GLOSSARY

ADIABENE                

District in northern Mesopotamia overrun by Trajan in AD 116 and Caracalla in 216.

ALA MILLIARIA       

A cavalry troop nominally of 1,000 men.

ANSATE                    

A term used to describe a rectangular panel enclosing an inscription, with triangular projections at the sides.

ANTENOCITICUS    

A deity, thought to be native to Britain, only attested at Benwell.

ASTURIANS             

People from modern north-west Spain along the northern coastline between the Callaeci and the Cantabri. They were subjugated by the Romans between 26 and 19 BC.

ATTRIBUTE              

An object which is distinctive to one deity and therefore used in sculpture to identify that deity to the spectator.

AUXILIA (AUXILIARY TROOPS)   

Troops provided by the allies and subjects of Rome to assist in warfare. They often provided specialist skills, e.g. the Hamian archers, and complemented the heavy infantry of the Roman legionaries.

BATAVIANS             

A Germanic people living between the Old Rhine and the Waal.

BENEFICIARIUS      

Non-commissioned officer with administrative duties. They took precedence according to the rank of the officer they served.

CAPITAL                   

The upper part of an altar or column.

CENTURIO (CENTURION)

      Commander of a century of 80 men. There were 60 centurions in a legion with graded seniority. Centurions could be transferred from legion to legion and were regarded as professional soldiers, in service until death.

CENTURIA (CENTURY)

A group of eighty men under the command of a centurion. It was the smallest unit of a legion, six centuries making up a cohort and ten cohorts a legion.

CERES                       

An Italian corn-goddess.

CIVES ROMANI (ROMAN CITIZENS)

Roman citizenship depended on birth or upon a grant made by the Emperor. The status brought with it certain rights and privileges which were jealously guarded. Soldiers of auxiliary units were regularly granted citizenship on retirement as an honorific.

COHORS (COHORT)

A division of a legion made up of six centuries – 480 men, or an independently organised unit of auxiliaries, 500 or 1,000 strong.

COLONIA (COLONY)          

Deliberately planned community of Roman citizens; usually, under the Principate, made up of legionary veterans.

CONSUL                   

During the Republic the two consuls were the supreme civil and military magistrates of Rome. During the Empire the emperors either recommended the candidate for office or assumed the position themselves.

CORINTHIAN           

A classical order of architecture, the distinctive feature of which is the use of acanthus leaf motifs on column capitals.

CORNUCOPIA         

The horn of plenty, an emblem of fruitfulness and abundance.

DACIANS                  

People from an area in the loop of the lower Danube incorporating the plateau of Transylvania in modern Romania. Dacia was conquered by Trajan in the First and Second Dacian Wars of AD 101–2 and AD 105.

DEIFIED EMPERORS

The worship of the Emperor served as a unifying focus of loyalty. In a town a temple would be erected in honour of the living and deceased members of the Imperial house whilst in a fort the shrine in the Headquarters Building contained altars to the guardian spirit of the Emperor or to the Emperor’s discipline as well as a life-sized bronze statue of the reigning Emperor.

DIANA

An Italian goddess identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. She was worshipped as a wood goddess but also had some responsibility for human fertility and hunting.

DIE                             

The panel on the front of an altar shaft which has been prepared to take an inscription.

FOCUS          

A hollow on the top of an altar designed to hold a flame or to receive libations or offerings to the deity.

FORTUNA AUGUSTA

The bringer of good luck and fertility. The addition of Augusta in the name indicates that it is the good fortune of the emperor which is concerned.

FREEDMAN

One who has been a slave and then freed. Certain rights and obligations remained between a freedman and his former master whose name (nomen) he took. On being freed a freedman often acquired citizenship and thus voting rights. Children born to a freedman after he was freed were not bound by any restrictions.

GENIUS                     

The attendant spirit of every person or place.

GESSO                       

A prepared ground of plaster to take paint.

GRIFFIN                    

A fabulous animal having the head and wings of an eagle and the body and hindquarters of a lion.

HAMIAN ARCHERS

An auxiliary unit of archers from Syria who were stationed at Carvoran.

HERCULES               

Hercules was the Roman equivalent of Heracles, a hero rather than a god, who came to be worshipped as the personification of strength used for the public good.

IMAGINIFER

The standard-bearer who carried the image of the emperor.

IMPERATOR              

A title for Roman commanders which came to be a special title of honour – generals were hailed imperator by their soldiers after a victory. In the Empire the title came to denote supreme power and became part of the assumed name of the emperors, but it never translates as ‘emperor’.

JUPITER                    

The Italian sky god identical to the Greek Zeus. He was of particular importance to the Roman army and altars to Jupiter were dedicated annually on the parade ground of each fort. He is often represented by an eagle clutching thunderbolts in his talons.

JUPITER DOLICHENUS

Dolichenus was originally a Hittite-Hurrite god of thunder and fertility who became equated with Jupiter as the Roman god of the Universe.

LEAF STOPS             

Incised triangular leaves with stalks which take the place of punctuation in inscriptions. A large leaf stop also serves as a sign of good omen.

