pancratium

From Latin pancratium, from Ancient Greek παγκράτιον (pankrátion, “a complete contest”). See pankration.

(Ancient Greece) An ancient athletic contest involving both boxing and wrestling.


hypaspist

en-noun

hypaspist (plural hypaspists or hypaspistai)

hypaspists (plural)
hypaspistai (plural)

From Ancient Greek ὑπασπιστής (hupaspistḗs, “shield bearer”), from ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ἀσπίς (aspís, “shield”) + -τής (-tḗs, “suffix forming agent noun”).

bor

Meanwhile Darius had loosed his scythed cars, to whirl destruction into the ranks of the Companions and the hypaspists. But the archers and the Agrian spear-throwers received them with showers of spears and arrows; some of these active hillsmen seized the reins of the horses and pulled the riders from their seats, while the hypaspists, swiftly and undismayed, opened their ranks, and the terrible chariots rattled harmless down the intervals.

1900, John Bagnell Bury, A History of Greece: To the Death of Alexander the Great, Cambridge University Press, page 777:

1988 [CUP], A. B. Bosworth, Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great, Cambridge University Press (Canto), 1993, page 259,
The other major component of the Macedonian infantry was the corps of hypaspists. This force had evolved from the old bodyguard of the Macedonian kings and its nucleus, the agema, still acted as Alexander's guard when he fought on foot. The rest of the hypaspists were organised in chiliarchies (units of 1,000), perhaps three in number.

2013, Michael Taylor, Antiochus the Great, Pen & Sword Books (Pen & Sword Military), unnumbered page,
Perhaps fearful of blame in the event of failure, Lagoras asked that two of the King's favourites join the assault, Theodotus the Aetolian and Dionysius, the commander of the hypaspists, an elite subset of the Silver Shields.

(historical, military, Ancient Greece) A type of lightly armoured foot soldier equipped with an aspis (shield) and spear.


sarissa

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek σάρισσα (sárissa).

lbor

(Ancient Greece) A long pike used in the traditional Greek phalanx formation.


peltast

From Ancient Greek πελταστής (peltastḗs).

(historical) A type of light infantry unit in Ancient Greece who often served as skirmishers.


euhemerism

en-noun

euhemerism (usually uncountable, plural euhemerisms)

From Euhemerus + -ism, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

In regard to the Thracian god Zalmosis, the Hellespontic Greeks interpreted his character and attributes according to the scheme of Euemerism.

1846, George Grote, History of Greece, volume I, page 596:

Then again there was a period of what is sometimes called Euhemerism - the theory that the gods and goddesses had actually once been men and women, historical characters round whom a halo of romance and remoteness had gathered.

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 10:

(uncountable) The belief that legends and mythology arise from exaggerated descriptions of historical people and events.

يُوهَيْمِرِيَّة

attribution of a historical origin to myths and legends


kleroterion

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κληρωτήριον (klērōtḗrion), from κληρόω (klēróō, “appoint by lot”) + -τήριον (-tḗrion, adjective suffix).

lbor

(history, Athenian democracy) A device used in sortition, consisting of a stone slab incised with rows of slots and with an attached tube, and operating on tokens representing citizens.


Xenophanean

Of or relating to the pre-Socratic philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon.


Democritean

Of or relating to Democritus, an ancient Greek philosopher noted for his atomic theory.


Parmenidean

Of or relating to Parmenides, an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea.


modius

Learned borrowing from Latin modius, from modus (“a measure”) + -ius (adjective-forming suffix). Doublet of muid and mud. See also almud and almude.

(historical) A Roman dry measure of about a peck or 9 litres.


Illyria

From Latin Illyria, from Ancient Greek Ἰλλυρία (Illuría), which may be from Illyrian.

