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CTC Glossary of the Classics Category: Language and Literature > Classical History Date & country: 11/09/2007, USA Words: 1434

Muses
daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddesses of epic poetry, lyric poetry, tragedy, choral dance, love poetry, sacred music, astronomy and comedy.

Musica
(Latin) music; the Romans used music as a means of entertainment and also in their religious rites or political celebrations; they employed many different musical instruments, including the lyre, the lute, the kithara â€` a guitar-like instrument, and flutes.

Mut
an ancient Egyptian goddess, Mut was a mother goddess regarded as the mother of pharaohs. Her husband was Amon and her son Khonsu, the moon god; her name means mother or one who dives birth although, according to myth, she was self-created.

Myrmidons
the men of Achilles who fought at Troy.

Mystagogos
sponsor of an initiate in an ancient Greek mystery cult; a person who would take on a mystes (initiate) and tutor him or her in mystery cult knowledge.

Mystes
(plural mystai) initiate; a person who was being instructed in the mysteries; being a mystes was the beginning stage of learning about and joining an ancient Greek mystery cult.

Naiskos
a small shrine.

Narthecium
(Latin) a box that would be used to hold medicine or perfume.

Natatio
(Latin) swimming.

Nato
(Latin) to swim.

Nebris
a fawn or fawn skin.

Nefas
(Latin) a wrong.

Negotium
(Latin) a business or employment; the Romans were engaged in a great variety of businesses in order to keep their empire running, just as modern cities require a variety of occupations to keep their countries and cities working; they required politicians, military leaders, food-sellers and preparers, educational professionals, personal-care professionals such as doctors, tailors and barbers, and workers for construction and infrastructure, among others.

Neith
the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and weaving, Neith was one of the oldest Egyptian gods; Neith was considered both male and female in nature and was self-created; originally worshipped and honored throughout Egypt as the goddess of war, her role evolved over time to the goddess of weaving. Neith was said to be the mother of Sobek and Re.

Neoteric
poetry genre practiced by the Novae Poetae in Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE; these poets wrote in reaction to the highly structured poetic genres and venerated originality; this genre relied heavily on Greek innovations in poetry and especially esteemed Callimachus; Catullus was one of the most famous Neoteric poets.

Nepos
(Latin) grandson; this word can also, at times, indicate a nephew.

Neptis
(Latin) granddaughter; this word can also mean 'niece' in some cases.

Neptune
the Roman name for Poseidon.

Nero
(37 CE--68 CE) Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; Nero was adopted by Claudius and thus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar; he reigned as Roman Emperor from 54 to 68; since he was young when his reign began, his actions were controlled by his mother, Agrippina and Seneca, his tutor; Nero's first wife Octavia, Claudius' daughter, was divorced, exiled, and murdered by Nero; in 62, Nero married his mistress, Poppaea, following the murder of his mother in 58 of which Nero had knowledge; Nero rebuilt Rome at the expense of Italy and the Roman provinces after the great fire of 64; marries Statilia Messalina in 66, a year after his wife Poppaea's death; in 68, the Praetorian Guards and several Roman legions took up arms against Nero, who fled Rome and committed suicide.

Nerva
Roman emperor from 96-8 CE; his political prominence originally sprang from his close friendship with Nero; that alliance with Nero paved the way for his consulships held in 71 with Vespasian and 90 with Domitian, the man he suceeded as emperor; after gaining imperial power, he revoked a number of Domitian`s more unpopular actions; he attempted to establish himself as a generous and just leader; however, despite Nerva`s efforts, an undercurrent of tension and political intrigue undercut his rule; he died in 98 CE and his death marked the end of the purely Italian emperors.

Nestor
son of Neleus and Chloris who participated in the fight between the Centaurs and Lapith; wise man and adviser in the Iliad.

New Comedy
Greek comedies from the mid-4th century BCE to the 3rd century BCE; major New Comedy playwrights include Menander, Philemon, and Diphilus; these plays do not rely upon politics as much as Old Comedy did, but instead generally focus on love and family.

Niger
(Latin) black.

Niobe
daughter of Tantalus and sister of Pelops, mother of twelve sons and twelve daughters in the Homeric traditions, who boasted that she was superior to Leto who had only two children; Leto, hurt by Niobe's remarks was avenged by her two Children Apollo and Artemis who slaughtered Niobe's children; used by Achilles as an example and also by Antigone.

