres, who thus secured a pardon for himself.

In 74, by lavish use of bribes, Verres secured the city praetorship. He abused his authority to further the political ends of his party. As a reward, he was then sent as governor to Sicily, the breadbasket of the Roman Republic and a particularly rich province thanks to its central position in the Mediterranean making it a commercial crossroads. The people were for the most part prosperous and contented, but under Verres, the island experienced more misery and desolation than during the time of the First Punic or the recent Servile Wars.

Verres returned to Rome in 70, and in the same year, at the request of the Sicilians, Marcus Tullius Cicero prosecuted him: the prosecution speeches were later published as the Verrine Orations. Verres entrusted his defence to the most eminent of Roman advocates, Quintus Hortensius, and he had the sympathy and support of several of the leading Roman patricians.

The court was composed exclusively of senators, some of whom may have been his friends. However, the presiding judge, the city praetor, Manius Acilius Glabrio, was a thoroughly honest man, and his assessors were at least not accessible to bribery. Verres vainly tried to get the trial postponed until 69 when his friend Quintus Caecilius Metellus Caprarius would be the presiding judge. Hortensius tried two successive tactics to delay the trial. The first was trying to sideline Verres' prosecution by hoping to get a prosecution of a former governor of Bithynia to take precedence. When that failed, the defense then looked to procedural delays (and gaming the usual format of a Roman extortion trial) until after a lengthy and upcoming round of public holidays, after which there would be scarce time for the trial to continue before Glabrio's term was up and the new and more malleable judge would be installed. However, in August, Cicero opened the case and vowed to short-circuit the plans by taking advantage of an opportunity to change the format of the trial to bring evidence and witnesses up much sooner, and opened his case with a short and blistering speech.

The effect of the first brief speech was so overwhelming that Hortensius refused to reply, and recommended his client leave the country. Before the expiration of the 9 days allowed for the prosecution Verres was on his way to Massilia (today Marseille).

This incident was described in the previous book in the series, "Fortunes Favorites"


Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Colleen McCullough

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Ve...

[Bea]

Panares and Lasthenes

p. 75 - Gabinius refers to these "pirate admirals"

Panares was a general of the ancient city of Kydonia at the time which the Romans attacked the city in 69 BC. In this era Kydonia had aligned itself with the interests of pirates and incurred the anger of the Roman Senate. When the Romans vanquished Kydonia, Panares surrendered the city, while co-general Lasthenes fled to Knossos.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panares
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasthenes

[Bea]

Manius Acilius Glabrio



p. 76 - mentioned together with Piso as consult-elect

Manius Acilius Glabrio when praetor urbanis
presided at the trial of Verres. According Cicero, in conjunction with L. Calpurnius Piso, his colleague in the consulship, he brought forward a severe law (Lex Acilia Calpurnia) against illegal canvassing at elections.

In the same year he was appointed to succeed Lucius Licinius Lucullus in the government of Cilicia and the command of the war against Mithradates. He wrecked Roman control of the region because he released Lucullus's soldiers from his command, but he himself was unable to control the soldiery and was in turn replaced by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus according to the provisions of the lex Manilia. Little else is known of him except that he declared in favour of the death punishment for the Catilinarian conspirators.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manius_A...

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Gaius Calpurnius Piso



p. 76 - first mentioned by Gabinius in conversation with Caesar as a consul-elect

Gaius Calpurnius Piso was consul in 67 BCE with Manius Acilius Glabrio. He belonged to the high aristocratic party, and, as consul, led the opposition to the proposed law of the tribune Aulus Gabinius, by which Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was to be entrusted with extraordinary powers for the purpose of conducting the war against the pirates. The law, however, was carried, notwithstanding all the opposition of Piso and his party. Shortly afterwards, when the orders that Pompeius had issued were not carried into execution in Gallia Narbonensis, in consequence, as it was supposed, of the intrigues of Piso, Gabinius proposed to deprive the latter of his consulship, an extreme measure which Pompeius's prudence would not allow to be brought forward.

Piso did not have an easy life during his consulship. In the same year the tribune, Gaius Cornelius, proposed several laws, which were directed against the shameless abuses of the aristocracy. All these Piso resisted with the utmost vehemence, and none more strongly than a stringent enactment to put down bribery at elections. But as the senate could not with any decency refuse to lend their aid in suppressing this corrupt practice, they pretended that the law of Cornelius was so severe, that no accusers would come forward, and no judges would condemn a criminal. They therefore made the consuls bring forward a less stringent law (Lex Atilia Calpurnia), imposing a fine on the offender, with exclusion from the senate and all public offices. It was with no desire to diminish corruption at elections that Piso joined his colleague in proposing the law, for an accusation had been brought against him in the preceding year of obtaining by bribery his own election to the consulship.

