The Wolves of the North (45 page)

Aphorism
: Greek, a wise, pithy saying.

Aphrodite
: Greek goddess of love.

Apodyterium
: Changing room of a baths.

Apollo Iatros
: ‘Apollo the Healer’, an aspect of the Greek god.

Apotropaic
: Intended to ward off evil.

Aquileia
: Town in north-eastern Italy, where the emperor Maximinus Thrax was killed in
AD
238.

Arelate
: Modern Arles, a city in the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis.

Ares
: Greek god of war.

Arete
: Fictional town on the Euphrates, modelled on Dura-Europus, scene of the action in
Fire in the East.

Argippaei
: Nomadic tribe of Scythians, living on the Steppe.

Argo
: Mythical ship of Jason’s Argonauts.

Armata
: Latin, ‘the armed one’; in
The Caspian Gates
the name of a warship.

Arsacid
: Dynasty that ruled Parthia 247
BC
–
AD
228.

Arsyene
: According to Galen, a Greek physician, a dry white wine.

Artemis
: Greek goddess of hunting.

Arvak
: In Norse mythology, one of the two horses that pulled the sun across the sky.

Atheling
: Anglo-Saxon for lord.

Augustus
: Name of the first Roman emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office.

Aurvandil the Brave
: Figure of Norse mythology whose frozen toe was said to have been broken off by Thor and thrown into the heavens as a star.

Autokrator
: Greek for sole ruler; used as translation of the Latin
imperator
.

Auxiliary
: Roman regular soldier serving in a unit other than a legion.

Aviones
: German tribe from the area of modern Denmark.

Azara
: Town situated on the eastern marshes of Lake Maeotis, the modern Sea of Azov; in this novel given the Greek nickname Conopion, ‘mosquito net’, from an unidentified place on Azov.

Bacchus
: Roman name for the Greek god of wine, Dionysus.

Barbaricum
: Lands of the barbarians. Anywhere beyond the frontiers of the Roman empire, which were thought to mark the limits of the civilized world.

Barbaritas
: Barbarian, uncivilized; literally, ‘bar-bar’, the sound Greeks heard when non-Greek was spoken.

Battue
: Technique for driving game into a killing circle.

Bay of Naxos
: On the eastern coast of the island of Sicily.

Bithynia et Pontus
: Roman province along the south shore of the Black Sea.

Borani
(also
Boranoi
): German tribe.

Borysthenes
: Greek name for the Dnieper river.

Bosporus
: Latin, from the Greek
Bosporos
, literally ‘ox-ford’, the name of several straits, above all those on which Byzantium stood and that in the Crimea; the latter gives its name to the Roman client kingdom of the Bosporus.

Bouleuterion
: Greek, ‘council house’, where the
Boule
or council met.

Budinians
: Nomadic tribe of Scythians, living on the Steppe.

Buticosus
: From the Greek
buo
, ‘to stuff’, made into a Latin name; mockingly bestowed on a slave with a large erection depicted in a mosaic pavement from Ostia, outside Rome.

Caesar
: Name of the adopted family of the first Roman emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office; often used to designate an emperor’s heir.

Caledonia
: Modern Scotland, or the Highlands.

Carpi
: Tribe living north-west of the Black Sea.

Carrhae
: Town in northern Iraq, scene of a disastrous Roman defeat at the hands of the Parthians in 53
BC
.

Carthage
: Capital city of the Roman province of Africa.

Caspian Gates
: Name given to the passes through the Caucasus mountains.

Cataphracti
: Heavily armoured Roman cavalry, from the Greek word for mail armour.

Centurion
: Officer of the Roman army with the seniority to command a company of around eighty to a hundred men.

Chi
: Fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, shaped like an ‘X’.

Cilicia
: Roman province in the south of Asia Minor.

Circesium
: Town on the Euphrates.

Clibanarius
(plural,
clibanarii
): Heavily armed cavalryman, possibly derived from ‘baking oven’.