Nomen Gentilicium
(Latin) the name of the gens; the family name; other parts of the Roman name were the praenomen (the first name) and the cognomen (the particular branch of the nomen gentilicium); for example, for Gaius Julius Caesar, Gaius is the praenomen, Julius is the nomen gentilicium, and Caesar is the cognomen and his descendants are known as the Julii.

Nomos
(Latin) any custom or law created by man.

Nona
Roman goddess of pregnancy.

Nones
Nonae, in the Roman calendar the Nones fell on the fifth day of each month, except in March, May, July, and October when they fell on the seventh.

Novissima Verba
(Latin) the final words; a person`s last words.

Nox
(Latin) night.

Numantia
a city in Spain that fought back many different attempt to conquer it; in 133 BCE, the city fell to Scipio Aemilianus.

Nummularius
(Latin) a man whose profession was to test coinage to make sure that it was not forged.

Nundinae
(Latin) regular regional markets; nundinae also became a Roman term used by the calendar; the week was marked by market-days, held every eight days, and the term to describe this period became nundinae.

Nuptiae
(Latin) the ceremony of a wedding.

Nut
the ancient Egyptian goddess of the daytime sky and later the goddess of the entire sky and was the place where clouds formed; her father and mother were Shu and Tefnut. Her husband was the earth god Geb, with whom she had four children, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.

Nutrimens
(Latin) food, nourishment.

Nymph
a minor female goddess who dwells in forests, rivers, mountains, who are often attendants of major goddesses.

Nymphaeum
(Latin) in ancient Greece, a nymphaeum was a grotto or cave with no adornment that was a shrine to the Nymphs; in Roman terms, a nymphaeum was a decoration in a house meant to evoke the countryside.

Obelisk
four sided shafts of stone that were cult objects or monuments originating in the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt; for the ancient Egyptians, the obelisk represented rays of sun; obelisks could be made of pink granite, for example, and have a pyramid-shaped top often covered with a gold and silver alloy to scatter the sun's rays.

Obequito
(Latin) to ride up to something.

Obstetrix
(Latin) midwife.

Obverse
the side of a coin on which the main design appears, heads.

Occasionsorpheus
musician and son of Apollo and a Muse; he was an expert lyre player; the most famous story about Orpheus concerns his wife Eurydice who died shortly after their marriage; Orpheus entered Hades and convinced Hades to allow Eurydice to return to life by means of his beautiful song on the lyre; the condition which Hades required was that Orpheus not turn around to look at his wife who would be following him out of Hades until after returning to earth; however, Orpheus looked back and lost his wife forever.

Oceanus
the eldest of the Titans, son of Gaia and Uranus; father of the Oceanids (Styx, Asia, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Metis, etc.) by his sister Tethys; Oceanus is represented as a river flowing around the a flat disk, 'the world' though eventually, more precisely, Oceanus was the Atlantic Ocean; in his Theogony, Hesiod says that Oceanus fathered over 3,000 rivers by Tethys.

Octavia
sister of Octavian; she married Mark Antony in 40 BCE but they divorced in 32; she died in 11 BCE.

Octavius
grandnephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar who became the first Roman emperor; praised by Vergil as the savior of Rome (Aeneid).

Ode
a lyric song, the same as a stasimon.

Odeon
(also, odeum; plural odea) a covered theater used especially for musical performances.

Odium
(Latin) Hatred; this Latin word has become an English word also meaning hatred.

Odysseus (Ulysses)
son of Laertes and Antcleia, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus; hero of Homer's Odyssey; Odysseus and his men blind the cylops, Polyphemus.

Oedipus
son of Laius and Jocasta, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother who bore him four children, Ismene, Antigone, Eteocles and Polynices; Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx saving Thebes and becoming its king.

Oikos
household.

Oligarchy
a form of government in which 'rule is by the few'; from the Greek word oligarchia.

Omphalos
navel; refers to a round stone in the temple of Apollo at Delphi which was said to be the middle of the earth.

Onomatopoeia
a word or expression which resembles the sound which it represents, like the meow of a cat or the quack of a duck.

