full of umbrage = offended
procurator = a person authorized to act for another
Etrurian = ancient Italian, Tuscan, includes Sicily and Corsica
chiton = a simple noble Greek dress, but also a marine mollusc
argent = one of the seven basic heraldic tinctures, one of two metals, used to give a silvery/white/lustrous gray appearance; covered with or tinged with the color of silver; applied to hair, coats or arms, in the arms of princes it is sometimes called lune, and in those of peers pearl
heraldry = the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms; from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound *harja-waldaz, "army commander". In its most general sense encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. Most commonly means the practice of designing, displaying, describing, and recording coats of arms and badges. The study and classification of armorial bearings and the tracing of genealogies. An emblem indicating the right of a person to bear arms.
paragon = large, flawless diamond, used figuratively to denote a model of excellence or perfection of any kind; one having no equal; a perfect embodiment of a concept, in the book used to describe a beautiful woman
murrhine = of or relating to an unknown substance, perhaps fluorite or agate, used in ancient Rome to make vases, cups, etc, also called murra the substance so used, [from Latin murr(h)inus belonging to murra], also applied to transparent glassware containing pieces of coloured glass, Vessels brought from Asia to Rome by Pompey, the Roman military leader, after his victory over Mithridates VI, King of Pontus.
Urb = ??? not yet defined for me, page 97, "I am not an Urb, I am a simple soldier" --Diodorus
pugilist = boxer, street fighter, fist fighter
the white sickness = ??? references online suggest leprosy? causing blindness? one site on Greek medicine spoke of a dz in which the hair turns white and turns colored again when healed, but in THIS book the white sickness is fatal unless one happens to be so lucky as to be healed by a miracle. SX on p104 of book: mortal dz even for a 14yo girl, soft mucous membranes of mouth and throat have lumps, knee swollen and hot, lost color in cheeks, languid, feverish, internal bleeding, urinary bleeding. Sx p127: destroys the blood, makes blood sticy to touch like syrup, decays the kidneys, lungs, spleen, bowels, "comes like a thief in the night and only at the last does the victim cry out and beg for death when the knife turns and turns in his parts"
distaff = tool used in spinning, used for temporary storage of unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process, allows for twisting
sacrosanct = inviolable: must be kept sacred; beyond alteration, criticism, or interference, especially due to religious sanction; holy; Sacrosanctity was a right of tribunes in Ancient Rome to not be harmed physically. Plebeians took an oath to regard anyone who laid hands on a tribune as an outlaw liable to be killed without penalty. The term comes from the phrase sacer esto ("let him be accursed") and reflects that violation of a tribune's sacrosanctity was not only a secular offense, but a religious offense as well.
citron-colored = greenish yellow colour like the fruit of a small citrus tree, Citrus medica, thorny evergreen small tree or shrub of India widely cultivated for its large lemonlike fruits that have thick warty rind
ocherous = ochreous = yellow with a slight tinge of brown, ocher is ochre is yellowish orange to orange brown, in the book the color of the light before a strange storm
topaz = a yellow-brown quartz, the color of grass on page 113
icteritious = jaundiced, describing the dusk also being yellow like the descriptors above
tessellated = mosaic, decorated with many small pieces, checkered or mottled or faceted
limpid = clear and bright, as water or eyes or expression, p115
Lethe river = In Classical Greek, Lethe (λήθη; Classical Greek [ˈlεːt̪ʰεː], modern Greek: [ˈliθi]) literally means "forgetfulness" or "concealment". It is related to the Greek word for "truth": a-lethe-ia (αλήθεια), meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment". In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades: those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. Lethe was also a naiad, although the naiad Lethe is probably a separate personification of forgetfulness rather than a reference to the river which bears her name. She was the daughter of Eris ('Strife' in Hesiod's Theogony), and sister to Algos, Limos, Horcus, and Ponos.
