Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (330 page)

Vessels whose form, and sometimes finish and decoration, imitated Samian ware. See
TERRA SIGILLATA
.

 
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A Latin term used to describe a legionary with special skills who was exempted from routine duties; the special status of
immunes
was not officially recognized until the time of Hadrian.

 
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Egyptian god. See
IMHOTEP
.

 
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A type of pottery made during the
VILLANOVAN
period in northern Italy. Generally made from unrefined clay fired to a dark brown or black colour. Forms include biconical urns and models of small houses or huts which were used to contain cremations.

 
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Latin word for a command, which grew to signify the right to give orders, and so to mean supreme power, normally equivalent in the later Roman period to ‘empire’.
Imperator
, originally ‘commander-in-chief’, became a title used by the emperors, and came to signify ‘emperor’. The Latin writers of the Dark Ages could use
imperium
of a single kingdom, but the word retained the connotation of a kingdom supreme among others.

 
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The tank placed in the
ATRIUM
of a Roman house to receive the rain which fell through the opening in the centre—the
compluvium
.

 
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A moulded stone at the top of a pilaster flanking an opening. The member of a pillar or pier from which the arch springs. A
discontinuous impost
is where the arch mouldings simply die out in the splayed jambs.