In 66 and 65 BCE, Piso administered the province of Gallia Narbonensis as proconsul, and while there, he suppressed an insurrection of the Allobroges. Like the other Roman nobles, he plundered his province, and was defended by Cicero in 63 BCE, when he was accused of robbing the Allobroges, and of executing unjustly a Transpadane Gaul. The latter charge was brought against him at the instigation of Caesar; and Piso, in revenge, implored Cicero, but without success, to accuse Caesar as one of the conspirators of Lucius Sergius Catilina.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Ca...

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Vestal Virgins


The Vestal Virgins were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, and had to make sure the sacred fire in the temple was not allowed to go out. Generally girls were given into the order at a young age, 6-10 years old, and were sworn to serve chastely for 30 years, at which point they retired and could marry, but most did not. There were generally 6 serving at a time, with perhaps 12 girl novices.

The requirement of virginity was absolute, and any Vestal found guilty of unchastity was buried in a subterranean room with some food and water and left to die.

The Vestals lived together in the House of the Vestals.


The sacred fire was contained in the Temple of Vesta, an unusual circular building.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestal_V...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_o...

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Lucius Junius Brutus

Lucius Junius Brutus was one of the founding members of the Roman Republic, when in 509 B.C., he and a few friends expelled the king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus after the rape (and subsequent suicide) of the noblewoman (and kinswoman of Brutus) Lucretia at the hands of Tarquin's son Sextus Tarquinius.

He was the first consul of Rome, with co-consul Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Lucretia's widowed husband. One of his first acts was administering an oath to the people never to accept a king.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_J...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Tax Farmers or Publicans

The Roman Republic didn't have a system of civil servants to manage such things as tax collecting. Instead, the censors would sell contracts for collecting taxes in various provinces to private parties, who would then collect as much as they could from the local residents and keep any profits. In some cases their demands were so onerous that cities would have to sell their municipal art treasures to pay them. Publicans feature prominently in the New Testament.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publican)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Censors

Censors served in pairs (like consuls) and were elected every five years, although they didn't usually serve for that long. This was considered the ultimate elective office and only former consuls could serve. Censors were in charge of letting out government contracts, e.g. for tax collecting, and were technically in charge of tallying up the number of Roman citizens. They also were supposed to check over the qualifications of members of the Senate and the equestrians, who had a minimum level of wealth one had to possess. They could also expel men from the Senate for moral reasons.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_ce...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Equestrians

The equestrians, or Ordo Equestor, also called the knights, were the wealthiest class of Romans. Technically the only division between the senatorial class and the equestrians is that Senators were forbidden from engaging in commerce; their wealth had to come from land holdings. Many wealthy men did not want to go into politics; they were more interested in engaging in trade. The original equestrians served as cavalry in wars, being wealthy enough to maintain a horse, and the top 1800 of them were actually given Public Horses by the state.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites)

[Bea]

Lucius Roscius Otho


Roman theater, reconstruction

p. 79 Otho opens the new tribunes of the plebs by introducing the Roscian Law which restored the privileges of knights to occupy the fourteen front row seats at the theater behind the first two rows reserved for Senators.

The Roscian law passed in 67BC granted the equites (knights) the right to sit in the first fourteen rows of the theatre. To be a member of the equites required a minimum property of four hundred thousand sesterces. The law is referred to derogatively in Horace's Satires.

Silver’s worth less than gold, gold’s worth less than virtue.
‘Citizens, O Citizens, first you must search for wealth,
Cash before virtue!’ So Janus’ arcade proclaims
From end to end, this saying old and young recite
Slate and satchel slung over their left shoulders.
You’ve a mind, character, eloquence, honour, but wait:
You’re a few thousand short of the needed four hundred:
You’ll be a pleb. Yet boys, playing, sing: ‘You’ll be king
If you act rightly.’ Let that be your wall of bronze,
To be free of guilt, with no wrongs to cause you pallor.
Tell me, please, what’s better, a Roscian privilege,
Or the children’s rhyme of a kingdom for doing right...

Horace, Satires

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_R...


by Horace

[Bea]

Lucius Aurelius Cotta

Lucius Aurelius Cotta. 105 BC. AR Serrate Denarius. Draped bust of Vulcan right, in a laureate pileus, tongs & star behind, S • before; all within a myrtle wreath / Eagle standing right on thunderbolt, head left, L COT below; all within a laurel wreath. (this may be an ancestor of the person described below)

p. 91 - Caesar's uncle Marcus Cotta has a conversation with his brother Lucius after his conviction of peculation by the Senate

Lucius Aurelius Cotta held the offices of praetor (70 BC), consul (65 BC) and censor (64 BC). Both his father and grandfather of the same name had been consuls, and his two brothers, Gaius Aurelius Cotta and Marcus Aurelius Cotta, preceded him as consul in 75 and 74 BC respectively. His sister, Aurelia, was married to Gaius Julius Caesar, brother-in-law to Gaius Marius and possibly Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and they were the parents of the famous general and eventual dictator, Gaius Julius Caesar.