A region in Southeast Europe, the western part of what is now the Balkan Peninsula that was inhabited by the Illyrians, ancient Indo-European people.


exarchate

From exarch + -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, the concrete charge of it).

af

Exarchate of Africa

Astolphus peremptorily refused to listen to the remonstrances of Pepin, who called upon him to evacuate the towns in the exarchate of Ravenna, and to leave the Pope unmolested in the environs of Rome as well as in Rome itself.

1868, Robert Black, A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times:

(historical) The province or area of an exarch.


exceptor

(Ancient Rome) A hired legal representative or advocate in court.


trophæal

/tɹəʊˈfiːəl/

From the Latin tropaeum, trophaeum (“trophy, monument to victory in war”); suffixing to the stem trophæ- the suffix -al.

This place contains ſo many remarkable remains, and collections ſo curious, that we are ſorry to paſs by it curſorily. We adviſe the reader and the traveller to be leſs haſty. The trophæal arch and the ſepulchral monument, at Glanum Livii, a colony probably eſtabliſhed by M. Livius Druſus Libo, afford alſo ſeveral circumſtances, which will intereſt the attentive traveller.

1788?: Tobias George Smollett [ed.], The Critical Review: or, Annals of Literature, volume 65, page 454

[…H]e would have ſeen with what an endeavour at accuracy (in pages 36, 7, 8) I have diſtinguiſhed trophæal monuments, erected on the fields of battle by the generals and their armies, from triumphal arches, erected by the authority of government, after theſe generals had been admitted to the honour of a triumph.

1795, Thomas Pownall, An Antiquarian Romance, Endeavouring to Mark a Line, by Which the Most Ancient People, and the Processions of the Earliest Inhabitancy of Europe, May Be Investigated, page 197:

(Roman antiquity, of a monument or memorial) Erected without Senatical grant by a prevailing general as a trophy (or tropæum) commemorating a battle in which he was victorious; compare triumphal.


tropæum

/tɹəʊˈpiːəm/

From the Latin tropaeum (“trophy”, “tropæum”). Doublet of trophy.

(historical) A monument erected (originally on the field of battle) by the prevailing army (without Senatical grant — contrast triumph) to commemorate victory in war, featuring spoils taken from the enemy (especially the personal arms of the vanquished general), and dedicated to an appropriate god (such as Mars).


Enlil

(Mesopotamian mythology) A chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Canaanite and other Mesopotamian clay and stone tablets; the god of breath, wind, loft, and breadth.


Sargon

From Hebrew סַרְגוֹן (Sargón) (Isaiah 20:1), from Akkadian Šarrum-kīn.

An Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th and 23rd centuries BCE.


Enki

From Sumerian 𒀭𒂗𒆠, a name of uncertain meaning. More at Enki.

A god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology.


Eridu

Tell Abu Shahrain
Tell Abu Shahrain#English

ancient Sumerian city in modern Iraq; modern Tell Abu Shahrain.


Kur

From Sumerian 𒆳 (kur, “mountain; netherworld”).

der

A mountain or mountains, usually identified as the Zagros mountains to the east of Sumer.

In Sumerian mythology, a dark shadowy underworld, located deep below the surface of the earth.


Kur

In the mountains near Suram is a watering-place called Burjan, to which the Imperial Lieutenant of the Caucasus retires in summer. The river Kur, the ancient Cyrus, takes its rise in that district.

1868, “Route 20: London to Tiflis […] ”, in Handbook for Travellers in Russia, Poland, and Finland, 2nd edition, London: John Murray, page 321:

Alternative form of Kura (“a river in Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan”).


Anunnaki

Annunaki

lizard people; corrupted spelling, mostly restricted to the sense

(Mesopotamian mythology) A group of Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian deities in no known particular order including but not limited to Enki, Enlil, Ninlil and 'known as the fourth' Enbilulu.

Anunnaki

a group of Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian deities


Kish

(antiquity) An ancient city of Sumer, located some 12 km east of Babylon, and 80 km south of Baghdad.


Assur

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒀸𒋩𒆠 (Aššūr, “Assur”).

lbor

One of the ancient capitals of Assyria, in modern Iraq.


