The Amber Road (49 page)

Hearth-troop
: From the Old English, a war band bound to a particular leader through ties of personal loyalty.

Heathobards
: German tribe; in this novel, living south-east of the Jutland peninsula.

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

Hedinsey
: Island in the Baltic known from the Norse sagas, here identified as Zealand.

Heimdall
: Norse god who watches for signs of the beginning of Ragnarok.

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

Helisii
: German tribe living along the banks of a tributary of the Borysthenes.

Hellas
: Greek name for Greece.

Hellene
: Greeks’ name for themselves. Often used with connotations of cultural superiority.

Hellenism
: Civilization of Ancient Greece.

Hellespont
: From the Greek, Sea of Helle (a figure in Greek mythology); narrow channel separating Europe and Asia and linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, also known as the Dardanelles.

Hercules
: Hero who became a god, popular among Greeks and Romans. Known to the former as Heracles.

Hercules Deusoniensis
: Hercules of Deuso, a localized version of the god 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.

Hilleviones
: German tribe living on Scadinavia.

Himlings
: Fictional dynasty ruling over the Angles from the island of Hedinsey.

Hindafell
: Literally, Deer Mountain, a place mentioned in the Norse sagas; here identified as the island of Öland, and home of the Wylfings.

Hispania
: Roman name for Spain.

Hispania Tarraconensis
: Roman province covering much of the Iberian peninsula except the south-western corner, which was shared between two much smaller provinces.

Hlymdale
: Literally, Valley of Uproar, a place name mentioned in the Norse sagas and here given to the ancient site excavated at modern Himlingøje on the island of Zealand; home of the Himlings on Hedinsey.

Hoi polloi
: Greek written as English, the many: thus the common herd.

Homonoia
: Greek political concept of concord, unity, the absence of factionalism.

Homunculi
: Latin, little men, dwarfs.

Hronesness
: Headland of the Whales, a place mentioned in the Norse sagas.

Hubris
: From the Greek
hybris
, pride, which expresses itself in the demeaning of others, and taken to excess results in divine punishment.

Humanitas
: Latin, an important ethical concept incorporating notions of humane, civilized, cultivated conduct; the opposite of
barbaritas
. The Romans thought themselves and Greeks (at least upper-class ones), and occasionally other peoples (usually very remote) possessed it, while the majority of mankind did not.

Hygeia
: In Greek mythology, the daughter of the god Asclepius, the goddess of health and cleanliness.

Hylaea
: Area of forests and marshes bordering the Borysthenes river.

Hymen
: Greek god of marriage and weddings.

Hymenaee Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaee
: Traditional song chanted at Roman weddings, invoking the god Hymen.

Hypanis river
: Flowing north-west to south-east in western Ukraine, now known as the Southern Bug river.

Hyperborea
: Land of fantastical peoples of the extreme north, beyond the north wind and far from civilization.

Iberia
(1): Ancient name for the lands of modern Spain and Portugal, taking its name from the Ebro river.

Iberia
(2): Kingdom to the south of the Caucasus (the name led some ancient writers to state that its inhabitants had migrated from Spain).

Icarus
: In Greek mythology, boy whose artificial wings melted as he flew too close to the sun, with tragic results.

Iliad
: Great epic poem of the Greeks, telling the story of the Trojan War; written by Homer.

Ilion
: Alternative name for the legendary city of Troy.

Imperator
: Originally an epithet bestowed by troops on victorious generals, became a standard title of the
princeps
, and thus origin of the English word ‘emperor’.

Imperium
: Power to issue orders and exact obedience; official military command.

Imperium Romanum
: Power of the Romans, i.e. the Roman empire, often referred to simply as the
imperium.

Interamna
: Literally, Between Rivers; modern Terni in the Italian region of Umbria.

Invictus
: Unconquered, a title of the Roman emperors.

Invidia
: Latin for malicious envy;
phthonos
in Greek.

Io Cantab!
: Hurrah, Cantabrians!

Ionic columns
: Style of column originating in Ionia, the eastern coast of modern Turkey settled by Greeks in antiquity.

Isis
: Egyptian goddess of reincarnation, adopted by the Romans.

Islands of the Blessed:
In Greek myth, a place in the west where the souls of the fortunate dead dwell.

Ister
: Ancient name for the lower reaches of the Danube river.

Iuliobona
: Modern Lillebonne, a town on the north-western coast of France.

Iuthungi
: German tribe belonging to the Alamanni confederation, living to the north of the headwaters of the Rhine and Danube.

Ixion
: In Greek mythology, the first man to kill a member of his own family (his father-in-law). Punished by being broken on a wheel.

Julier pass
: Important mountain pass though the Alps in south-eastern Switzerland.

Juno
:
Genius
of a woman.

Jupiter Optimus Maximus
: Jupiter Greatest and Best, the chief god of Roman religion.

Kalends
: First day of the month.

Kurgan
: Name for a burial mound in the Slavic or Turkic languages spoken to the north of the Black Sea.

Lacedaemon
: Alternative name for the Greek state of Sparta, renowned for its warlike inhabitants and militaristic society.

Laestrygonians
: Tribe of mythical giants in the
Odyssey
of Homer which practised cannibalism.

Lake Benacus
: Roman name for Lake Garda in northern Italy.

Langobard
(plural,
Langobardi
): Latin, Tribe living on the banks of the river Elbe in central Germany.

Lares
: Gods worshipped domestically by the Romans, protectors of the home and its inhabitants.

