optio: the second in command of a century of eighty men and deputy to a centurion.
phalerae: disc-shaped medals worn on a harness over a man’s body armour.
pilum: the heavy javelin carried by Roman legionaries. It was about 6 to 7 feet long. The shaft was wooden, topped by a slim iron shank ending in a pyramid-shaped point (much like the bodkin arrow used by longbowmen). The shank was not meant to bend. Instead the aim was to concentrate all of the weapon’s considerable weight behind the head so that it would punch through armour or shield. If it hit a shield, the head would go through, and the long iron shank gave it the reach to continue and strike the man behind. Its effective range was probably some 15 to 16 yards.
posca: cheap wine popular with soldiers and slaves.
praetorium: the house of the commanding officer in a Roman fort.
prefect: the commander of most auxiliary units was called a prefect (although a few unit COs held the title tribune). These were equestrians, who first commanded a cohort of auxiliary infantry, then served as equestrian tribune in a legion, before going on to command a cavalry ala.
princeps posterior: a grade of centurion in a legion, the second most senior officer in a cohort.
princeps: a Roman emperor was called the princeps or first citizen/first servant of the state.
principia: headquarters building in a Roman fort.
procurator: an imperial official who oversaw the tax and financial administration of a province. Although junior to a legate, a procurator reported directly to the emperor.
pugio: Latin name for the army-issue dagger.
raeda: a four-wheeled carriage drawn by mules or horses.
regionarius: a centurio regionarius was placed in charge of a set territory or region, where he performed military, diplomatic and policing functions.
res publica: literally ‘public thing’ or state/commonwealth, it was the way the Roman referred to their state and is the origin of our word republic.
sacramentum: the military oath sworn to the emperor and the res publica.
salutatio: traditional ceremony where people came to greet a Roman senator – and especially a governor – at the start of a working day.
scorpion (scorpio): a light torsion catapult or ballista with a superficial resemblance to a large crossbow. They shot a heavy bolt with considerable accuracy and tremendous force to a range beyond bowshot. Julius Caesar describes a bolt from one of these engines going through the leg of an enemy cavalryman and pinning him to the saddle.
scutum: Latin word for shield, but most often associated with the large semi-cylindrical body shield carried by legionaries.
sica: curved sword particularly associated with Thracian gladiators.
signa: the standards carried by Roman army units and often used as shorthand for ‘battle-line’ or in the sense of ‘with the colours’.
signifer: a standard-bearer, specifically one carrying a century’s standard or signum (pl. signa).
Silures: a tribe or people occupying what is now South Wales. They fought a long campaign before being overrun by the Romans. Tacitus described them as having curly hair and darker hair or complexions than other Britons, and suggested that they looked more like Spaniards (although since he misunderstood the geography of Britain he also believed that their homeland was closer to Spain than Gaul).
singulares: the legate of a province had a picked bodyguard formed of auxiliary soldiers seconded from their units.
spatha: another Latin term for sword, which it is now conventional to employ for the longer blades used mainly by horsemen in this period.
speculator: a soldier tasked with scouting.
tesserarius: the third in command of a century after the optio and signifier. The title originally came from their responsibility for overseeing sentries. The watchword for each night was written on a tessera or tablet.
thetatus: the Greek letter theta was used in some military documents to mark the name of a man who had died. This developed into army slang as thetatus meaning dead/killed.
tiro (pl. tirones): a new recruit to the army.
tribune: each legion had six tribunes. The most senior was the broad-stripe tribune (tribunus laticlavius), who was a young aristocrat at an early stage of a senatorial career. Such men were usually in their late teens or very early twenties. There were also five narrow-stripe or junior tribunes (tribuni angusticlavii).
triclinia: the three-sided couches employed at Roman meals.
tubicen: a straight trumpet.
Tungrians: a tribe from the Rhineland. Many Tungrians were recruited into the army. By ad 98 a unit with the title of Tungrians was likely to include many men from other ethnic backgrounds, including Britons. In most cases, the Roman army drew recruits from the closest and most convenient source. The Batavians at this period may have been an exception to this.
turma: a troop of Roman cavalry, usually with a theoretical strength of 30 or 32.
valetudinarium: a military hospital.
venator (pl. venatores): a type of gladiator who specialised in fighting animals in the arena.
vexillum: a square flag suspended from a cross pole. Detachments were known as vexillations because in theory each was given its own flag as a standard.
via praetoria: one of the two main roads in a Roman fort. It ran from the main gate to join the other road at a right angle. On the far side of the other road, the via principalis, lay the main buildings of the fort, including the praetorium and principia.
vicus: the civilian settlement outside a Roman army base.
vitis: the vine cane carried as a mark of rank by a centurion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adrian goldsworthy studied at Oxford, where his doctoral thesis examined the Roman army, and became an acclaimed historian of Ancient Rome. He is the author of numerous books, including Caesar, The Fall of the West, Pax Romana, and most recently Hadrian’s Wall. Brigantia completes the trilogy of novels about Flavius Ferox including Vindolanda and The Encircling Sea. He is currently working on a new trilogy of Roman stories.