LEGATUS (LEGATE)

A senatorial member of a provincial governor’s staff used to command a legion or a detachment.

LEGIO (LEGION)

Heavy infantry made up of Roman citizens. The Second Legion Augusta, the Sixth Legion Victrix and the Twentieth Legion Valeria Victrix built Hadrian’s Wall. A legion consisted of 5,000 foot soldiers and 120 mounted men.

LINGONIANS           

A 500 strong and part-mounted unit from MODERN Central France.

MARS                        

A Roman god of war who had a number of festivals in March and October coinciding with the beginning and end of the campaigning

season.

MATRES OLLOTOTAE

Three altars from Binchester and one from Cheshire use Ollototae as a title of the mother goddesses meaning ‘from other people’.

MINERVA

Patroness of the craftsmen and clerical staff of the Roman army as well as goddess of war.

MITHRAS (also spelt MYTRAS or MITRAS)

Ancient Persian god of light and truth. His worship was spread through the empire by the Roman army serving in the east.

MUNICIPIUM           

A town which possessed the right of Roman citizenship but was governed by its own laws.

NEPTUNE                 

God of flowing water, fountains, springs, streams and rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea.

NERVIANS               

A tribe occupying parts of Belgium, defeated by Caesar in 57 BC.

NYMPHS                   

Female spirits of nature representing the power of mountains, waters, woods, etc.

OCEANUS                

God of the sea, the son of Uranus (Sky) and Ge (Earth).

PALMYRA                

A city between Syria and Babylonia probably annexed to the Roman Empire in AD 17 but retaining some independence.

PARTHIA                   

An empire which stretched from the Euphrates to the Indus with its capital at Ecbatana Ctesiphon (modern Iraq).

PATERA                    

A handled vessel, like a saucepan, with a curved wall and thick rings forming the base allowing for rapid boiling without burning the contents. Paterae were used by military and civilian alike for cooking but also for pouring libations.

PATER PATRIAE (‘Father of his Country’)

Title first granted by the Senate during the Republic. It was later assumed by the Emperors, although rarely on accession.

PELTA                       

A crescent shape with exaggerated points.

PHRYGIA                  

Phrygia was a region which covered the central plateau and western flank of Asia Minor. The greater part of it was absorbed into the province of Asia and the rest became a region of Galatia in 25 BC. Its religion, language and distinctive costume survived into the Byzantine period.

PONTIFEX MAXIMUS

Head of the State Religion and overseer of foreign cults. The post was held by the reigning emperor until AD 375.

PRAEFECTUS (PREFECT)

The praefectus castrorum was third in command of a legion. He was usually a man in his 50’s who had risen through the centuriate.

PROCONSUL           

A man holding the same executive power as a consul but outranked by a consul. Proconsuls were usually ex-consuls or ex-praetors acting as provincial governors.

PROCURATOR         

A man employed by the Emperor in civil administration, often governing minor provinces, collecting revenues and paying the troops.

PROPRAETORIAN LEGATE 

A man holding the same executive power as an elected praetor (magistrate) with a defined  responsibility but holding a long command in a province.

QUAESTOR              

The quaestorship was usually held at the age of 27–30. In Rome a quaestor was a junior magistrate whilst in one of the senatorial provinces he was a junior finance officer. The post was part of the career structure of a legionary commander and came to be an essential qualification for Senate membership.

QUINGENARY UNIT 

A military unit, cavalry, infantry or part-mounted, nominally of 500 men.

RIB                             

The Roman Inscriptions of Britain by R.G.Collingwood and R. P.Wright (published in 1965): the main publication for Roman inscriptions found in Britain.

SALONAE                 

A city of Dalmatia in modern Croatia.

SENATE                    

The legislative and judicial body of Rome drawn from elected magistrates and former magistrates.

SENATOR                 

A Roman citizen who was a member of the Senate – a largely hereditary position, but technically by election to magistracy.

SEVERI                      

The emperor Septimius Severus and his sons Caracalla and Geta. They visited Britain in AD 208 to lead the campaign into Scotland. Severus died at York in 211 and Geta was murdered by his brother in 212.

SINGULARIS CONSULARIS 

A member of the Governor’s bodyguard.

SOL INVICTUS         

The Sun-god, coming from a Syrian source.

TRIBUNE                   

There were six tribunes in a legion, one (laticlavius) was expected to follow a military career and was second-in-command. The other five were equestrian. It was also the title of the commanders of auxiliary units 1000 strong (equestrian).

TUNGRIANS             

Cohors I Tungrorum was garrisoned at Housesteads in the third century and came originally from Belgium.

TWO GERMANIES

The Roman area of Germany was divided into two provinces with the point of division at Vinxbach. Germany Superior was the southern province, Germany Inferior the northern.

VALLUM                   

A modern term referring to a ditch and double bank to the south of Hadrian’s Wall built before all the forts were finished along the Wall and possibly intended to act as a non-military barrier, a demarcation rather than a defence.

VANGIONES            

Cohors I Vangionum was stationed at Risingham in the third century AD.

VARDULLIANS        

Cohors I Vardullorum was stationed at High Rochester in the third century AD.