Ninlil

(Mesopotamian mythology) In Sumerian mythology, the consort goddess of Enlil.


Shamash

From Akkadian Šamaš, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *śamš-. Compare shin.

The sun god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu.


Aya

(Mesopotamian mythology) In Akkadian mythology, a mother goddess, consort of the sun god Shamash.


Merope

(Greek mythology) The youngest of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and a consort of Hermes.

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Cypselus, king of Arcadia.


velarium

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-velarium.wav

(historical) An awning that stretched over the seating area of the Colosseum in Ancient Rome and other Roman amphitheaters.


confarreation

en-noun

confarreation (countable and uncountable, plural confarreations)

(Ancient Rome) A form of marriage in Ancient Rome that was solemnized with cakes made from far (emmer)

confarreatio

Ancient Roman marriage solemnized with spelt cakes


Byzantine Greek

Collectively, the continuum of forms of the Greek language as written and spoken during the time of the Byzantine Empire (C.E. 330–1453), preceded by Koine Greek and Early Medieval Greek and succeeded by Late Medieval Greek to Modern Greek. (ISO 639-3 code: grc shared with Classical Greek.)


tripus

Unadapted borrowing from Latin tripūs, from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous); doublet of tripod and teapoy. In the sense associated with Cambridge University, the Tripus is named after the three-legged stool on which he sat during the degree-awarding ceremony.

(obsolete, rare, in the history of Cambridge University, capitalised when used as a title) A Bachelor of Arts appointed to make satirical strictures in humorous dispute with the candidates at a degree-awarding ceremony; tripos, prevaricator.

tripod

three-legged vessel in Greek and Roman antiquities


Verethragna

Transliteration of Avestan 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬀 (vər^əθraγna), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Wr̥tragʰnás. Doublet of Vahagn and Bahrām.

translit

(Zoroastrianism) The hypostasis of “victory”; a highly complex figure in Zoroastrianism.


Aegina

(Greek mythology) A nymph of the island that bears her name.


Nicomedia

From Latin Nīcomēdīa, from Ancient Greek Νικομήδεια (Nikomḗdeia), from Νικομήδης (Nikomḗdēs) + -ιᾰ (-iă, “ia: forming place names”).

(historical) Former name of Izmit, a city in Turkey; ancient capital of Bithynia.


decan

(Egyptology, astrology) One of a collection of 36 small constellations or zodiacal subdivisions that appear heliacally at intervals of 10 days or are separated by approximately 10 degrees.


Antonius

Marcus Antonius

nomen gentilicium
nomen gentilicium#English


Chiron

(Greek mythology) An old, wise centaur who served as Achilles' mentor and teacher.


Arean

From Ares + -an under influence of Ancient Greek άρεος (áreos) and άρειος (áreios, “Martian, martial”). Cf. Arian.

Near-synonym: Martian

It is appealing to assume that the epigram was inspired by the statue itself. Probably the Arean weapons Aphrodite has donned include helmet, spear and shield but not the Apolline bow and arrow.

1979, Karelisa Hartigan, The Poets and the Cities: Selections from the Anthology about Greek Cities, Hain, →ISBN, page 54:

In addition to his possible exploitation of the sexual reversal occasionally found in Arean cult, we also find

1980, Carl Deroux, Studies in Latin literature and Roman history, volume 168, page 449:

1989, Robert Lamberton, Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition, quotation of Proclus translated from the Greek,
... and in bonding together the Arean and the Aphrodisian, he had taken the craft of Hephaestus as his model.

Ares is also associated with fire. [...] All the Arean desire [...]

2007, Dagonet Dewr, Sacred Paths for Modern Men, page 63:

(rare) Of or related to Ares, the Greek god of war, counterpart of the Roman Mars.


Ganymedean

/ˌɡænəmɪˈdiː.ən/

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the hero Ganymede in Greek mythology.


Enceladan

(Greek mythology, astronomy) Of or relating to Enceladus.


