ingenui = ingenuitas (singular ingenuus) = a legal term of ancient Rome indicating those who were born free, as distinct from, for example, freedmen, who were freemen who had once been slaves

the Palatine = the most important of the Seven Hills of Rome; supposedly the location of the first settlement and the site of many imperial palaces

vulgate = vernacular, common language

vitriolic = harsh, ascerbic, scathing, critical, caustic, usu applied to a person's tone when speaking

unguent = a salve or ointment

stola = traditional garment of Roman women, long, lightweight robe with sleeves, often belted in two places, worn over a tunic, may be long enough to reach the ankles, something about them helps in recognition of married women

Cretan style = like people from Crete which is the largest Greek island in the Mediterranean


coruscation (of her hat) = glitter, sparkle, reflection

dormice = rodents of the family Gliridae (this family is also called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae), small furry-tailed squirrel-like Old World rodent that becomes torpid in cold weather (as food p307)

sibilant = hissing, a type of fricative or affricate consonant

trumpery (p319) = ornamental but lacking in value, worthless finery, bric-a-brac, gaudy, nonsense or junk

risible = amusing, provoking laughter

Pax Romana = the Roman peace; approximately 200 years (27 BC to 180 AD) of peace enforced on states in the Roman Empire from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius; rulers from this period were generally good and just, twas a period of cultural brilliance, term also used for a modern organization of Catholics.

interesting glossary: http://library.thinkquest.org/26907/glossary.htm

ilexes = holly

caryatids = a supporting column carved in the shape of a person p332

Solomon = (Old Testament) son of David and king of Israel noted for his wisdom (10th century BC), described in the Hebrew Bible and later in the Qur'an, where he is described as a Prophet

curse of Noah = better known now as the curse of Ham = curse of Canaan = Ham's father Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan to bear black-skinned children. The crime: after Ham "saw his father's nakedness" because Noah was passed out drunk in his tent. Read all about it in Book of Genesis 9:20-27, some say the story is an early Hebrew rationalization for Israel's conquest and enslavement of the Canaanites, who were presumed to descend from Canaan, also used by some members of Abrahamic religions to justify racism and the enslavement of people of Black African ancestry, who were believed to be descendants of Ham.

boss (something that you hang about your neck) = p357 ??? no idea what this is

choleric (color, p366) = angry, I think a flushed face

Creticus = an agnomen of Q. Caecilius Me-tellus, consul, b. c. 69, and of several of the Me-telli (p379)

agnomen = an additional name or an epithet appended to a name (as in `Ferdinand the Great')

Anemone (from Greek Άνεμος 'wind') = a genus of ~120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones. Closely related to Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla) and Hepaticas (Hepatica); some botanists include both of these genera within Anemone. (p408)

Passover = a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating the Hebrews' escape from enslavement in Egypt, begins on the 14th day of the month of Nisan (March and April in Gregorian calendar). In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that YHWH inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh would release his Hebrew slaves, with the tenth plague being the killing of all of the firstborns. The Hebrews were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over these homes, hence the term "passover". When Pharaoh freed the Hebrews, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread to rise. In commemoration, for the duration of Passover, no leavened bread is eaten-->"The Festival of the Unleavened Bread" (matza). Together with Shavuot ("Pentecost") and Sukkot ("Tabernacles"), Passover is one of the three pilgrim festivals (Shalosh Regalim) during which the entire Jewish populace historically made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Samaritans still make this pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, but only men participate in public worship.

tumid = puffy, distended (p415)

graduate with laurel leaves = some kind of honor but what exactly??? p417

place of skulls = Calvary or Golgotha (Gòlgəṯẖə) are the English language/Western Christian names given to the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early 1st century walls, ascribed to the crucifixion of Jesus

publican = operator of a public house, barkeeper, inkeeper, saloonkeeper

Pharisee = member of a strict traditionalist Jewish sect determined to uphold Hebrew law and ritual in everyday life. The name is Hebrew for 'interpreter'.

Amuratzem = Amuratzem hoi polloi, simple or ignorant people, common people, peasants, masses

regnant = reigning; currently holding power in government; dominant; holding more power or influence than others

Castor and Pollux p439 = two elephants kept at the zoo of the Jardin d'Acclimatation or Jardin des Plantes in Paris. They were killed and eaten, along with many other animals from the zoo, in late 1870 during the siege of Paris....but the reference to these names in the book was long before the 1800's, so the elephants were named for whom??? ah: twin sons of Lēda and Zeus/Tyndareus (Pollux's father was Zeus, Castor's was Tyndareus), brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra and the half-brothers of Timandra, Phoebe, Heracles and Philonoe, known collectively in Greek as the Dioskouroi = "sons of Zeus", and in Latin as the GEMINI ("twins") or Castores. Castor means "beaver" in both Greek and Latin, and polydeukes means "much sweet wine". The difference in their fathers made Pollux immortal and Castor mortal. When Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together and they were transformed into the Gemini constellation. Patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo's fire.