While praetor in 70 BC, he brought in a law for the reform of the jury lists, by which the judices were to be selected, not from the senators exclusively as limited by Sulla, but from senators, equites and tribuni aerarii.

For more (including spoilers) go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_A...

[Bea]

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus


p. 89 - Servilia thinks Caesar has Scipio's greatness.

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–183 BC), also known as Scipio Africanus, Scipio the Elder, and Scipio the Great was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic. He was best known for defeating Hannibal at the final battle of the Second Punic War at Zama, a feat that earned him the agnomen Africanus, the nickname "the Roman Hannibal", as well as recognition as one of the finest commanders in military history. An earlier great display of his tactical abilities had come already at the Battle of Ilipa.

For more see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipio_A...

[Bea]

Gaius Servilius Ahala

p. 89 - Servilia also compares Caesar to her possible ancestor


Denarius of Marcus Junius Brutus celebrating his ancestors, 54 BC. Crawford 433/2

Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala was a 5th century BC politician of ancient Rome, considered by many later writers to have been a hero. His fame rested on the contention that he saved Rome from Spurius Maelius in 439 BC by killing him with a dagger concealed under an armpit. This may be less historical fact and more etiological myth, invented to explain the Servilian cognomen "Ahala"/"Axilla", which means "armpit" and is probably of Etruscan origin.

A representation of Ahala is given on a coin of Marcus Junius Brutus, the murderer of Julius Caesar, but we cannot suppose it to be anything more than an imaginary likeness. Brutus claimed (perhaps baselessly) that he was descended from Lucius Junius Brutus, the first consul, on his father's side, and from Ahala on his mother's, and thus was sprung from two tyrannicides.

Plutarch says, in his life of Brutus, that Brutus' mother Servilia was a descendant of Servilius Ahala, and the ancestral example was an inspiration for his assassination of Julius Caesar.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Se...

by Plutarch

[Bea]

Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator



p.89 - Servilia also compares Caesar to this legendary Roman

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator (ca. 280 BC – 203 BC) was a Roman politician and general, born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was Roman Consul five times (233 BC, 228 BC, 215 BC, 214 BC and 209 BC) and was twice Dictator in 221 and again in 217 BC. He reached the office of Roman Censor in 230 BC. His agnomen Cunctator (akin to the English noun cunctation) means "delayer" in Latin, and refers to his tactics in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War. His cognomen Verrucosus means "warty", a reference to a wart above his upper lip.

Later, he became a legendary figure and the model of a tough, courageous Roman, and was bestowed the honorific title, "The Shield of Rome" (similar to Marcus Claudius Marcellus being named the "Sword of Rome"). According to Ennius, unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem – "one man, by delaying, restored the state to us." Virgil, in the Aeneid, has Aeneas' father Anchises mention Fabius Maximus while in Hades as the greatest of the many great Fabii, quoting the same line. While Hannibal is mentioned in the company of history's greatest generals, military professionals have bestowed Fabius' name on an entire strategic doctrine known as "Fabian strategy", and George Washington has been called "the American Fabius."

For more see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintus_...

Virgil

[Bea]

Lucius Aemilius Paullus

The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus (detail) by Carle Vernet

p. 89 - Final glorious Roman to whom Servilia compares Caesar

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 BC – 160 BC) was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty. He was the father of Scipio Africanus.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_A...

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Mamercus Aemilius Lepidus Livianus

This is Servilia's "uncle Mamercus," the brother of her mother Livia and of Marcus Livius Drusus. As a younger son, he was adopted out into the Aemilius Lepidus family. In the novels, he takes care of all six of Livia's children after their mother, her second husband Marcus Porcius Cato, and Livia's brother Drusus all died.

(Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamercus...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Sal...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Marcus Livius Drusus

Marcus Livius Drusus was a tribune in 91 B.C. and tried to get citizenship for the Italian allied states. This was vehemently opposed in the Senate and he was subsequently assassinated and the Italian allies revolted, starting the Social War of 91–88 BC.