Cohors
: Unit of Roman soldiers, usually about 500 men-strong.

Cohors I Cilicium Milliaria Equitata
Sagittariorum
: Double-strength auxiliary unit with a cavalry component, originally raised in Cilicia, modern south-eastern Turkey, now stationed in the province of Moesia Inferior, abutting the Black Sea south of the Danube.

Colos
: One of the fantastical creatures said to live in Scythia.

Colosseum
: Largest amphitheatre in the ancient world. In the centre of Rome, it was used for gladiatorial combats and took its name not from its size but from a colossal statue standing close by.

Comitatus
: Latin, literally, ‘a following’; name given to barbarian war bands.

Consilium
: Council, body of advisors, of a Roman emperor, official or elite private person.

Contubernales
: Latin, ‘comrades’; from
contubernium
, a group of ten or eight soldiers who shared a tent.

Corrector Totius Orientis
: ‘Overseer of all the Orient’; a title applied to Odenathus of Palmyra.

Croucasis
: Scythian name for the Caucasus, means ‘gleaming white with snow’.

Cursus Publicus
: Imperial Roman postal service, whereby those with official passes,
diplomata
, could send messengers and get remounts.

Cybele
: Eastern mother goddess adopted by the Greeks and Romans.

Cynic
: The counter-cultural philosophy founded by Diogenes of Sinope in the fourth century
BC
.

Daemon:
Supernatural being; could be applied to many different types: good/ bad, individual/ collective, internal/ external, and ghosts.

Demeter
: Greek goddess of the harvest.

Dictator of Rome
: Magistrate with sole authority elected in a crisis; in theory held power for a fixed period, but the time limit was often abused.

Dignitas
: Important Roman concept which covers our idea of dignity but goes much further; famously, Julius Caesar claimed that his
dignitas
meant more to him than life itself.

Dionysus
: Greek god of wine.

Diplomata
: Official passes which allowed the bearer access to the
cursus
publicus
.

Disciplina
: Latin, ‘discipline’; the Romans considered that they had this quality, and others lacked it.

Dominus
: Latin, ‘lord’, ‘master’, ‘sir’; a title of respect.

Draco
: Literally, Latin, ‘snake’ or ‘dragon’; name given to a windsock-style military standard shaped like a dragon.

Ecbatana
: Capital of the Medes, in western Iran.

Eirenarch
: Title of chief of police in many Greek cities.

Empusa
: Shape-shifting monster of Greek folk tales, associated with Hecate and witchcraft, although often in a comic context.

Epicureanism
: Greek philosophical system, whose followers either denied that the gods existed or held that they were far away and did not intervene in the affairs of mankind.

Essene
: Ascetic Jewish sect.

Eumenides
: ‘The kindly ones’, a euphemism for the terrible furies from the underworld that pursued and tormented wrong-doers.

Eumolpos
: In Greek mythology, son of Poseidon and Chione, who settled in Thrace; claimed as an ancestor by the kings of Bosporus.

Eupatrid
: From the Greek, meaning ‘well-born’; an aristocrat.

Eutes
: Nomadic tribe that migrated to the Steppe from the area of modern Denmark.

Euxine
: From the Greek
euxenos
, literally, ‘kindly to strangers’; ancient name for the Black Sea.

Fairguneis
: Thunder god; one of the most important deities of the Goths.

Familia
: Latin term for family and, by extension, the entire household, including slaves.

Farodini
: North German tribe.

Fasces
: Bundles of wooden rods tied round a single-bladed axe, symbolizing the power of Roman magistrates to punish lawbreakers.

Fenrir
: In Norse mythology, a monstrous wolf that will break its chains at the end of days, Ragnarok, and devour Odin, father of the gods.

Ferryman
: In Greek and Roman mythology, rows the souls of the dead across the river Styx to the underworld; required a toll, thus the practice of leaving coins in the mouths of the dead.