Enceladean

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the giant Enceladus in Greek mythology.


ephebic

en-adj

ephebic (comparative more ephebic, superlative most ephebic)

more ephebic (comparative)
most ephebic (superlative)

The ephebic androgyny of the high classic Apollo turned into effeminacy in Hellenistic art.

Pertaining to a young man or to early manhood, especially in Ancient Greek contexts.


Apophian

(Egyptian mythology) Of or relating to Apophis.


penates

From Latin Penātēs, from penus (“inner part of house”).

lest the name thereof being discovered unto their enemies, their Penates and Patronal Gods might be called forth by charms and incantations.

1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.3:

(Roman mythology) The household deities thought to watch over the houses and storerooms of ancient Rome.


principate

en-noun

principate (countable and uncountable, plural principates)

Learned borrowing from Latin prīncipātus, referring to the titles prīnceps senātūs (“first among senators”) and prīnceps cīvitātis (“first among citizens”), adopted by Octavian Caesar Augustus in order to preserve the illusion of formal continuance of some aspects of the Roman Republic.

lbor

Coordinate term: dominate

1967, Richard Alexander Bauman, The Crimen Maiestatis in the Roman Republic and Augustan Principate, Witwatersrand University Press.:

The history of the courts and of judicial procedure during the principate is closely parallel to that of the government as a whole.

1972, H. F. Jolowicz, Barry Nicholas, A Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law, 3rd edition, Cambridge University Press, page 395:

The transition from republic to Principate brought a new and potent factor into the legal picture of the Roman state, the princeps or emperor.

1978, A. Arthur Schiller, Roman Law: Mechanisms of Development, Walter de Gruyter (Mouton Publishers), page 463:

1996, Clare Krojzl (translator), Sebastian Hensel, III: From Diocletian to Alaric [1886, lecture notes], Theodor Mommsen (editor), A History of Rome Under the Emperors, C.H.Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Republished 2005, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), eBook, page 317,
The dominate of Diocletian and Constantine differs more sharply from the principate than the latter does from the Republic.

In the introductory chapter I had already started to examine how Tacitus' designation of the Augustan regime as a versus status potentially draws a line of continuity between the principate and the civil wars which that regime claims to have resolved.

2000, Ellen O'Gorman, Irony and Misreading in the Annals of Tacitus, Cambridge University Press, page 23:

(Ancient Rome) The early period of the Roman Empire, during which some characteristics of the government of the Roman Republic were retained; the reign of any particular emperor during said period.


faravahar

From Persian فروهر (faravahar), from Middle Persian plwʾhl.

A symbol of the religion Zoroastrianism, also used to represent the Iranian nation.


tritagonist

Ancient Greek, originally in Greek drama, from ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”). By surface analysis, trit- (“third”) + agonist (“combatant, participant”).

surf

In Greek drama, the actor who played the third role (after the protagonist and deuteragonist)


laconicum

From Latin Lacōnicum (“sweating room”, literally “Spartan [bath]”).

bor

A hot dry sweating room, next to the caldarium in the Roman baths.


talaria

From Latin tālāria, plural form of tālāris (“of or pertaining to the ankle or heel”), from tālus (“anklebone, talus; heel”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).

refn

From the collection of the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, California, USA.

der

Byres has drawn these figures with wings at their ankles, sometimes fastened to the leg, and sometimes like those at their shoulders, growing from the flesh—in both which ways the talaria of Mercury and Perseus are represented on ancient monuments. Nothing of this sort could I perceive; it was manifest to me that these were not talaria, but simple buskins with peaked flaps, such as are commonly depicted on vases of the archaic Greek style, and on the legs of Roman Lares in the paintings of Pompeii.