The Wikipedia entry has a useful family tree, containing Servilia, Brutus, Cato and Lepidus the triumvir.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_L...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Adoption

Since it was expensive to become a politician, families with more than one boy sometimes adopted out younger boys to families who needed someone to carry on the family name. The adoptee would change his name to conform to the new family's one, appending the name of his gens. Thus Mamercus Livius Drusus became Mamercus Aemilius Lepidus Livianus and Gaius Octavius Thurinus became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, aka Octavian, later Augustus.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Julia Antonia

Julia Antonia was the daughter of Lucius Julius Caesar III, whose brother Gaius Julius Caesar was our Caesar's father. Her first husband was Marcus Antonius Creticus, by whom she had three sons, including Mark Antony the triumvir. After her husband died in 74 BC, she married Publius Cornelius Lentulus (Sura), a politician, who in 63 BC, was involved in the Catiline conspiracy and was executed on the orders of Cicero.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_An...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Lucius Cornelius Cinna

Cinna was consul four times, from 87 BC through 84 BC, once with Gaius Marius. He had to take an oath to Sulla to be loyal to him, but it didn't have much effect, since soon after taking office, he brought a charge against Sulla, who took off with his army to fight Mithridates. Cinna also brought the Marians back from exile. His consular colleague Gnaeus Octavius then exiled Cinna and deposed him from office. Cinna's adherents joined up with Marius' and took over Rome. Sulla, having finished his war with Mithridates, came back and fought with Cinna and the Marians. Cinna was killed by his own troops in 84 BC.

His daughter Cornelia Cinnila married Caesar around 86 BC and died in 69 BC after bearing a daughter Julia.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_C...)

[Bea]

Publius Sulla

p. 94 - Lucius Aurelius Cotta cannot forgive Publius Sulla for joining in the prosecution of his brother Marcus, Caesar's uncle.

Publius Cornelius Sulla (died 45 BC) was a politician of the late Roman Republic. He was a relative of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix. He was elected consul in 66 BC (to assume office in 65 BC) together with Publius Autronius, but both were discovered to have committed bribery and were disqualified from the office. He was soon after implicated in the Catiline conspiracy, but was not convicted, having Marcus Tullius Cicero and Quintus Hortensius leading his defence. He is remembered most notably for having commanded the right wing of Julius Caesar's army at the battle of Pharsalus.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_...

[Bea]

Quintus Caecilius Metellus

p. 97 - Per Gabinius, Metellus is no Pompey but only another "man of chalk"

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus (c. 135 BC – late 50s BC) was a politically active member of the Roman upper class. He was praetor in 74 BC and pontifex from 73 BC until his death. He was consul in 69 BC along with Quintus Hortensius Hortalus. Creticus had two brothers. One was Lucius Caecilius Metellus. He was praetor in 71 BC and governor of Sicily in 70 BC. He died in office as consul in 68 BC. The other was Marcus Caecilius Metellus, praetor and president of the extortion court in 69 BC.

During his consulship, Quintus Caecilius Metellus was given the proconsular command against the pirate-infested Crete; his co-consul, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus. had refused it. Metellus captured several cities and made great progress before the island appealed to Pompey the Great. They did this in 67 BC, when Pompey had control over the Mediterranean to eliminate piracy under the proposal of Gabinius. The Cretans offered to surrender to Pompey, perhaps believing he would be less harsh than Metellus. Pompey ignored Metellus' command over the island and accepted the Cretan's surrender. Pompey ordered Metellus to leave the island with his troops, but Metellus persisted. Metellus then defeated the island of Crete and made it a province of Rome.

Because of Metellus' refusal to leave Crete when Pompey ordered it, Pompey and his allies prevented his triumph until 62 BC. Upon celebrating his triumph, Metellus received the cognomen 'Creticus', the Latin word for 'Cretan'. In return for the opposition to his triumph, Metellus used his influence to prevent the ratification in the senate of Pompey's reorganization of the east until 60 BC. Metellus remained a prominent member of Pompey's opposition until his death in the late 50s BC.

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintus_...

[Bea]

Catulus Caesar



Ruins of the temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei built by Catulus Caesar

p. 101 - Catulus bitterly reflects on the injustice done his father, Catulus Caesar.

Quintus Lutatius Catulus (149-87 BC) was consul of the Roman Republic in 102 BC, and the leading public figure of the gens Lutatia of the time. His colleague in the consulship was Gaius Marius, but the two feuded and Catulus sided with Sulla in the civil war of 88–87 BC. When the Marians regained control of Rome in 87, Catulus committed suicide rather than face prosecution.

Catulus was a man of great wealth, which he spent in beautifying Rome. Two buildings were known as "Monumenta Catuli": the temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, to commemorate the day of Vercellae, and the Porticus Catuli, built from the sale of the Cimbrian spoils.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Aedile

P. 232

Aedile was an elective office in Rome; it was generally held between quaestor and praetor, but was not part of the official cursus honorum. There were two pairs of aediles, the curule aediles (one of whom had to be patrician) and the plebeian aediles. They had charge of maintaining the public buildings, sewers and aqueducts and making sure of the correctness of the weights and measures. Possibly the most important part of their duties was to put on public games. One pretty much had to provide memorable games in order to be elected to higher office.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedile)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Cursus Honorum

The cursus honorum was the official list of offices a politician was expected to hold. Each office had a minimum age and it was considered auspicious to be elected in suo anno ("in his year").

