Glossary of Latin and Greek Terms

Kleiner, Diana E. E.

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Glossary of Latin and Greek Terms

Diana E. E. Kleiner

Roman Sculpture

Glossary of Latin and Greek Terms

Author

Diana E. E. Kleiner

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.465-467

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19182

Glossary of Latin and Greek Terms

Translations are from Cassell’s New Latin Dictionary, the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Smith), J.B. Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture (Harmondsworth, 1981); and Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.

acerra: incense box used in sacrifices

adlocutio: a public address

adventus: an arrival, especially of an emperor or general into Rome

aedilis: an aedile, one of a group of elected officials at Rome who had charge of the streets, traffic, markets, and public games

ala, -ae: in a Roman house, wings extending to right and left at the far end of the traditional atrium, in front of the tablinum

anastole: the hair standing up over the center of the forehead; characteristic hairstyle of Alexander the Great

alabastrum: a pear-shaped perfume casket

alimenta: distributions of food among the poor

apparitores: attendants on magistrates

argentarius, -i: a moneychanger, banker

armarium: a cupboard

augur: an augur, soothsayer, seer; member of a special college at Rome

Augustus: a name granted to Octavian in 27 B.C. as first emperor and later to all subsequent Roman emperors

aula regia: audience hall

aurea aetas: golden age

aureus, -ei: a gold coin of ancient Rome

balteus: a girdle or belt serving to hold a weapon

bisellium, -a: a seat of honor large enough to accommodate two distinguished persons

bozzetto: a preliminary model

bucranium, -ia: a bull’s skull

bulla, -ae: a circular boss of metal worn suspended from the neck by children, especially by sons of the nobility and the wealthy

bustuarius, -ii: a gladiator who fought at a funeral pyre in honor of the dead

calceii patricii: high shoes worn by priests

camillus, -ii: boy employed in the religious rites and ceremonies of the Romans

capite velato: with veiled head

cardo: one of the two main streets of a Roman camp or city, usually running north-south

castrum: a Roman military or fortified camp rectangular in plan with two main streets intersecting at the center

cathedra: a chair, usually with a back

cingulum: a girdle or swordbelt

cithara: an ancient Greek stringed instrument similar to but larger than the lyre

clementia: mercy, clemency

clipeus virtutis: shield of bravery or valor

cognomen: the third name of a Roman citizen following the name of the gens (family)

collegium, -ia: a group of persons united in an office or for any common purpose

coma ingradus formata: hair arranged in terraces; used by Suetonius to describe one of Nero’s hairstyles

concordia, -ae: agreement, union, harmony, concord

congiarium, -i: a distribution of money to the people

conlibertus, -i: a fellow-freedman

consul, -sulis: consul, one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman state

contabulatio: flat drapery fold across the chest of the Roman toga

corona civica: civic crown consisting of oak leaves

damnatio memoriae: official condemnation

decennalia: a festival celebrated with games every ten years by the Roman emperors; anniversary of the tenth year of rule

decumanus: one of the two main streets of a Roman camp or city, usually running east-west

decursio, -iones: ritual circling of the funerary pyre

denarius, -i: a Roman silver coin, originally equivalent to ten asses but afterward to eighteen

designator: (dissignator) an undertaker who directed funeral processions

dexiosis: a handshake

dextrarum iunctio: a joining of the right hands in marriage

diva, -us: goddess, god; divine or deified

divi filius: son of a god

dominus factionis: an owner of a circus faction

dominus et deus: lord and god

dorsuale, -alia: broad band wrapped around the body of an animal victim

duovir (or duumvir): one of a pair of magistrates, one of a commission of two

dyarchy: rule by two

equites: the knights, a distinct order in the Roman commonwealth, between the senate and the plebs

erotes: cupids

exomis: a dress that had only a sleeve for the left arm, leaving the right arm with the shoulder and part of the breast free

ex testamento: from the will of

extispicium: an inspection of entrails

fasces: bundle of sticks with an ax projecting, carried by lictors before the chief Roman magistrates

fasti consulares: a list of consuls

fasti triumphales: a list of triumphant generals

felicitas saeculi: a fortunate age

ferculum: litter, bier, platform

filius: son

flamen: priest responsible for a cult of a particular god in Rome; the Collegium Pontificum comprised a total of fifteen flamines

frigidarium: cold room of a Roman bath

fundator quietis: a founder of peace

galli: priests of Cybele

genius, -i: the guardian spirit of a man or place

gens, gentes: a clan, a number of families connected by a common descent, and the use of the same gentile name

haruspex: a soothsayer, one who foretold the future from the inspection of entrails

hasta: a spear

hierothesion, -ia: sacred last resting place

imago clipeata/imagines clipeatae: portrait(s) on shields

imperator: a commander, leader; the commander in chief of an army

imperium: the highest political power, authority

in hoc panario: in this breadbasket

institutio alimentaria: system of distribution of food among the poor

kline: bed, couch; funeral couch

lar, lares: tutelary household deities among the Romans

laudatio: funeral oration

lenos: sarcophagus in the shape of a bathtub

liberalitas: courtesy, generosity; a grant

libertus, -i; liberta, -ae: a freedman; a freedwoman in relation to the former owner