Fimbulvetr
: In Norse mythology, a series of severe winters that foretell the end of the world, Ragnarok.

Flamen Dialis
: The Roman high priest of Jupiter, subject to numerous taboos.

Frisian
: North German tribe.

Frumentarius
(plural,
frumentarii
): Military unit based on the Caelian Hill in Rome; the emperor’s secret police; messengers, spies, and assassins.

Gallia Narbonensis
: Roman province roughly corresponding to the French regions of Provence and Languedoc.

Gauti
: Scandinavian tribe.

Gepidae
: East German tribe.

Germania
: Lands where the German tribes lived; ‘free’ Germany.

Gerousia
: Institution of the Spartan government; a small council whose members had to be over the age of sixty; responsible for capital punishment and submitting proposals to the citizen assembly.

Gladius
: Roman military short sword; generally superseded by the
spatha
by the mid-third century
AD
; also slang for penis.

Goltescythae
: Tribe from the Ural mountains.

Gorytus
: Combined bowcase and quiver.

Gospel of Light
: Religion propounded by the eastern mystic Mani.

Goths
: Loose confederation of Germanic tribes.

Graeculus
(plural,
Graeculi
): Latin, ‘Little Greek’; Greeks called themselves Hellenes, Romans tended not to extend that courtesy but called them
Graeci
; with casual contempt, Romans often went further, to
Graeculi
.

Grethungi
: Gothic tribe living on the Steppe north of the Black Sea.

Gudja
: Gothic priest.

Gymnasium
: Exercise ground; formed from the Greek word
gymnos
, ‘naked’, as all such activities were performed in the nude.

Gymnosophist
: Greek, literally, ‘naked wise-man’; a member of an ascetic sect of Hindus who were supposed to contemplate philosophy in the nude, having renounced all interest in earthly possessions.

Hades
: Greek underworld.

Haliurunna
: Gothic witch.

Harii
: Germanic tribe living between the headwaters of the Elbe and Oder rivers.

Haruspex
: Roman priest who determined whether the gods approved a course of action by inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals; a custom originally adopted from the Etruscans.

Hati
: In Norse mythology, the wolf that chases the moon, causing it to flee across the sky.

Hecate
: Sinister, three-headed underworld goddess of magic, the night, crossroads and doorways.

Hel
: The underworld in Norse mythology, reserved for those who do not die a warrior’s death.

Hellenes
: The Greeks’ name for themselves; often used with connotations of cultural superiority.

Helots
: Serf-type underclass in classical Sparta.

Heracles
: Heroic man translated into god, popular among Greeks and Romans; known to the latter as
Hercules
.

Herul
(plural,
Heruli
): East Germanic tribe living to the north of the Black Sea, having migrated from Scandinavia in the early third century
AD
.

Hibernia
: Modern Ireland.

Hippodrome
: Greek, literally, ‘horse race’; stadium for chariot racing.

Humanitas
: Latin, ‘humanity’ or ‘civilization’, the opposite of
barbaritas
; Romans thought that they, the Greeks (at least upper-class ones), and, on occasion, other peoples (usually very remote) had it, while the majority of mankind did not.

Hybris
: Greek concept of pride, which expressed itself in the humbling of others.

Hypanis river
: Flowing east to west in the North Caucasus region, the modern river Kuban.

Hypocaust
: Underfloor heating system, relying upon hot air from fires.

Ides
: Thirteenth day of the month in short months, the fifteenth in long months.

Imniscaris
: Tribe living around the river Volga.

Imperium
: Power of the Romans, i.e. the Roman empire, often referred to in full as the
imperium Romanorum
.

Ionia
: Area of western Turkey bordering the Aegean, settled by Greeks.

Iota
: Ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, the smallest and simplest to draw.

Jormungand
: In Norse mythology, the world serpent which lay in the depths of the ocean waiting for Ragnarok.