Quaestor - 30 years old
Aedile - 36 years old (not officially in the list, but usually desired)
Praetor - 39 years old
Consul - 42 years for plebeians and 40 for patricians
Censor - no age requirement, but one had to have been consul

McCullough has a very good illustration of the Roman offices in her Glossary on p. 911.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_h...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Ludi, or games

P. 233

Aediles were expected to hold games for certain religious festivals, specifically the Ludi Megalenses in April and the Ludi Romani in September.

A popular form of these games were races at the Circus Maximus.


(Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludi_Romani)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Funeral games

P. 241



Funeral games generally consisted of gladiatorial contests, and were put on to commemorate the death of one's father or someone important. The origins are obscure, but Livy places them during the First Punic War in 264 BC.

(Source= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiators)

[Sigrun]

Thanks for posting some more visual material of Rome. I've seen the ruins of the Forum, the Colosseum and some of the ruined homes on the Palatine. That's the sum total of "ancient" Rome with which I'm familiar. I've been trying to figure out how the maps in the book fit together with the ruins, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to reconcile them yet.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Titus Pomponius Atticus

P. 243

Titus Pomponius Atticus was a wealthy equestrian and good friend and correspondent of Cicero. He took the cognomen "Atticus" because he loved Greek literature and culture. His sister Pomponia was married to Cicero's brother Quintus. Much of what we know of life and politics in the late Republic comes from the letters Cicero wrote to Atticus.

(Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Po...
http://www.attalus.org/old/atticus.html
http://archive.org/stream/letterstoat...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Mos Maiorum

P. 250

The mos maiorum ("ancestral custom") is the unwritten code from which the ancient Romans derived their social norms. It is the core concept of Roman traditionalism, distinguished from but in dynamic complement to written law. The mos maiorum (plural mores, cf. English "mores") was collectively the "time-honored principles," behavioral models, and social practices that affected private, political, and military life in ancient Rome.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_maiorum)

[Bea]

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus



Gneus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus. 88 BC. AR Denarius. Bust of helmeted Mars right, seen from behind / CN.LENTVL, Victory in biga right.

p. 107 - Mentions Lentus Coldianus as a censor who is influential in Pompey's behalf.

Elected Praetor around 75 BC, Clodianus' his connections with Pompey ensured that he was elected consul in 72 BC.

The major event of his consulship was the revolt of Spartacus and the eruption of the Third Servile War. Having won a number of victories against ill-prepared Roman forces, the Senate now recognised Spartacus as a serious threat and sent both the consuls to confront the slave armies at the head of four legions.

Clodianus moved to block Spartacus’s march northward, while his colleague Publicola moved in behind, hoping to catch the rebels between the two armies. However, Spartacus’s slave army destroyed Clodianus' legions in the Apennine Mountains (near modern Pistoia) in the valley named Lentula, and then turned and defeated the oncoming legions of Publicola. Gathering their shattered forces, both consuls gave chase but were once again defeated at a battle near Picenum.

This setback to Clodianus’s career was only temporary; with the support of Pompey, both Clodianus and Publicola were appointed censor in 70 BC. They began a systematic purge of the senate, removing some sixty-four senators. However, the majority of those expelled were acquitted by the courts and restored to their former position.

By 67 BC, Clodianus was serving as a legate with praetorian imperium under Pompey, who had received an extraordinary command to rid the Mediterranean Sea of pirates. Clodianus was given command of the east coast of Italy, with his fleet patrolling the coast of the Adriatic Sea. By 66 BC he was back in Rome, where he gave his support to the Lex Manilia, which gave Pompey command of the war against King Mithridates VI of Pontus.

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_C...

[Bea]

Lucius Gellius Publicola (consul 72 BC)

p. 107 - Mentioned here as "Poplicola" in tandem with Lentus Clodianus as co-censor and supporter of Pompey.

In 89 BC, Publicola was a senior legate under Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, beginning a long association with that family that would continue with Strabo’s son, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

The major event of his consulship in 72 BC was the revolt of Spartacus and the eruption of the Third Servile War. Having won a number of victories against ill-prepared Roman forces, the Senate now recognised Spartacus as a serious threat and sent both the consuls to confront the slave armies at the head of four legions. Initially successful, Publicola defeated Crixus and 30,000 rebel slaves at Mount Garganus near Apulia, then moved northwards behind Spartacus's forces which were moving north. With Clodianus barring Spartacus in the north, they hoped to catch the rebels between the two armies. Spartacus' slave army destroyed Clodianus' legions, and then turned and defeated the oncoming legions of Publicola. Gathering their shattered forces, both consuls gave chase but were once again defeated at a battle near Picenum
Humiliated by these defeats, Publicola and Clodianus were withdrawn as commanders, by the Roman senate, and command of the war given to Marcus Licinius Crassus.

