Africa Proconsularis: The Roman province including Carthage which roughly equates to the coastal area around modern Tunis.
Alamanni: A Germanic tribe living on the upper Rhine.
Alans: A nomadic Sarmatian people who originated to the north of the Black Sea. Some of them merged with the Vandals.
Arian: Followers of a version of Christianity initially proposed by Arius, which was preached to the Goths and other Germans by Ulfilas in the fourth century. It held that Jesus was from God but not the same as God the Father. It was declared heretical at the council of Nicaea in 325. I have used the term ‘Catholic’ to describe those Christians who held the Nicene Creed in contrast to the Arians.
Asdings: A Vandal clan whose leaders emerged to become the royal line.
Auxilia Palatina: A unit of elite infantry capable of mobile operations as well as standing firm in line of battle – probably about 500 men at full strength.
Baccaudae: A name given to native Romans who had broken from Imperial control to run their own affairs. There were endemic Baccaudae uprisings throughout the fifth century in France and Spain.
Baetica: The Roman province of southern Spain which approximately equates to modern Andalusia.
Bucellarii: Soldiers forming the personal bodyguards and private armies of late Roman generals. The name comes from bucellatum, which was a hard tack biscuit forming part of a soldier’s rations. Such troops were maintained by the commander himself rather than by the state.
Burgundians: A Germanic people living on the middle Rhine in the early-fifth century.
Byzacena: The Roman province encompassing the inland regions of modern Tunisia, south of Africa Proconsularis.
Carthaginiensis: The Roman province of south-eastern and central Spain, also including the Balearic Isles.
Chillarch: The title of a Vandal noble who commanded 1,000 men.
Comes (Count): A senior Roman officer who commanded troops of the regional field armies.
Comitatenses: Units of the Roman regional field armies.
Dacia: A Roman province roughly equating to modern Romania.
Dromon: A fast single-decked warship.
Dux (Duke): A senior Roman officer who commanded frontier forces.
Excubitores: An elite East Roman guards unit formed by the Emperor Leo in the later-fifth century.
Foederati (federates): Initially barbarian troops serving in the Roman Army under their own leaders. By the sixth century they were regular units possibly recruited from barbarians, usually Germans.
Franks: A German people living along the lower Rhine who later took over and gave their name to France.
Gallaecia: The Roman province of north western Spain encompassing modern Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon.
Gaul: The Roman name for an area including modern France, Belgium and parts of Germany west of the Rhine.
Gruethungi: A Gothic clan.
Goths: The most powerful Germanic people in the third to fifth centuries who established two kingdoms inside the Roman Empire. The Visigoths, descended from the clans who crossed the Danube in 376, settled first in western France and later moved into Spain. The Ostrogoths, who remained beyond the Roman frontiers until the late-fifth century, later established a kingdom in Italy.
Heruls: An east Germanic people, 400 of whom served as mercenaries in Belisarius’ army in Africa. Later they joined in Stotzas’ mutiny.
Huns: A nomadic people from central Asia whose westward movements sparked off the Germanic migrations. 600 of them served with Belisarius in Africa against the Vandals.
Illyricum (Illyria): The Roman name for the area including modern Croatia and parts of the former Yugoslavia.
Legion (legio): By the fourth century a Roman legion was a unit of around 1,000 men who fought on foot with spears, javelins and swords.
Limes: The Roman frontier
Limitanei: Second-rate Roman troops who manned the frontier garrisons.
Lusitania: The Roman province of western Spain, approximately equating to the southern regions of modern Portugal.
Magister Militum (Master of Soldiers): The most senior Roman military commander below the Emperor.
Magister Equitum (Master of Horse): One rank below the Magister Militum, who theoretically commanded the cavalry but in reality led a mixed force. Therefore, the Magister Equitum intra Gallias commanded the Gallic field army including both horse and foot.
Magister Peditum (Master of Foot): As above, but theoretically commanding the foot. The Magister Peditum Intra Italiam commanded both horse and foot in the Italian field army.
Mauritania: The three most westerly provinces of Roman North Africa, encompassing the Mediterranean littoral of modern Algeria and Morocco. From west to east these were: Mauritania Tingitana, Mauritania Caesariensis and Mauritania Sitifensis. Mauritania Tingitana came under the administrative control of Spain rather than Africa.
Moesia: The Roman provinces south of the upper Danube bordering modern Bulgaria.
Moors: The original inhabitants of North Africa and ancestors of the modern Berbers.
Nicene Creed: The Christian orthodoxy stemming from the Council of Nicaea in 325, which holds that Jesus was both God and man.
Notitia Dignitatum: A list of offices and army units of the later Roman Empire.
Numidia: The province to the west of Carthage which straddles the border of modern Tunisia and Algeria. Its main city was Hippo Regius.
Palatini (Palatine): The most senior units of the late Roman field army.
Pannonia: The Roman name for the region of the middle Danube, before the bend, that includes parts of modern Austria, Hungary and Slovenia.
Przeworsk Culture: The name given by archeologists to the artefacts found in the ancient central European homeland of the Vandals.
Raetia: The Roman province encompassing parts of modern Switzerland, southern Germany and northern Italy.
Riparienses: Roman garrison troops manning the river frontiers.
Tarraconensis: The Roman province of northern Spain.
Tervingi: A Gothic clan who formed the bulk of the army which defeated the Romans at Adrianople in 378.
Tingitana: A Roman province encompassing the Mediterranean coastal regions of modern Morocco – more properly Mauritania Tingitana.
Tripolitania: A Roman province encompassing the coastal regions of modern Libya.
Sarmatians: A nomadic Iranian people who moved into the area beyond the Roman middle Danube frontier in the second century. The Alans were a Sarmatian people.
Silings: A Vandal clan settled in modern Silesia before the migrations. After their defeat by the Goths, the survivors were absorbed by the Asdings.
Suevi: A Germanic people, from modern Swabia, who joined in the Vandal migration and settled in Spain.
Vexillation: A detachment of a larger unit and the name given to cavalry units in the later Roman Army.