Roman Social Structure, Currency, Law, and Ancient Medicine

Vocabulary flashcards derived from lecture notes on Roman society, political structure, currency, family law, and ancient medicine.

Prosopography

The study and sorting out of who historical people are and how they are related to one another.

Patricians

Descendants of original senators in ancient Rome who served as priests, magistrates, lawyers, and judges.

Plebeians

All Roman citizens who were not patricians, typically working for wages as craftsmen or in agriculture.

Consuls

Two officials elected annually to replace the kings of Rome, holding full power with the ability to veto one another.

Eponymous

The practice of naming a Roman year after the consuls who held office during that year.

Princeps

Meaning chief of state, the title claimed by Augustus to show he possessed king-like power without claiming to be an emperor.

As

The main currency of Rome, originally weighing 324 grams.

Denarius

A small silver Roman coin worth 10 as.

Semis

A Roman coin worth half of an As, represented by the letter S.

Uncia

A Roman coin worth 1/12 of an As, represented by 1 dot.

Sestertius

A Roman currency unit (written as IIS or HS) worth 2.5 as, used as the standard reckoning for Roman wealth.

Civis

Roman citizens.

Peregrini

Non-citizens or foreigners in the Roman world.

Equestrians

A wealthy class of Romans who possessed the financial requirement for the Senate (400,000 HS, or half of a senator's requirement) but pursued business instead of public service.

Nobiles

Roman individuals who were direct descendants of consuls.

Honestiores

High-status individuals in the Roman Empire—including members of senatorial and equestrian orders, army officers, and local officials—who received milder legal punishments.

Humiliores Antoni

Lower-class, impoverished free people in the Roman Empire who faced harsher legal punishments than the honestiores.

Patronus

A powerful Roman individual who protected and supported clientes in exchange for their deference and votes.

Clientes

Dependents or plebeians protected by a patronus whom they followed, voted for, and supported.

Pietas

The Roman concept of duty where a head of household or ruler protects inferiors while they show total obedience and deference.

Salutatio

A client's morning greeting to publicly acknowledge their patron's superiority and display obsequiousness.

Pliny the Younger

Nephew of Pliny the Elder who became consul in the year 100 and delivered the Panegyricus speech to Emperor Trajan.

Panegyricus

A formal thank-you speech delivered by Pliny the Younger in the Roman Senate to thank Emperor Trajan for appointing him consul.

Paterfamilias

The male head of a Roman family.

Patria potestas

The absolute legal power and authority that the male head of a Roman household exercised over children, distant male-line descendants, and adopted members.

Materfamilias

A female head of a household who possessed matronly prestige but no legal power.

Consilium

An advisory counsel that provides non-binding guidance to a decision-maker, such as a paterfamilias or the Roman Senate.

Tutor

A legal guardian in Roman law who managed affairs for individuals such as women lacking a paterfamilias.

Twelve Tables

The first written collection of Roman law.

Soranus

An ancient doctor from Ephesus indebted to Hippocrates who wrote on gynecology and rejected the wandering womb theory.

Galen

An ancient physician who dissected barbary apes and served as a gladiatorial physician to study open wounds and internal organs.

Wandering womb

A medical concept mentioned by Plato asserting that the uterus was a wild animal moving along a cavity between the mouth and vagina.

Pliny the Elder

Author of the encyclopedia Natural History who died near Mount Vesuvius while investigating the eruption at Pompeii.

Exposure

The ancient practice of leaving an infant in a mountainous area to die or to be picked up and raised as a slave.