This setback to Publicola’s career was only temporary; with the support of Pompey, both Publicola and Clodianus were appointed censor in 70 BC.

For more, with spoilers, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_G...

[Bea]

Third Servile War


Last Battle of Third Servile War

The Third Servile War directly threatened the Roman heartland of Italy and was doubly alarming to the Roman people due to the repeated successes of the rapidly growing band of rebel slaves against the Roman army between 73 and 71 BC. The rebellion was finally crushed through the concentrated military effort of a single commander, Marcus Licinius Crassus, although the rebellion continued to have indirect effects on Roman politics for years to come.


The Roman Senate's growing alarm about the continued military successes of this band, and about their depredations against Roman towns and the countryside, eventually led to Rome's fielding of an army of eight legions under the harsh but effective leadership of Marcus Licinius Crassus. The war ended in 71 BC when the armies of Spartacus, after long and bitter fighting, retreating before the legions of Crassus, and realizing that the legions of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus were moving in to entrap them, launched their full strength against Crassus' legions and were utterly destroyed.

The Third Servile War was significant to the broader history of ancient Rome mostly in its effect on the careers of Pompey and Crassus. The two generals used their success in putting down the rebellion to further their political careers, using their public acclaim and the implied threat of their legions to sway the consular elections of 70 BC in their favor. Their actions as Consuls greatly furthered the subversion of Roman political institutions and contributed to the eventual transition of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Se...

[Bea]

Marcus Junius Brutus

p. 109 - Pompey is lambasted in Hortensius' oration for the execution of the elder Brutus.

Marcus Junius Brutus, sometimes referred to by modern historians as Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder to distinguish him from his more famous son, was a tribune of the Roman Republic in 83 BC and the founder of the colony in Capua. He was the first husband to Servilia Caepionis, the elder half-sister of Cato the Younger. His son by Servilia is the Marcus Junius Brutus who was one of the chief assassins of Julius Caesar.

In 77 BC Brutus was placed in command of the forces in Cisalpine Gaul following the death of Lucius Cornelius Sulla who had been dictator. He was also placed in command at Mutina where he withstood the attacks from Pompey the Great for a while. For reasons unknown, he put himself and his troops in the power of Pompey, on the understanding that their lives should be spared. Nonetheless, Pompey ordered his death and forwarded to Rome the news of his surrender and execution. The senate blamed Pompey for the perfidious act. He is quoted by Cicero to have been well skilled in public and private law.

[Bea]

Caesar and the Pirates

p. 111-113 - Caesar describes his experience as a captive of pirates and his eventual triumph.

The story as told by Petrarch:

First, when the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents, Caesar burst out laughing. They did not know, he said, who it was that they had captured, and he volunteered to pay fifty. Then, when he had sent his followers to the various cities in order to raise the money and was left with one friend and two servants among these Cilicians, about the most bloodthirsty people in the world, he treated them so highhandedly that, whenever he wanted to sleep, he would send to them and tell them to stop talking.

For thirty-eight days, with the greatest unconcern, he joined in all their games and exercises, just as if he was their leader instead of their prisoner. He also wrote poems and speeches which he read aloud to them, and if they failed to admire his work, he would call them to their faces illiterate savages, and would often laughingly threaten to have them all hanged. They were much taken with this and attributed his freedom of speech to a kind of simplicity in his character or boyish playfulness.

However, the ransom arrived from Miletus and, as soon as he had paid it and been set free, he immediately manned some ships and set sail from the harbor of Miletus against the pirates. He found them still there, lying at anchor off the island, and he captured nearly all of them. He took their property as spoils of war and put the men themselves into the prison at Pergamon. He then went in person to [Marcus] Junius, the governorof Asia, thinking it proper that he, as praetor in charge of the province, should see to the punishment of the prisoners. Junius, however, cast longing eyes at the money, which came to a considerable sum, and kept saying that he needed time to look into the case.

Caesar paid no further attention to him. He went to Pergamon, took the pirates out of prison and crucified the lot of them, just as he had often told them he would do when he was on the island and they imagined that he was joking.

Source: http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/...

NOTE: This website is an excellent source for translations of ancient materials on the life of Caesar.

http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/...

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Tribuni aerarii

p. 250, mentioned as a class of men who did accounting for the Treasury.