1848, George Dennis, “Bieda.—Blera.”, in The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, footnote 10, page 319:

From the Graiæ the literary myths make him [Perseus] go to the Nymphs, the artistic ones to the Naiads or nymphs of the lake Tritonis, from which he receives the helmet of Hades, the kibisis or wallet, and the talaria or winged sandals. [...] Other versions made him receive the helmet and talaria from Hermes. On the early monuments the helmet of Hades is like the petasus of Hermes, and the sandals are winged, but in many other works of art, such as mirrors or gems, the talaria are represented as wings, which he attaches to his feet.

1854 May 25, Samuel Birch, “V. On a Vase Representing an Adventure of Perseus.”, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, London: Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London; printed by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Sons, […], published 1855, →OCLC, page 56:

With his horizon all his own, yet he a poor man, born to be poor, with his inherited Irish poverty or poor life, his Adam's grandmother and boggy ways, not to rise in this world, he nor his posterity, till their wading webbed bog-trotting feet get talaria to their heels.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Baker Farm”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 225:

It was the god Hermes, he who conducted souls to the Elysian fields, the slender, agile, elegant figure, beautiful in its sinuous motion, with the petasus on his head and the winged talaria on his ankles, that I beheld floating over me.

1867 May, W. W. S., “A Modern Magician”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CI, number DCXIX, Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 566:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The winged sandals worn by certain gods and goddesses, especially the Roman god Mercury (and his Greek counterpart Hermes).


Octavian

From Latin Octavianus, derivative of Octāvius.

(historical) A male given name from Latin, notably borne by Augustus (Caesar) between 44 and 27 BCE


Hermaphroditus

From Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἑρμαφρόδιτος (Hermaphróditos, from Ἑρμῆς (Hermês) + Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē)).

bor

Ἑρμαφρόδιτος

(Greek mythology) The son of Hermes and Aphrodite who merged bodies with a naiad.


triumpher

(historical, Ancient Rome) Someone who was honoured with a triumph; a victorious soldier.


Elam

From Hebrew עֵילָם (ʿêlām), from Akkadian 𒉏𒈠𒆠 (Elamtu), from Sumerian 𒉏𒆠 (elamᵏⁱ /Elam/), from Elamite 𒄬𒆷𒁶𒋾 (ḫalˡᵃ-tam₆-ti /haltamti/).

(historical) An ancient civilization established in what is now southwestern Iran before 3000 BC.


Susa

From Latin Sūsa, from Ancient Greek Σοῦσα (Soûsa), from Old Persian 𐏂𐎢𐏁𐎠 (Çūšā). Doublet of Sus and Shush.

(historical) Former name of Shush, a city in Iran which served as an ancient capital of Elam, the Persian Empire, the Seleucid Empire and the Parthian Empire.


Hygiea

From Latin Hygēa, Hygīa, from Ancient Greek Ὑγίεια (Hugíeia), Ὑγεία (Hugeía).

(Greek mythology) Ancient Greek goddess of health, cleanliness, and sanitation. Her Roman name is Hygēa/Hygīa or Salus.


menat

Borrowed from Egyptian mnjt in the form of the 19th-century Lepsius-style transcription menȧt.

In Ancient Egypt, a heavy beaded necklace and musical instrument with a crescent-shaped plate in the front and a keyhole-shaped amuletic counterweight in the rear, considered sacred to Hathor.


Atalanta

From Ancient Greek Ἀταλάντη (Atalántē, “balanced”), from ἀ- (a-, “used to express unity”) + τάλαντον (tálanton, “balanced”).

der

36 Atalante
Atalanta
Guido Reni
Hippomenes

It is the Arcadian Atalanta, the daughter of Iasus and Clymene, who is primarily known from the tales of the Calydonian boar hunt and the Argonauts. The Boeotian version of Atalanta is the daughter of King Schoeneus and is primarily noted for her skill in the footrace. In both versions of the myth, Atalanta was a local figure allied to the goddess Artemis.

Abandoned at birth by her parents, Iasus and Clymene, Atalanta was raised by bears and later rescued by a hunter who taught her the ways of mortals. When Atalanta found fame as a runner and marksman, her parents reclaimed her.