august (in her sorrow) = dignified, noble, venerable, majestic
aureate (Lucanus' and other blondies' heads) = golden, shiny
dolorous (bleeding) = sorrowful, solemn, mournful
sallies = sudden energetic attack, may be with words or blades, as opposed to parries which are fencing defenses
vagaries (of women while pregnant p122) = erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant actions or notions
obdurate = persistent, stubborn, adamant, unregenerate, flinty unfeeling resistance
bombast = pompous, pretentious, or stuffy talk or writing; Fustian (also called bombast) is a term for soft fibrous cotton or wool wovens used as stuffing/padding in men's garments
risible = amusing, ridiculous, hilarious
Phidias = someone who carved a statue, ancient Greek sculptor (circa 500-432 BC) (p141)
pyrrhic = achieved at excessive cost ("Hatred has only pyrrhic victories" p142) more: of or relating to a war dance of ancient Greece; "pyrrhic dance movements", a metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed syllables (A pyrrhic = a metrical foot used in formal poetry, consists of two unaccented, short syllables, aka dibrach); an ancient Greek dance imitating the motions of warfare; of or relating to or resembling Pyrrhus or his exploits (especially his sustaining staggering losses in order to defeat the Romans); "a Pyrrhic victory"
King of Nemi = The rex Nemorensis, (Latin: "the king of Nemi" or "the king of Groves") = sacred king who served as priest of the goddess Diana at Aricia in Italy, by the shores of Lake Nemi. ("walks his groves of wrath with a drawn sword, waiting for the destroyer" p143)
stertorous (breathing) = noisy, like snoring
Herodotus = the ancient Greek historian, wrote accounts of the wars between the Greeks and Persians, several physicians also by this name in the time of ancient Greece and Rome; Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús); lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC– 425 BC)
Xerxes = Xerxes I, a Persian king of the Achaemenid dynasty who reigned 485-465 BC.
Xerxes II, a Persian king who ruled for 45 days in 424 BC before being assassinated.
(wept at a victory, "was struck with pity at the thought of the brevity of human life")
Charon = (Greek mythology) The ferryman of Hades. The largest of Pluto's 3 moons is named for him.
Palatine = A Roman soldier, Roman or Byzantine official or feudal lord
bruit = ("not bruit about it in Rome") to spread, promulgate or disseminate a rumour, news
trollop = low class or promiscuous woman
agora = p172, gathering place, market place esp Classical Greek, and since 1960 a monetary unit and coin of Israel, 1/100th of a shekel/sheqel. From Latin < Ancient Greek ἀγείρω (ageirō), “‘I gather, collect’”)
didactic poetry = poetry clearly intended instruct, to impart theoretical, moral, or practical knowledge
elegiac poetry = mournful, melancholic or plaintive poetry, esp a funeral song or a lament for the dead, or a poem about any subject that mimics the meter of this traditional form
odeum = odeon = comparatively small theatre of ancient Greece and Rome (Latin: “concert hall,” from Greek ōideion, “school of music”)
stoa = in Ancient Greek architecture; covered walkways or porticos, commonly for public usage
cerulean = sky blue
Niobe = (Greek mythology) the daughter of Tantalus, wife of Amphion of These, whose boasting about her children provoked Apollo and Artemis (children of Leto) to slay them all; Niobe was turned to stone while bewailing her loss.
pusillanimous = cowardly, timid, fearful
prefect = a chief officer or chief magistrate (of police, etc)
mendacious = dishonest, lying, intentionally misleading
cut for the stone = surgery to remove renal calculi
Quinites = modern: a drug for the prevention of malaria, ancient: a ferocious tribe from where? ??? p181
sybarite = voluptuary: a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses, epicurean. Sybaris was a wealthy ancient city called Magna Graecia in the 6th century BC. It was located on the western shore of the Gulf of Taranto. The modern town of Sibari lies near the ruins of the Greek city, in the province of Cosenza.