The tribuni aerarii have been the subject of much discussion. They are supposed by some to be identical with the curatores tribuum, and to have been the officials who, under the Servian organization, levied the war-tax (tributum) in the tribes and the poll-tax on the aerarii. They also acted as paymasters of the equites and of the soldiers on service in each tribe. By the lex Amelia (70 BC) the list of judices was composed, in addition to senators and equites, of tribuni aerarii. Whether these were the successors of the above, or a new order closely connected with the equites, or even the same as the latter, is uncertain.

According to Mommsen, they were persons who possessed the equestrian census, but no public horse. They were removed from the list of judices by Julius Caesar, but replaced by Augustus. According to Madvig, the original tribuni aerarii were not officials at all, but private individuals of considerable means, quite distinct from the curatores tribuum, who undertook certain financial work connected with their own tribes. Then, as in the case of the equites, the term was subsequently extended to include all those who possessed the property qualification that would have entitled them to serve as tribuni aerarii.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerarium...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Jury trials

From the beginning of the republic and in the majority of civil cases towards the end of the empire, there were tribunals with the characteristics of the jury, the Roman judges being civilian, lay and not professional. Capital trials were held in front of juries composed of hundreds or thousands of people in the commitias or centuries, the same as in Roman trials. Roman law provided for the yearly selection of judices, who would be responsible for resolving disputes by acting as jurors, with a praetor performing many of the duties of a judge. High government officials and their relatives were barred from acting as judices, due to conflicts of interest. Those previously found guilty of serious crimes (felonies) were also barred as were gladiator for hire, who likely were hired to resolve disputes through trial by combat.

ABSOLVO is the equivialent of "innocent" and CONDEMNO of "guilty."

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_tri...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Marcus Marius Gratidianus

p. 256, a victim of Catilina during the proscriptions of Sulla

Marcus Marius Gratidianus (died 82 BC) was a praetor and a partisan of the popularist faction led by his uncle Gaius Marius during the Roman Republican civil wars of the 80s. Gratidianus is noted primarily for undergoing a particularly violent death during the Sullan proscriptions; in the most sensational accounts, he was tortured and dismembered at the tomb of Catulus by Catilina, in a manner that evoked human sacrifice.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_M...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Lucius Lucceius

p. 257, prosecutor in the case of Catilina, brought by Cato

Lucius Lucceius, Roman orator and historian, friend and correspondent of Cicero. A man of considerable wealth and literary tastes, he may be compared with Atticus. Disgusted at his failure to become consul in 60 BC, he retired from public life, and devoted himself to writing a history of the Social and Civil Wars. This was nearly completed, when Cicero earnestly requested him to write a separate history of his (Cicero's) consulship. Cicero thought that a panegyric by Lucceius, who had taken considerable interest in the affairs of that critical period, would have great weight in his campaign to rehabilitate himself after the exile stemming from his consulship. Cicero offered to supply the material, and hinted that Lucceius need not sacrifice laudation to accuracy. Lucceius almost promised, but did not perform. Subsequently, Cicero had to sing his own praises in both Greek and Latin, but nothing remains of any such work or of his history. In the civil war he took the side of Pompey; but, having been pardoned by Caesar, returned to Rome, where he lived in retirement until his death.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_L...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Gaius Antonius Hybrida

p. 259, paired with Cicero to run for consul in order to keep Catilina out

Gaius Antonius Hybrida was the second son of Marcus Antonius Orator and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus. He was the uncle of triumvir Mark Antony. His military career started as a legate and cavalry commander of Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the Mithridatic Wars. After Sulla's return to Rome, Hybrida remained in Greece with a force of cavalry. He was supposed to maintain peace and order but ended in plundering the countryside and sacking for his own profit several temples and holy places. It was the rumors of his plundering and atrocities committed on the local population, which included maiming and torture, that earned him the nickname Hybrida ("half-beast") (Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 213).

In 76 BC he was prosecuted for his malpractices by the young Julius Caesar, but escaped punishment because he successfully appealed to the people's tribunes. Years later, in 70 BC, he was removed from the Senate and stripped of senatorial rank by the censors, still on charges due to the atrocities committed in Greece. In spite of his bad reputation, however, he was elected tribune in 71 BC, which meant that he again joined the Senate; then praetor in 66 BC, and finally consul with Marcus Tullius Cicero in 63 BC.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_An...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Novus homo

p. 260, Cicero is scorned as a novus homo, or new man

A novus homo or "new man" was a politician whose ancestors had never been consul. Family connections and reputation were so important in Rome that "new men" were looked down on and had a hard time rising in their political careers. Besides Cicero, a famous novus homo was Gaius Marius, Caesar's uncle.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novus_homo)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Gaius Manilius

p. 264, mentioned as the Tribune of the Plebs who got Pompey assigned to the war against Mithridates and Tigranes