Opifex
(Latin) artisan; this word refers to a person who makes something; it is linked to the Latin words opus, thing, and facio, to make.

Opimius, Lucius
a Roman politician; in 125 BCE, the senate refused to grant Opimius a triumph, despite the fact that he had successfully defeated a revolt in Fregellae; he continued in Roman politics and gained consular power in 121 BCE; he sought and was granted the first senatus consultum ultimum in order to suppress a revolt led by C. Sempronius Gracchus; he was later exiled from Rome because of pressure by Gracchi supporters.

Oporotheca
(Latin) place to keep fruit.

Oppidum
(Latin) a Roman urban center or fortified city; according to the lex Rubria in 49 BCE, oppida could have three subdivisions: municipium, colonia, and praefectura.

Oppugno
(Latin) to compete against, to fight against.

Opus Craticum
in Roman tenements, wall material woven from a mixture of cane and mortar that was neither waterproof nor fireproof.

Ora
(Latin) edge or border; takes on the significance of coast or coastline.

Oraculum
(Latin) an oracle; some of the most famous ancient oracles and prophets were the Pythia at the Delphic oracle and the Sybil in the Oracle at Cumae.

Oral Poetry
poetry composed by improvisational techniques involving stock phrases, lines and passages called formulas (e.g., Iliad and Odyssey).

Oratio
(Latin) oration.

Orchestra
in ancient Greek, 'dancing place'; circular dancing area for the chorus in the Greek theater); the area between the skene and the slope where the spectators sat.

Organicus
(Latin) a musician, related to the word organum.

Organum
(Latin) a musical instrument.

Ornatrix
(Latin) a woman's hairdresser, responsible for the combing, coloring, and cutting of hair; an ornatrix would also remove gray hairs and apply make-up (ochre or winelees for blush and ash to line the eyes) and, using a mixture of lead and chalk, would whiten the face and arms; when needed an ornatrix would fashion wigs and hair extensions (corymbia, crines, galeri); she also aided in the selection of jewelry for all

Orsippus
Orsippus of Megara, a Greek athlete who, in 720 BCE, ran and won a footrace at Olympia while naked; according to ancient custom, competitors in ancient athletic competitions wore girdles but after Orsippus' victory competitors competed naked; Pausanias believed that Orsippus intentionally allowed his girdle to slip off because Orsippus realized that 'a naked man can run more easily than one girt.'

Orthia Pale
upright wrestling in ancient Greek athletics in which opponents tried to throw the other to the ground three times during a match; a match did not end until this occurred; the victor of the othia pale was known as the triakter.

Oschophoria
an autumn festival in honor of Dionysus that involved cross-dressing and ritual feasting.

Osiris
an ancient Egyptian god, Osiris held an important role in ancient Egypt; his death at the hand of his brother Seth represented the yearly Egyptian drought, while his miraculous rebirth represented the flooding of the Nile Valley and its nourishment by the silt left on the land after the flood; Osiris` parents were Nut and Geb; his sister and wife was Isis; he also had another sister, Nephthys, and a brother, Seth; Osiris was the father of Horus by Isis and of Anubis by Nephthys, who seduced Osiris to conceive Anubis.

Ostia
a port city located on the Mediterranean coast near Rome; at this port, trading goods were easily loaded and unloaded at Ostia; from there, ships moved the goods to and from Rome on the Tiber River.

Ostracism
the temporary banishment of a Greek citizen considered 'dangerous to public welfare'; according to Aristotle, Cleisthenes promulgated the law of ostracism in 510 BCE but it was not used until 487 BCE against Hipparchus, a relative of Hippias, the tyrant of Athens; an annual vote among the Athenian assembly by a show of hands decided upon which citizen(s) would be up for ostracism by public vote; by writing the name of a person they wished to be exiled on a pottery sherd, an ostrakon, each citizen voted; any citizen receiving a minimum of 6,000 votes had to leave Athens within ten days and was in exile for ten years; ostracized citizens did not lose any property or civil rights and could be recalled by a vote of the Athenian assembly.

Otho
Marcus Salvius Otho, emperor; 32 CE- 69 CE; initially Otho was a friend to Nero but in 68 CE joined with Galba in a conspiracy against him; he ascended to the emperorship in 69 CE after bribing members of the praetorian guard who then helped him murder Galba and his adopted heir Piso; Otho was emperor for only three months before he committed suicide after a military defeat by Vitellius who had himself been declared emperor.

