Aerarium – The imperial treasury.
Ango – A barbed javelin favoured by the barbarian tribes east of the Rhine.
Ambulatum – Legionary ‘manoeuvres’ training.
Apodyterium – Bathhouse changing rooms.
Armatura – Basic legionary training with sword, shield and javelin.
Armilustrium – A late-autumn festival in honour of Mars, where soldiers would ceremonially stow away their weapons over winter.
Aula Regia – The emperor’s palace.
Auletes – Naval flautist tasked with playing tunes to keep the oarsmen synchronised.
Ballista – Roman bolt-throwing artillery that was primarily employed as an anti-personnel weapon on the battlefield.
Biga – Racing chariot.
Buccina – Curved horn used by the military for signalling and issuing of commands.
Bulla – Amulet worn by Roman boys until their coming of age.
Camelopardalis – Giraffe.
Camisia – And undergarment or nightshirt.
Carceres – The starting gates at a racing circus.
Comitatus – The elite regiments of the Roman army.
Concordia – The Roman Goddess of Harmony, and more generally the principle of harmony.
Cornu (plural cornua) – ‘G’ shaped horn used in imperial games and ceremony.
Cursus Publicus – The empire’s state-run system of couriers and transportation.
Damnatio Ad Bestias – The sentence of death at the jaws of the circus animals.
Doctores – Military drill sergeants.
Domus – Home.
Dux Militum – Duke of the Armies, a lofty position in later Rome.
Fanum – A temple.
Fossa Sanguinis – A trench in a temple where sacrificial blood would collect.
Francisca – A Frankish throwing axe – typically tossed across the ground – capable of breaking bones and disrupting legionary formations.
Frigidarium – The cold room in the bathhouse.
Frumentarii – The shadowy school of imperial spies and assassins.
Harpastum – A Roman ball game.
Haruspex – Individual trained in divination by reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal.
Insula – Roman apartment block, often of many storeys, with shops in the ground floor.
Iudex – The leader of the Gothic tribes.
Kathisma – Greek term for the imperial box at an entertainment venue. Cf. pulvinar .
Lanista – Gladiator trainer or owner.
Lapsi – Those who renounced Christianity under pressure from Roman authorities.
Liburnian – A small, swift and nimble galley with just a single bank of oars.
Limes – The limits or borders of empire.
Magister Officiorum – The ‘Master of Offices’, one of the most senior bureaucratic posts in the empire.
Navalia – Roman military port.
Paenula – A poncho or raincloak.
Palus – A stake used for sword practice.
Pilentum – A lady’s carriage.
Protectores – An elite corps of bodyguards dedicated to the emperor’s personal protection.
Pulvinar – Latin term for the imperial box at an entertainment venue. Cf. kathisma .
Quadriga – Ceremonial chariot towed by four horses.
Quaestor – Title applied to men in various administrative posts in Roman government dealing with finance.
Rex Sacrorum – The Priest/King of Sacrifice.
Sestertius (plural sesterces) – A large brass coin.
Shahanshah – The Persian ‘King of Kings’.
Sol Invictus – ‘Unconquered Sun .’ Later Roman Sun God adopted from the eastern regions.
Spatha – Double-edged sword, longer than an old-fashioned gladius, originally a cavalry weapon.
Spiculum (plural spicula) – Throwing javelin of the Roman infantry, replacing the earlier pilum .
Subura – The slum region in the city of Rome.
Tartarus – The deep abyss of torment to which the souls of the sinful dead are condemned.
Testudo – Formation where infantry place shields around all sides and overhead of their unit, thus providing protection from missiles from all directions.
Toga Virilis – Plain white toga adopted by male Roman citizens when they come of age in their teenage years.
Tribunus – By this period in history, the term ‘prefect’ was used to denote a legionary commander, but ‘tribunus’ was still used at times to denote high-ranking officers.
Triclinium – The dining room of a Roman household.
Tubilustrium – The spring ceremony where the Roman army was declared fit for war.
Vexillatio (plural vexillationes) – A detachment of legionaries from the main body of their legion.
Vigiles – City watchmen, who acted in the roles of both police and firefighters.