2001, Suzanne I. Barchers, From Atalanta to Zeus, Greenwood Publishing Group (Teacher Ideas Press), page 17:

(Greek mythology) A huntress and heroine in Greek mythology, renowned for her great speed and strength; depending on the version of the myth, either the daughter of Iasus (a prince of Arcadia) by Clymene or of King Schoeneus of Boeotia.


Hatshepsut

From the short form of her birth name, Egyptian HAt:t-A51-t:Z2ss (ḥꜣt-špswt, “Hatshepsut”, literally “Foremost of Noblewomen”), from ḥꜣt (“front”) + the plural of špst (“noblewoman”).

bor

An ancient Egyptian queen (1508–1458 BCE).


eparchy

Via Late Latin eparchia from Koine Greek ἐπαρχία (eparkhía, “province; prefecture”), from Ancient Greek ἔπαρχος (éparkhos, “commander, governor; prefect, eparch”) from ἐπι- (epi-, “on, upon; over”) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “ruler”); equivalent to epi- + -archy.

af

(historical, Ancient Rome) A district of the Roman Empire at the third echelon

Eastern Roman Empire
Eastern Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire

(historical, Ancient Greece, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire) A provincial government or office headed by an eparch in the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire (akin to a prefecture governed by a prefect in the Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire)

Ancient Greece; Byzantine Empire; Ancient Greece; Byzantine Empire


oeconomus

From Latin oeconomus, from Ancient Greek οἰκονόμος (oikonómos), from οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) + νόμος (nómos, “law, rule”).

A Byzantine title given to the chief steward or treasurer of a household or institution.


sextarius

en-noun

sextarius (plural sextariuses or sextarii)

From Latin sextārius (“one-sixth”), from sextus (“sixth”) + -ārius (“-ary: forming adj.”). Doublet of sextary.

(historical) A Roman unit of dry measure.


Silenus

As a goat he [Dionysus] can hardly be separated from the minor divinities, the Pans, Satyrs, and Silenuses, all of whom are closely associated with him and are represented more or less completely in the form of goats.

1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 34:

(Greek mythology) A companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.


Juventas

(Roman mythology) The goddess of youth, and a daughter of Jupiter and Juno. Juventas was the cupbearer of the gods until she married her paternal halfbrother, Hercules, with whom she had twin sons, Alexiares and Anicetus. She is the Roman counterpart of Hebe.


Telemachus

From Ancient Greek Τηλέμαχος (Tēlémakhos).

(Greek mythology) the son of Odysseus and Penelope


Laertes

(Greek mythology) the father of Odysseus


Diomedes

Borrowed from Latin Diomēdēs, from Ancient Greek Διομήδης (Diomḗdēs).

(Greek mythology) a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War


Imbros

island of Turkey in the north-eastern Aegean Sea


duat

(Egyptology, Egyptian mythology) The realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.


Virgilian

en-adj

Virgilian (comparative more Virgilian, superlative most Virgilian)

more Virgilian (comparative)
most Virgilian (superlative)

This Virgilian diversion, together with the spectral thoughts incident to All Hallows’ Eve with its Witch-Sabbaths on the hills, produced in me last Monday night a Roman dream of such supernal clearness and vividness, and such titanic adumbrations of hidden horror, that I verily believe I shall some day employ it in fiction.

1927, H. P. Lovecraft, The Very Old Folk:

Through Mr. Burroughs, he met the other future luminaries of the Beat Generation and became, in the words of Mr. Burroughs's biographer, Ted Morgan, “a sort of Virgilian guide to the lower depths.”

1990 June 10, Jan Herman, quoting Ted Morgan, “The Beatnick's Beatnick”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Not a single extant Virgilian manuscript survives from the ninth century, despite the number of ninth-century manuscripts of Virgil's works and commentaries on his works.

2008, Jan M. Ziolkowski, Michael C. J. Putnam, The Virgilian tradition: the first fifteen hundred years, →ISBN, page 439:

Of or pertaining to Virgil (Roman writer)


Melitene

From Latin Melitene, from Ancient Greek Μελιτηνή (Melitēnḗ). Doublet of Malatya.