Latris
: Baltic island mentioned by Pliny, here identified as the group of islands to the south of Zealand and home of the Wrosns.

Legio I Minerva
: First Minervan Legion. Originally raised by the emperor Domitian in
AD
83; stationed in Germania Inferior, its fortress was the modern city of Bonn. Although troops on detachment fought for Gallienus, the legion itself supported Postumus. Commanded by Marcus Aurelius Dialis.

Legio II Adiutrix
: The Helpful Second. Formed by Nero in
AD
66/67, later stationed in Pannonia to defend the Danube frontier.

Legio II Parthica
: Second Parthian Legion. Raised by Septimius Severus in
AD
195/196 for his campaigns in the east. Detachments formed the core of Gallienus’s
comitatus.

Legio III Italica Concors
: Third Harmonious Italians. Recruited by Marcus Aurelius in
AD
165, stationed in Raetia and falling within Postumus’s empire. At one time commanded by Simplicinius Genialis, now by Bonosus.

Legio IV Scythica
: Fourth Scythian Legion; from the second half of the first century
AD,
based at Zeugma in Syria Coele; commanded by Ballista against the Persians.

Legio V Macedonica
: Fifth Macedonian Legion. Raised in the civil wars of the Roman Republic, stationed in Dacia from
AD
167. Loyal to Gallienus, detachments saw service in his
comitatus.

Legio VII Augusta
: Seventh Augustan Legion. First raised by Julius Caesar for the conquest of Gaul, stationed at modern Strasbourg in Germania Superior from
AD
70. Detachments saw active service in the field army of Simplicinius Genialis.

Legio XI Claudia
: Eleventh Claudian Legion. Stationed in Moesia Inferior from the beginning of the second century
AD
; detached
vexillationes
for service around the Black Sea region.

Legio XXII Primigenia
: Twenty-second First-born. Founded in the mid-first century
AD
and quartered for much of the time thereafter in the modern city of Mainz in Germania Superior, a province controlled by Postumus.

Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix
: Thirtieth Ulpian Victorious Legion. Recruited by Trajan and taking one of his names, was posted in
AD
122 to the modern city of Xanten in Germania Superior. Commanded by Lollianus, an adherent of Postumus.

Legion
: Unit of heavy infantry, usually about five thousand men strong; from mythical times, the backbone of the Roman army; the numbers in a legion and the legion’s dominance in the army declined during the third century
AD
as more and more detachments,
vexillationes
, served away from the parent unit and became more or less independent units.

Legionary
: Roman regular soldier serving in a legion.

Lesbian
: From the Greek island of Lesbos. Wine from this island was highly praised in antiquity. To accuse a man of ‘playing the Lesbian’ was to accuse him of performing fellatio.

Leuce
: Greek, White Island, lying in the Black Sea off the coast of the Ukraine. Sacred to Achilles in antiquity, now known in English as Snake Island.

Lex de Imperio
: Resolution of the senate conferring power on an emperor, a constitutional fiction not always observed.

Libation
: Offering of drink to the gods.

Licinii
: One of the most important families in early Rome, providing many of the consuls.

Liguria
: Ancient name for the north-western area of Italy, modern Piedmont and Genoa.

Little Belt
: Sea channel between the Cimbric (modern Jutland) peninsula and the island of Varinsey (modern Funen).

Loki
: In Norse mythology, the trickster, bad god.

Lucullan
: From the Roman Lucullus, a notorious gourmand.

Lugdunum
: Important Roman city in central France, modern Lyon.

Lugii
: Confederation of German tribes living roughly in the region of modern Poland.

Macedonia
: Roman province covering much of the southern Balkan peninsula, not to be confused with the modern state.

Macriani
: Collective name for the family of Macrianus the Lame, a general who proclaimed his sons emperors in
AD
260.

Maeotis
: Sea of Azov.

Maiestas
: Latin, majesty. The majesty of the Roman
imperium
was a core component of imperial ideology. Offences against Roman
maiestas
, personified by the emperor, were considered treasonous and punishable by death; in time, the term began to be used for the crime as well as the positive quality.

Mandata
: Instructions issued by the emperors to their governors and officials.

Manimi
: Tribe belonging to the Lugii.

Manubiae
: Latin, spoils of war. A Roman general was expected to be open-handed with the plunder won on campaign, sharing it among his soldiers. Yet at the same time, under the principate, according to the law, it was all to go to the emperor.

Marcomanni
: German confederation of tribes that invaded the Roman Danubian provinces in the late second century
AD
, and were expelled only with great bloodshed.

Maremma
: Breed of Roman hunting dog from northern Italy.

Massilia
: Roman port on the southern shores of Gaul; modern Marseilles.

Mauretania
: Area of western North Africa divided into two Roman provinces, Tingitana and Caesariensis, covering much of modern Morocco.

Mediolanum
: Roman city in north Italy; modern Milan.

Megareans
: Followers of the philosopher Stilpo of Megara, who taught the essential unity of all things.

Middle Earth
: In Norse culture, the world of men, as opposed to Asgard, the realm of the gods.

Miletus
: Major Greek city on the western coast of modern Turkey, saved by Ballista from the Goths.

Mirkwood
: Name of several great forests in the legends of the Norse sagas.

Moesia
: Ancient geographical region following the south bank of the Danube river in the Balkans.

Moesia Inferior
: Roman province south of the lower reaches of the Danube river, bordering the Black Sea.