CLST 103 Test 3 Terms

Healthy city site

A city location chosen with health in mind (high ground

Temperate

Moderate climate (not too hot or cold) and therefore healthier

Insalubrious

Unhealthy or unwholesome

Effluvia

Harmful vapours/exhalations (e.g.

Pestilent (pestilential)

Disease-producing or likely to cause sickness

Mediterranean staples

Basic Roman diet staples: grains

Garum (liquamen)

Roman fish sauce made by salting fish/fish entrails and aging

Allec

Sediment left after garum/liquamen is strained

Thermae

Large public bath complexes (often imperial-sponsored)

Balnea

Smaller bathing houses (often privately owned)

Hypocaust

Underfloor heating system in Roman baths

Apodyterium

Changing room in a bath complex

Laconicum

Heated sweating chamber in baths

Frigidarium

Cold plunge/cold bath room

Natatio

Swimming pool in a bath complex

Nutritional deficiency

Illness caused by lacking key nutrients (esp. important in children)

Cyprian Plague

Major epidemic dated 250–262 CE

Demography

Study of population size/structure; used for city size

Apollo Medicus

Healing form of Apollo adopted in Roman religious response to epidemic (dated 431 BCE)

Aesculapius

Healing god brought to Rome in response to pestilence (dated 292 BCE)

Pomerium

Sacred boundary of Rome; foreign healing cult temples placed outside it

Ritual incubation

Sleeping/waiting in a healing sanctuary to receive divine help or revelation

Pater familias

Male head of household; could act as doctor for his family

Carnifex

“Butcher/executioner”; nickname for Archagathus due to harsh surgery

Ars coniecturalis

“Educated guesswork”; Celsus’ description of medicine

Dietetics

Health through regimen (food

Pharmaceuticals

Drug-based treatments (simple and compound remedies)

Surgery

Cures performed by the doctor’s hands

Phlebotomy

Bloodletting as treatment

Methodist physicians

Medical school focused on treatment and avoided theorizing about hidden internal causes

Humours

Galen’s four bodily substances: phlegm

Mithridatium

Compound antidote/remedy linked to Mithridates VI (anti-poison)

Opium

Poppy juice used medicinally

Pliny the Younger

Links inland/temperate settings with better bodily and mental health (country vs unhealthy coast)

Vitruvius

Key source for healthy city planning (high ground

Archagathus

Greek practitioner brought to Rome (219 BCE); later disliked for harsh surgery; nicknamed carnifex

Cato the Elder

Represents Roman suspicion of Greek doctors and preference for household remedies

Pliny the Elder

Preserves hostile Roman views toward Greek physicians/medical profession

Cornelius Celsus

Medical writer under Tiberius; medicine as educated guesswork; divides into dietetics/drugs/surgery

Scribonius Largus

Medical professional under Claudius; remedies/recipes and medical ethics

Soranus of Ephesus

Methodist physician; writings on gynecology

Galen of Pergamum

Imperial physician; humoral model highly influential

Hippocrates

Invoked as ethical founder of medicine

Mithridates VI of Pontus

Associated with mithridatium antidote tradition

Public entertainment

Roman public entertainment splits into two main categories: ludi and munera

Ludi

State/civic public games (circus + theatre) tied to religious festivals

Munera

Privately funded elite “gifts” to the public; often gladiatorial; funeral origins

Ludi scaenici

Dramatic performances (theatre) within the ludi

Ludi circenses

Chariot races within the ludi

Aediles

Magistrates responsible for organizing the ludi

Fabulae Atellanae

Drama with stock characters in comic situations

Mime

Improvised street performance that became a rehearsed comedic spectacle

Pantomime

Solo dance performance usually using myth as subject

Venationes

Animal hunts/exhibitions of wild beasts (often morning program)

Damnatio ad bestias

Execution by being devoured by wild animals

Gladiators

Professionally trained fighters (mostly slaves)

Lanista

Owner/manager of a gladiator troupe

Murmillo

Heavily armed gladiator type

Secutor

Heavily armed gladiator type

Hoplomachus

Heavily armed gladiator type

Retiarius

Gladiator with net and trident

Fight ad digitum

Submission signal: lower weapon and raise a finger

Culture of spectacle

Roman culture where politics/identity/status are performed publicly through seeing and being seen

Circus Maximus

Main Roman racecourse and major public venue

Circus factions

Racing teams/colours: Reds

Social-rank seating

Seating arranged by rank (senators front)

Infamia

Legal/social stigma attached to professional performers

Senatus consultum (19 CE)

Forbids equestrians/senators from appearing on stage or in arena

Augustus

Associated with pantomime’s prominence as a solo myth-based dance genre

Vespasian

Emperor during whose reign the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) was erected

Trajan

Emperor connected to imperial oversight of games and public communication

Pliny (the Younger)

Letters used as evidence for fan loyalty and imperial governance issues around games

Polybius

Source used for evidence on spectacle (funeral/spectacle context)

Monetized economy

Economy where exchange heavily uses coinage/money

Literary evidence

Written sources (elite-biased; can be incomplete/contradictory)

Archaeological evidence

Material evidence (especially valuable for trade)

Latifundia

Large concentrated landholdings

Lex frumentaria

Grain law: subsidized wheat ration + land distribution/resettlement in colonies

Tributum

Annual provincial direct taxes (poll + land)

Tributum capitis

Provincial poll tax

Tributum soli

Provincial land tax

Stipendium

Fixed-sum land tax (often payable in kind)

Vectigalia

Indirect taxes

Portoria

Customs duties collected at ports/gates/bridges/roads/boundaries/frontiers

Publicani

Private contractors collecting provincial taxes (and leasing operations like mining)

Ius italicum

“Italian right”; tax-exempt status for certain communities

Empire-wide census

Census used to calculate poll taxes

Palmyra

Oasis trade hub organizing caravans and desert transport

Human capital

Skills/knowledge/qualifications treated as economic assets

Apprenticeship

Teen training under another household; subsistence included; 1–6 years; compensation rises over time

Ludi magistri

Schools/professional teachers

Paedagogium

Training school for slaves in large elite households

Verna

Homeborn slave raised within owner’s household

Vilicus

Estate manager; farming experience valued more than literacy

Gaius Gracchus

Tribune tied to lex frumentaria (subsidized grain + land/colonies measures)

Augustus

Revised taxation system and held empire-wide census for poll-tax calculation

Caesar

Shifted direct-tax collection from publicani to local civic authorities

Cato the Elder

Agricultural writer used for ration schedules (labour investment)

Varro

Agricultural writer on selecting labourers (age/aptitude/ability)

Pliny the Younger

Letters used for tenancy/arrears/lease decisions in land management