(historical) Former name of Malatya, a city in Turkey.


Eurus

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Greek mythology) The god of the East Wind, autumn, protection, comfort, balance, preservation, change, adulthood and maturity.


Boreas

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βορέᾱς (Boréās).

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], “A Receit to make an Epick Poem”, in The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

BOREAS, one of the four Cardinal Winds, and one of the Deities of the Heathens, was the Son of Aſtræus and Aurora, and had his Seat at Thrace. Pindar calls him the King of Winds. [Footnote numbers omitted.]

1735, Pierre Bayle with Pierre des Maizeaux, The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle. The Second Edition, Carefully Collated with the Several Editions of the Original; in which many Passages are Restored, and the Whole Greatly Augmented, particularly with a Translation of the Quotations from Eminent Writers in Various Languages. To which is Prefixed, the Life of the Author, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged, by Mr Des Maizeaux, Fellow of the Royal Society, 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; [et al.], →OCLC, page 78:

Orithya was the daughter of Erectheus, and the prieſteſs of Boreas; for each of the winds has a preſiding deity, which the teleſtic art, or the art pertaining to ſacred myſteries, religiouſly cultivates. […] Orithya, therefore, becoming enthusiastic, being poſſeſſed by her proper God Boreas, and no longer energizing as a human being (for animals ceaſe to energize according to their own peculiarities, when poſſeſſed by ſuperior causes), died under the inſpiring influence, and thus was ſaid to have been raviſhed by Boreas.

1804, Plato, “The Phædrus”, in Floyer Sydenham, Thomas Taylor, transl., The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-five Dialogues, and Twelve Epistles, Translated from the Greek; Nine of the Dialogues by the Late Floyer Sydenham, and the Remainder by Thomas Taylor: with Occasional Annotations on the Nine Dialogues Translated by Sydenham, and Copious Notes, by the Latter Translator; in which is Given the Substance of nearly all the Existing Greek Ms. Commentaries on the Philosophy of Plato, and a Considerable Portion of such as are already Published. In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Thomas Taylor, by R. Wilks, Chancery-Lane; and sold by E. Jeffery, and R. E. Evans, Pall-Mall, page 293, footnote 2:

The promotion of Pan is matched by the new attention Athens paid to Boreas, god of the north wind, after he destroyed the Persian fleet off Artemision (Herodotus, 7.189) A tradition (λέγεται δε λόγος) held that the Athenians prayed to the god before the battle to assist them, the equivalent of the prebattle encounter between Pan and Pheidippides. As in the complaint of Pan, the god Boreas was remembered as assisting the Greeks before, in this case by having sent a storm off Mount Athos during the expedition under Mardonios (6.44.2).

1995, Sarah P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 322:

One very windy day, the god Boreas became a citizen of the town of Thurii, the new Sybaris in Magna Graecia. In more concrete terms, in 397 b.c. Dionysius of Syracuse, at war with the Carthaginians, launched an expedition of three hundred ships crammed with armed men – hoplites, men of bronze – against Thurii. The North Wind was blowing against them, and Boreas wrecked the ship. It was a disaster for Dionysius, but the citizens of Thurii, saved by the god Boreas, passed a decree granting citizenship to the wind.

2000, Giulia Sissa with Marcel Detienne, “When the Olympians Donned the Citizen's Costume”, in Janet Lloyd, transl., The Daily Life of the Greek Gods, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

(Greek mythology) The god of the North Wind.


octaeteris

/ˌɑktaɪˈtɪɹɪs/

/ˌɒktaɪˈtɪəɹɪs/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀκταετηρίς (oktaetērís, “8-year [period]”).

bor

The octaëteris, or lunæsolar cycle of eight years, is a form of the lunar reckoning of annual time totally distinct from and independent of the reckoning of solar in the primitive equable calendar.