Ovilius
(Latin) shepherd; the term ovilius refers to the person in charge of tending to sheep, known in Latin as ovis.

Ovis
(Latin) sheep.

Pacifico
(Latin) to make peace.

Paedagogus
(Latin) a slave or freedman in charge of educating children; paedagogus were employed by wealthy families that could afford their fees.

Paestum
a city in southern Italy originally called Posidonia by the Greeks; when the Romans conquered the city in 273 BCE and established a colony there, the name of the city was changed to Paestum; archaeologists have studied the excellent remains of Doric temples found at Paestum.

Paidotribes
physical trainers of athletics for competition in ancient Greece.

Painter
the person who painted a vase; Sometimes an ancient Greek vase painter signed a name or painted his shop's symbol on a vase thus a vase will be attributed to a person or painters' shop.

Pala
(Latin) a trowel; a plank for putting bread in an oven.

Palaestra Scene
a scene in which wrestler are being trained; a palaestra is a wrestling school, see the Olympia, Palaestra.

Palatine Hill
one of the seven hills of Rome on which was found the earliest evidence of Roman civilization (eighth century BCE). The home of Evander and Pallas in the Aeneid.

Pallas
epithet for Athena; (2) daughter of Triton who grew up with Athena; together Athena and Pallas practiced warfare but one day, just as Pallas was about to strike Zeus feared for Athena and appeared between the two girls; Zeus held the aegis in front of Pallas who was so frightened that she failed to parry Athena's blow and was killed; in honor of Pallas, Athena constructed a statue, the Palladium; (3) a Titan who, according to Hesiod, coupled with Styx who bore him Zelos, Nike, Cratos and Bia; (4) son of Evander, whose death is avenged by Aeneas (Aeneid).

Palmettes
a floral leaf pattern.

Palmifer
(Latin) palm-tree bearing.

Panis
(Latin) bread.

Pankration
an ancient Greek athletic event involving a combination of wrestling and boxing though no himantes, boxing gloves, were used; in myth, the hero Theseus invented the pankration as a result of using both wrestling and boxing to defeat the Minotaur; a dangerous event, the pankration had two forms, kato pankration in which the athletes could fall to the ground and continue the match, and ano pankration in which athletes had to remain standing throughout the match; competitors could use moves like the gastrizein, the ‘stomach trick`, a kick to the gut, as well as the apopternizein, the ‘heel trick`, where a foot was grab to throw an opponent off balance; also one opponent could hold another and punch him during a match.

Panoply
a complete suit of armor; armed figures are referred to as 'in full panoply;'.

Pantheon
a temple with an inscription that reads M.Agrippa L.F. Cos tertium fecit claiming to have been built by Agrippa; the original, completed in 27 BCE, was burned in the fire in Rome in 80 CE and rebuilt during the time of Hadrian; an opening in the roof of the temple allows in air and light.

Parabasis
in ancient Greek, 'going aside or coming forward'; in Old Comedy, a parabasis is a scene in which all of the actors are of stage and the chorus directly addresses the audience; the chorus, although partly in character, speaks for the poet.

Parados
in ancient Greek, a 'side entrance'; the first entrance of the chorus and the side entrance by which the chorus enters.

Parcae
three Roman goddesses of fate, counterparts to the Greek Moirae; the Parcae were originally attendants at childbirth depicted as spinning the thread of life and measuring it out as a representation of the length of a person's life; the Parcae presided over birth, marriage, and death; populary they were known as the tria Fata, the Three Fates.

Parens
(Latin) an actual parent or, more generally, one's ancestors.

Paris
son of Priam and Hecuba, brother of Hektor; also known as Alexandros; called on by Zeus to judge the fairest among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite; Aphrodite promised Paris Helen as a reward if Paris judged Aphrodite the fairest; Aphrodite helped Paris abduct Helen and thus caused the Trojan war.

Parodos
side entrance to the theater); also, the entrance song of the chorus in tragedy and comedy.

Parody
a literary genre mimicking the style of an author or genre in a literary work for the purpose of ridicule or satire.