Chapter 7/9 - Experiencing the Roman Empire and Africa in Ancient Times

annona

the Roman governments distribution of grains to the people also used as a political tool by the emperor.

centuriation

the Roman practice of dividing land into a grid for development and agriculture.

clients

poor Romans who relied on a patrons gifts for livelihood

Colosseum

a large structure in Rome that was the place for entertainment and gladiatorial matches.

domus

the name for a typical Roman house, as well as the family unit.

gladiator

an enslaved professional fighter paid to battle in front of an audience sometimes to the death.

Hellenism

a high regard for the cultural institutions of Greece including religion, philosophy, and educational system.

imperial cult

the religious cult that worshiped the Roman emperors as gods.

lanista

the trainer and manager of a group of gladiators.

latifundia

large countryside agricultural estates worked by slaves to produce profit for the owner.

legion

the basic unit of the Roman army, made up of around five thousand soldiers.

manumission

the process of releasing a slave usually in front of a magistrate or via a slaveholders will, or through purchasing their own freedom.

paterfamilias

the patriarch of an extended Roman family, with control of his wife, children, and any other dependents.

patron

a wealthy Roman aristocrat sough by clients who need assistance.

publicani

provincial contractors who bid for the right to collect taxes and profited from the extra money.

vestal virgins

the priesthood of six women who took a vow of chastity and kept the sacred fire in Rome.

Bantu migrations

the millennia long expansion of Bantu-speaking people south from west and central Africa, spreading a common culture like language, farming, and ironworking.

Berbers

the name used by Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans to describe the native people of Maghreb; today, this population self identifies as Amazigh or Imazighen.

biome

a community of vegetation and wildlife adapted to a specific climate.

cataract

a place in a river where the otherwise placid flow is upset by a waterfall, a shallow portion, or boulderas.

deffufa

a monumental mud-brick building unique to Nubian civilization and believed to have served a religious function.

kentake

a Kushite title that roughly translates to “queen mother” and was a powerful position in Meroitic Kush.

Maghreb

the western half of North Africa, including most of present day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.

Nubia

the name Egyptians gave the to large area south of the first cataract and extending into sub-Saharan Africa; included Kingdom of Kush

Sahel

and east-west belt of semiarid grassland that made a transitional zone between the Sahara to the north and the equatorial rainforest in the south.

savanna

a grassy plain with scattered trees found to the north and south of the tropical African rainforest.