libertinus, -i: freedman

liberator urbis: liberator of the city

liknon: winnowing basket that held the phallus in the cult of Dionysus

limus: an apron trimmed with purple, worn by a priest when offering sacrifice

lituus: the curved staff or wand of an augur

lustratio: a purification by sacrifice

lustrum: an expiatory sacrifice, especially that offered every five years by the censors at the close of the census on behalf of the Roman people, at which an ox, sheep, and pig (suovetaurilia) were sacrificed

malleus: a hammer, mallet, especially the ax used for slaying animals offered in sacrifice

medicus: a physician

naiskos: a small shrine

negotiates: businessmen

nobiles: distinguished, of noble birth; especially belonging to a family that had held curule magistracies

nobilissima femina: the noblest woman; a title granted to some of the Roman empresses

nobilitas: noble birth, nobility; the aristocrats, the nobility

nodus: a roll of hair; a hairstyle in which the hair is arranged in a roll over the forehead

nomen: the gentile or family name of a Roman

oecus: dining room in a Roman house

opus quadratum: ashlar masonry of large squared stones laid in horizontal courses

oratio: a speech

paludamentum: a military cloak, a soldier’s cloak, especially a general’s cloak

parapetasma: a curtain

parazonium: a short sword in a scabbard

pater: father

patera: a shallow dish or saucer from which a libation was poured

pater patriae: father of his country

patricius: patrician, noble; the Roman patricians or nobility

penates: Latin deities of the household and family

pharos: a lighthouse

pietas: dutifulness, dutiful conduct toward the gods, one’s country, one’s relatives

pistor: a miller, a baker

pius: acting dutifully toward the gods, one’s country, one’s relatives

plebs: the plebeians, the common people, the lower orders

pomerium: a space left free from buildings on each side of the walls of a town, bounded by stones

pompa triumphalis: a triumphal procession

pontifex maximus: chief priest of the Roman state religion

popa, -ae: a junior priest or temple servant who slew the animal victims

praefectus urbi: governor of the city (Rome)

praenomen: the first name, usually that standing before the gentile name

praetor: a leader, chief; one of the group of Roman magistrates who helped the consuls by administering justice and by commanding armies

princeps: first, foremost; as a title of the Roman emperor

princeps iuventutis: a leader among the youth

processus consularis: consular procession

proconsul: a proconsul, one who serves as a consul in command of an army, or as a governor of a province

profectio: a departure, especially of an emperor or general from Rome

propraetor: a Roman who, after having been praetor at Rome, was sent abroad as governor to a province or given a military command

pudicitia: modesty, chastity, feminine virtue

quaestor: a quaestor, one of a group of junior magistrates in Rome

quinquennalia: a festival celebrated at the end of every four years. Although instituted in honor of Julius Caesar and Augustus, usually associated with Nero and also called the Neronia. It consisted of musical, gymnastic, and equestrian contests

quiquennium: a period of five years

redemptor: a contractor

rex datus: the assigned king

sacerdos Vestae: a priest of Vesta

sacerna: a sacrificial ax

saeculum aureum: golden age

scaenae frons: the permanent stage facade in a Roman theater

schola: a school or place where learned disputations were carried on

sella castrensis: a chair in a military camp

sella curulis: a magistrate’s seat

sestertius, -i: a Roman silver coin equal to one quarter of a denarius

sevir, seviri: one of a group of six young men of senatorial birth who participated with the equestrians in a parade or transvectio in Rome; members of a college of six who were part of the Augustales, a priesthood in the municipalities

signum, -i: a standard

signifer, -i: a standard-bearer

similitudo: likeness, resemblance

simpulum: a ladle

sinus: the hanging fold of the Roman toga

situla: a jar for water

sodalis: a member of an association, especially a college of priests

solidus, -i: Roman gold coin, lighter than the aureus, and first struck under Constantine the Great

sphragis: seal in the shape of a cross

spolia: any booty or plunder taken from an enemy, spoils

stola: a long outer garment, especially as worn by Roman matrons

suffect consul (consul suffect): a substitute consul

suovetaurilia: a sacrifice of a pig, a sheep, and a bull

tabula census: the census register

thermae: baths

thiasos: a religious procession

thyrsus: a wand, twined around with ivy and vine leaves, carried by Dionysus and his attendants

toga picta: a toga worn by generals in triumphs

toga praetexta: a toga with a broad purple stripe worn by magistrates and freeborn children

togatus: wearing the toga, that is as a Roman citizen, as opposed to a foreigner or a soldier

toga virilis: toga worn by young men on coming of age

tricennalia: a festival celebrated every thirty years; a celebration of thirty years in office

triumphator: triumphant general

triumvir, triumviri: a triumvir, usually plural, a board or commission of three

tubicen: a trumpeter

tufa: the principal building stone of Latium and Campania, a concreted volcanic dust

urceus: a jug, a pitcher

ustrinum: base for a funeral pyre

uxor: wife

verna: a slave born in the master’s house

vexillum, -a: a standard, a flag

vicennalia: a festival celebrated every twenty years; celebration of twenty years in office

vicomagistri: street superintendants

victimarius, -i: an assistant at a sacrifice who slaughtered the animal victim

virtus: manliness, manly and moral excellence; worth, goodness, virtue, valor, courage

vivit: he or she lives; used in Latin epitaphs to denote that one of the honorands is still alive

vota suscepta: a votive offering presented by a Roman general in hope of a successful military campaign

votum: a solemn promise or vow to the gods

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