Spartan fox = Spartan children were taught stories of courage and fortitude. One favorite story was about a boy who followed the Spartan code. He captured a live fox and intended to eat it. Although boys were encouraged to scrounge for food, they were punished if caught. The boy noticed some Spartan soldiers coming, and hid the fox beneath his shirt. When the soldiers confronted him, he allowed the fox to chew into his stomach rather than confess, and showed no sign of pain in his body or face. This was the Spartan way. from http://www.historywiz.com/didyouknow/spartanfamily.htm Other versions have the child dying rather than reveal that he has stolen/hidden a fox.
Serapis = Serapis (Latin spelling, or Sarapis in Greek) was a syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god in Antiquity. His most renowned temple was the Serapeum of Alexandria. Under Ptolemy Soter, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that should win the reverence alike of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian priests against the gods of the previous foreign rulers (i.e Set who was lauded by the Hyksos). Alexander the Great had attempted to use Amun for this purpose, but he was more prominent in Upper Egypt, and not as popular with those in Lower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence. The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek-style anthromorphic statue was chosen as the idol, and proclaimed as the equivalent of the highly popular Apis. It was named Aser-hapi (i.e. Osiris-Apis), which became Serapis, and was said to be Osiris in full, rather than just his Ka (life force).
syncretic = attempting to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought
polyglot = multilingual person, writing, or combination of languages in anything
phantasmagoria = a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images (as in a dream) p186
surcease = cessation
thaumaturgy = magic or miracle working
chaff = tease p189
trephines = trepan = a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull
tyro = novice, beginner, learner p195
Aramaic = a Semitic language of SW Asia and widely used in Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, until the use was expanded by the Persians to India, central Asia, and Asia Minor. Closely related to Hebrew, most likely the vernacular used by Jesus and his followers, square script, inscriptions as old as 9-10,000 years BC, still used some places in the Near East.
Asia Minor = most of modern day Turkey
supernal = from on high, heavenly, celestial, exalted, exquisite, superlative
in extremis = at the point of death p199
leonine = fierce like a lion
Sophist = any of a group of Greek philosophers and teachers in the 5th century BC who speculated on a wide range of subjects; casuist: someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious--a sophistry in this book often refers to reasoning which while apparently logical leads to a false conclusion
Stoic = a member of the Hellenistic school of philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC, achieve happiness by submission to destiny, unaffected by pleasure, pain or emotion, destructive emotions as the result of errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not undergo such emotions. Stoics were concerned with the active relationship between cosmic determinism and human freedom, and the belief that it is virtuous to maintain a will (called prohairesis) that is in accord with nature. Because of this, the Stoics presented their philosophy as a way of life, and they thought that the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how he behaved. (actions speak louder than words) Later Roman Stoics, such as Seneca and Epictetus, emphasized that because "virtue is sufficient for happiness," a sage was immune to misfortune. This belief is similar to the meaning of the phrase 'stoic calm', though the phrase does not include the "radical ethical" Stoic views that only a sage can be considered truly free, and that all moral corruptions are equally vicious. Stoic doctrine was a popular and durable philosophy, with a following throughout Greece and the Roman Empire, from its founding until the closing of all philosophy schools in 529 AD by order of the Emperor Justinian I, who perceived their pagan character to be at odds with his Christian faith.
obdurate = hard hearted, persistent in wrongdoing, unfeeling, inflexible, stubborn, unrepentant, remorseless, unsympathetic p248
obscurantist = one who deliberately prevents the facts or full details of something from becoming known
Cincinnatus = Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, (519BC-430BC?)a Roman statesman regarded as a model of simple virtue; he twice was called to assume dictatorship of Rome and each time retired to his farm, "Romans! In the name of God, in the name of Cincinnatus, the Father of his Country, in the name or heroism and peace and manliness and freedom and justice, I beg of you to restore yourselves as the guardians of Rome..." p253
vainglorious = self-important, prideful, vain
sycophant = brown noser
fall on your sword = suicide, or resignation from high position, or both
truculent = defiantly aggressive p259
ignominious = disgraceful, shameful
a summons halls of Pluto = ? p260 an invitation to go to hell? a yes, an order to fall on your sword
Pluto = (Greek mythology) the god of the underworld in ancient mythology; brother of Zeus and husband of Persephone
Trans-Tiber =redirect--> Trastevere is rione XIII of Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City. Its name comes from the Latin trans Tiberim, meaning literally "beyond the Tiber". The correct pronunciation is "tras-TEH-ve-ray", with the accent on the second syllable. Its logo is a golden head of a lion on a red background, the meaning of which is uncertain. To the north, Trastevere borders on to the XIV rione, Borgo. (implications p262: a poor region, people huddling during cold winters, plague, bad odors)
rione = (pl. rioni) is an Italian term used since the Middle Ages to name the districts of central Rome, according to the political divisions of that time.