Sadducee = a member of an ancient Jewish sect around the time of Jesus; rivals of the Pharisees, ceased to exist sometime after the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem (Herod's Temple) in 70CE, this was one of the four sects of first century CE Judaism, this was the group of priests who promoted the Jerusalem Temple cult, believed in Torah alone, did not believe in angels or the resurrection of the dead, and who supported the control of Rome over Palestine. p440

kine = a herd animal p441 = cattle

porphyry = a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term "porphyry" refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance. (Apollo statue of porphyry p442)

proscribe = command against

venal = dishonest, corrupt, bribeable

naiad = (Greek mythology) a nymph of lakes and springs and rivers and fountains, also an aquatic plant

portentous = of momentous or ominous significance, fateful, prophetic, but also, and more like the usage on p447, vain, boastful, pompous

Isocrates = Athenian rhetorician and orator (436-338 BC), one of the ten Attic orators, the most influential rhetorician in Greece in his time, began as a courtroom speechwriter, teacher and writer, set up his own school of rhetoric around 392BC, trained orators, wrote a treatise Against the Sophists, born wealthy (father owned flute factory), may have studied with Socrates, lost his wealth in the Peloponnesian War, was a shrewd businessman and made a fortune on his school of rhetoric.

Tarsus = the other leading medical school at the time, aside from Alexandria, this one located on the southern coast of what is now Turkey (p447)

scourged p453 = whipped, the whip being made of leather straps with knots in the end, draws blood

restive = edgy, tense

effulgent p466 = radiant, beaming

anagram = rearrangement of letters in a word or phrase, as a puzzle or something with a hidden meaning

gamboling = boisterously playing, frolicking

bas-relief = a mostly-flat sculpture usu on a wall, with figures that are 3-D protruding from the surface p480

fresco = watercolor paints on wet plaster

Boanerges = p494 sons of the thunderstorm (Greek translation), referring to James and John, Apostles, sons of Zebedee from Galilee, I think Boanerges refers to a surname given these two men by Jesus, according to wikipedia to reflect their "impetuousity", but it appears that nobody really knows what this means

palla = p494 girl clad in a white palla, a traditional ancient Roman mantle worn by women, fastened by brooches. It was similar to the pallium that a man would wear. The shape was rectangular instead of semi-circular as with the traditional toga, similar to a shawl that a women of today would wear

Joseph of Arimathea = according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels. p500 Pilate thinks that he had a hand in the disappearance of Jesus' body.

Gethsemane = p499 a garden in Jerusalem believed to be the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before the crucifixion, in the distance "a vast clump of black cypresses, huddled together or scattered about a great green garden"

Antipas = p502, like a reddish fox, irritable and narrow face, jerky and impatient movements, a first century AD ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter"). He is best known today for his purported role in the events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, both from the accounts of these events in the New Testament and their portrayal in modern media such as film.

desultory = jumping about, random, dissatisfied, disconnected, aimless

Agrippa = p508 Roman general and statesman who commanded the fleet that defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (63-12 BC)

platitudes = trite or obvious remarks

River Cedron = runneth between the city of Jerusalem and the mount of Olives. And this word Cedron, in the Hebrew tongue, signifieth sorrow or heaviness p518

execrable = deplorable, hateful, of extremely poor quality (p522 wine)

distaff = staff on which wool or flax is wound before spinning

heliotrope = an instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight over great distances to mark the positions of participants in a land survey p525 the Sea of Galilee must have looked like a mirror

effulgence = radiance, this time not a smile but a general aureate glow p526

Rakkath = "Shore-town, a "fenced city" of the tribe of Naphtali (Josh." "19:35). The old name of Tiberias, according to the Rabbins., translates as: echo, empty; temple of the head, on p526 referred to as the old cemetary on which Tiberius was built, and the reason that it was accursed and avoided by Jews

alacrity = eagerness, liveliness, enthusiasm, speed

garrulous = chatty, full of trivial conversation

Zealots = originally a political movement in first century Judaism which sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the holy land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66-70). Zealotry was described by Josephus as one of the "four sects" at this time. Zealous on behalf of God. p549

School of Shammai = p550 House of Shammai. Shammai was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. Shammai was the most eminent contemporary and the halakhic opponent of Hillel, and is almost invariably mentioned along with him.

carapaced = armored like a turtle or dragon, plated

p562 end of book