Gaius Manilius was a Roman tribune of the people in 66 BC. At the beginning of his year of office (Dec. 67) he succeeded in getting a law passed (de libertinorum suffragiis), which gave freedmen the privilege of voting together with those who had manumitted them, that is, in the same tribe as their patroni; this law, however, was almost immediately declared null and void by the senate. Both parties in the state were offended by the law, and Manilius endeavoured to secure the support of Pompey by proposing to confer upon him the command of the war against Mithridates VI of Pontus with unlimited power. The proposal was supported by Cicero in his speech, Pro lege Manilia, and carried almost unanimously. Manilius was later accused by the aristocratical party on some unknown charge and defended by Cicero. He was probably convicted, but nothing further is heard of him.


(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Ma...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

The siege of Mitylene

Mitylene (or Mytilene) is a town on the Greek island of Lesbos.


According to Suetonius
"(Caesar) served his first campaign in Asia on the personal staff of Marcus Thermus, governor of the province [81 BC]. Being sent by Thermus to Bithynia, to fetch a fleet, he dawdled so long at the court of Nicomedes that he was suspected of improper relations with the king; and he lent color to this scandal by going back to Bithynia a few days after his return, with the alleged purpose of collecting a debt for a freedman, one of his dependents. During the rest of the campaign he enjoyed a better reputation, and at the storming of Mytilene [80 BC] Thermus awarded him the civic crown [a chaplet of oak leaves, given for saving the life of a fellow-citizen, the highest military award of the Roman state]."

(Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mytilene
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancien...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Assizes

p. 18, Caesar mentions assizes among his duties in Spain

Assize is defined as a session of a court, so presumably Caesar was holding court in Spain. The term seems to be mostly used in connection with the Middle Ages.

(Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio...
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assizes)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Slavery

McCullough gives such a good summary of the state of slavery on pp. 264-265, that I won't resummarize it. There are lots of good sites that talk about slavery in Rome. Here are some.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_...
http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/R...
http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel...
http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-sla...
http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/emp...

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Tigranes

p. 271, one of the many rulers in the East that Pompey defeated



The Armenian Empire


Tigranes the Great was emperor of Armenia under whom the country became, for a short time, the strongest state east of the Roman Republic. Under his reign, the Armenian kingdom expanded beyond its traditional boundaries, allowing Tigranes to claim the title Great King, and involving Armenia in many battles against opponents such as the Parthian and Seleucid empires, and the Roman Republic.

During the First Mithridatic War (90–85 BCE), Tigranes supported Mithridates VI of Pontus but was careful not to become directly involved in the war. He rapidly built up his power, allying with Mithridates VI of Pontus and marrying his daughter Cleopatra.

Mithridates had found refuge in Armenian land after confronting Rome, considering the fact that Tigranes was his ally and relative. The "King of Kings" eventually came into direct contact with Rome. The Roman commander, Lucullus, demanded the expulsion of Mithridates from Armenia; Tigranes refused. On October 6, 69 BCE, Tigranes' much larger force was decisively defeated by the Roman army under Lucullus in the Battle of Tigranocerta.

In 67 BC Pompey was given the task of defeating Mithradates and Tigranes. Pompey first concentrated on attacking Mithradates while distracting Tigranes. In 66 BC, Pompey advanced into Armenia with the younger Tigranes, and Tigranes the Great, now almost 75 years old, surrendered. Pompey treated him generously and allowed him to retain his kingdom shorn of his conquests in return for 6,000 talents of silver.

Tigranes continued to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome until his death in 55/54.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigranes...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Phraates

p. 271, invader of Armenia while Pompey was fighting Tigranes



King Phraates III of Parthia succeeded his father Sanatruces and ruled the Parthian Empire from 70 to 57 BC. When Phraates came to the throne in 70 BC, the Roman general Lucullus was preparing to attack Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, who was supreme in western Asia and had wrested Mesopotamia and several vassal states from Parthia. Naturally, Phraates declined to assist Mithradates VI of Pontus and Tigranes against the Romans. About 57 BC Phraates was murdered by his two sons, Orodes II and Mithridates III.

(Source= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phraates...)

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Marcus Terentius Varro

p. 272, part of Pompey's entourage

Modern depiction of Varro in Rieti, Italy


Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC) was an ancient Roman scholar and writer. Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) to a family thought to be of equestrian rank. Politically, he supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, quaestor and curule aedile. He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC).

During the civil war he commanded one of Pompey's armies. He escaped the penalties of being on the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar, before and after the Battle of Pharsalus. Caesar later appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony proscribed him, resulting in the loss of much of his property, including his library. As the Republic gave way to Empire, Varro gained the favour of Augustus, under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_T...)