Tiber = river of central Italy, third longest river in the nation, flows from the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna, through Rome to the Tyrrhenian Sea
Pantheon = A temple (from the Latin word templum) reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, THE Pantheon was built in Rome by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to the gods of Ancient Rome. During the cold winters (p262) the poor folk built fires in there, staining the statues with smoke. It was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD. After the French Revolution, when the church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, was deconsecrated and turned into a secular monument, known as the Panthéon, the generic term pantheon may be applied to any building in which illustrious dead are honoured or buried.
fora = irregular plural of forum? p263
Campagna = a small town and comune of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy, stinky, with mosquitoes, p263
Ostian Gate = the main gate to Rome, where Ostians were met by servants with a change of clothes, goes through the Aurelian wall
Ostian = someone from Ostia, an ancient town in Italy at the mouth of the Tiber; the harbour of ancient Rome
parsimonious = frugal, thrifty
retinue = servants, attendants, entourage, cortege, those who are "retained"
Proserpine = Roman goddess of the underworld; counterpart of Greek Persephone, daughter of Ceres and wife of Pluto, aka the Queen of the Infernos, aka Hekate, the Blessed Goddess Mother Death under whose direction works the Angels of Death
noisome = noxious, nauseating, unwholesome, offensive, esp: a foul odor
portico = a large porch supported by columns at the entry of a building
Chiron = (Greek mythology) the learned centaur who tutored Achilles, Asclepius, Hercules, Jason, and other heroes p266
caduceus =
raillery = banter, teasing, good natured ridicule
Idumaean = Idumean ==> Edom is a name given to Esau in the Hebrew Bible, as well as to the nation descending from him, bred very fine horses p273
Asinara Gate = named after the ancient Via Asinara, already existing when the walls were built in 270-273, was overwhelmed by traffic in 16th century and was replaced by the Porta San Giovanni. East roman troops under Belisarius entered city in 536 to reclaim the city from the Ostrogoths. The gate was opened in 1954. The travertine cover of the barrel-vault is is a restoration, but the little windows of the two galleries are original. ((??? p274 Lucanus enters city by this gate, but by these years it wouldn't have been a gate yet, at least not the port in the walls, which were build 200+ years later))
fasces = a bundle of wooden sticks containing an axe with the blade protruding; in ancient Rome it was a symbol of a magistrate's power, people bowed before them; in modern Italy it is a symbol of fascism
Sicambrians = Germanic people living in what is now the Netherlands
Cronos = Kronos = Saturn, a god, son of Uranus, father of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, devours all his sons at birth, time consumes our lives
toga = one piece cloak worm by men of ancient Rome, fabric some 6 meters in length
lictor = body guard of Roman magistrates
peperino = an Italian name applied to a brown or grey volcanic tuff, containing fragments of basalt and limestone, used for buildings in Rome
tufa = red and yellow colored tuff also used for building
tuff = hard volcanic rock composed of compacted volcanic ash
expostulating = arguing to dissuade
miasma = noxious, poisonous atmosphere/odors from decomposing material that were thought to cause disease. In Greek mythology, a miasma is a contagious power that has an independent life of its own p276
caprice = impulsiveness, unpredictability
resume on page 278