The Princess and the Pirates (31 page)

Festival of Bel
The great annual Babylonian ritual in honor of the god Bel. According to Herodotus, its magnificence quite eclipsed anything done in the West.

Priapalia
An agricultural rite in honor of the ithyphallic god Priapus, protector of gardens and fields.

Rite of Bona De a
Bona Dea “the Good Goddess” was honored in Rome with a special service presided over by the wife of the
Pontifex Maximus,
during which no male of any species could enter the house. All the participants were highborn married women. Clodius violated the rite when Caesar’s wife presided. See
SPQR III: The Sacrilege.

Temple of Ephesian Diana
One of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Actually dedicated to the goddess Artemis, whom the Romans equated with Diana, it was located in Ephesus, in modern Turkey.

Rostra (sing, rostrum)
A monument in the Forum commemorating the sea battle of Antium in 338
B.C.
, decorated with the rams, rostra of enemy ships. Its base was used as an orator’s platform.

Senate
Rome’s chief deliberative body. It consisted of three hundred to six hundred men, all of whom had won elective office at least once. It was a leading element in the emergence of the Republic, but later suffered degradation at the hands of Sulla.

Ship chandlers
Chandlers purveyed all the supplies required by a ship: cordage, pitch, paint, sails, etc.

Shipping-Related Terms

Harbor mole
A seawall built out from land to protect the harbor and narrow the passage through which ships could enter.

Jetty
A small pier built out into the water for the use of small craft.

Ships
A variety of ships were used in the ancient Mediterranean. Some were:

Cutter
A light, narrow vessel used for carrying dispatches, intercepting smugglers, etc.

Flotilla
A varying number of ships detached from a fleet.

Liburnian also bireme
A lighter warship with two banks of oars. It was named for the Liburni, a piratical Illyrian people who were believed to have been the first to add a second level of oars, to give their predatory pirate ships extra speed.

Merchantmen
Capacious vessels with a much greater width to length ratio than warships. They were propelled by sails rather than oars,
though they used oars to maneuver in and out of harbor. They ranged from quite small vessels to huge grain ships for hauling the Egyptian grain harvest to Italy.

Penteconter
A Greek galley with fifty oars on a single level.

Skiff
A small rowboat.

Trireme
The standard warship of the time. It was rowed with oars arranged on three levels, or “banks.” With so many rowers it was the fastest and most powerful ship, capable of ramming an enemy vessel. They carried marines for boarding the enemy, manning the catapults, etc.

SPQR Senatus Populusque Romanus
The Senate and the People of Rome. The formula embodying the sovereignty of Rome. It was used on official correspondence, documents, and public works.

Toga
The outer robe of the Roman citizen. It was white for the upper class, darker for the poor and for people in mourning. The
toga praetexta,
bordered with a purple stripe, was worn by curule magistrates, by state priests when performing their functions, and by boys prior to manhood. The
toga picta,
purple and embroidered with golden stars, was worn by a general when celebrating a triumph, also by a magistrate when giving public games.

Temple of Bellona
A unique temple located in Rome outside the walls of the city. Its priests, the
fetiales,
solemnified a declaration of war by casting a spear into a plot of land before the temple designated as enemy territory.

Triclinium
A dining room.

Triumph
A ceremony in which a victorious general was rendered semi-divine honors for a day. It began with a magnificent procession displaying the loot and captives of the campaign and culminated with a banquet for the Senate in the Temple of Jupiter. Every general wanted a triumph and it was a tremendous boost for a political career.