1852, Edward Greswell, “On the Lunar in Contradistinction to the Solar Modifications of the Primitive Calendar”, in Fasti Temporis Catholici and Origines Kalendariæ. … In Four Volumes, volume I, Oxford: At the Oxford University Press, →OCLC, section V (The Octaëteris), page 564:

Synonym of octennium: An 8-year period, particularly (historical) in Greek calendrical and astronomical calculations.


pignus

Thirdly, pignus is the object itself upon which the creditor acquires such real right.

1851, Sir Patrick MacChombaich de Colquhoun, A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, page 392:

Pledge is the pignus of the Roman law; and it is from this source that most of the principles governing the subject are derived.

1895, Thomas Beven, Negligence in Law, page 937:

A commonly accepted notion is that pignus is not a generic term at all; that it is limited (1) to movables, and particularly (2) to the pledgee's possession.

1898, Harvard Law Review, volume 11, page 23:

A pignus can be given for other reasons besides money, as where one gives someone a pignus against his acting as guarantor.

1998, Alan Watson, quoting Ulpian, Edict, book 28, The Digest of Justinian, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN:

Pignus was created by traditio, which is by surrender of civilis possessio to the chargee.

2004 August 26, Eva-Maria Kieninger, editor, Security Rights in Movable Property in European Private Law, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 41:

(law, obsolete, Ancient Rome) A pledge or pawn.


Solarium

From Latin Solarium Augusti (“Solarium of Augustus”).

A large monument in ancient Rome and its modern ruins.


Aphroditus

From Ancient Greek Ἀφρόδιτος (Aphróditos), masculine form of Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē).

(Greek mythology) A male Aphrodite, from Cyprus, represented as a herm with a phallus, who in later mythology became known as Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.


Byzantine Patriarch

en-noun

Byzantine Patriarch (plural Byzantine Patriarchs)

Ecumenical Patriarch
Ecumenical Patriarch

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople


Hesychast controversy

(Eastern Orthodoxy, historical) A particular controversy concerning dogma in the 14th-century Byzantine Empire, over whether the idea of divine light was polytheistic, postulating two eternal substances, a visible and an invisible God.


deductor

From Latin dēductor (“guide; founder”). See deduce.

(historical) The formal patron of a Roman colony.


Orphism

From Orpheus + -ism; art sense coined by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1912 as orphisme.

coin

Coordinate term: Pythagoreanism

1974, The Emerson Society Quarterly, Issues 74-81, Emerson Society, page 125,
Thoreau's acquaintance with Orphism dated from at least as early as the summer of 1840, when he read Ralph Cudworth's True Intellectual System of the Universe and took notes on some of Cudworth's references to the Orphic religion.

1995, Dan Urman, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, Part 2, E. J. Brill, page 355,
The oracular poems produced by Orphism and attributed to Orpheus himself, similarly reveal neither messiah nor messianic age.

The origins of Orphism are obscure, although they seem to date back at least to the sixth century B.C.E. Orphic ideology mainly concerned the mysteries of Dionysos, which many Greeks took very seriously.

2004, Stephanie L. Budin, The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 307:

2010, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, De Gruyter, page 295,
The apologists' strategies distort the real image of Orphism, but they maintain a certain basis in reality in order to appear plausible.

(religion, Ancient Greece) A religious movement in antiquity, supposed to have been founded by Orpheus.


Daedalus

From Latin Daedalus, from Ancient Greek Δαίδαλος (Daídalos).

Daedalus
Daedalus (disambiguation)
Project Daedalus

(Greek mythology) Greek mythological figure who crafted the waxen wings of Icarus.


Gallo-Roman

(historical) A Romanized Gaul, i.e. a Gaulish person who adopted or adapted the culture, language etc. of the Roman Empire following the establishment of Roman rule in the region of Gaul.


Aphrodisian

en-adj

Aphrodisian (comparative more Aphrodisian, superlative most Aphrodisian)

more Aphrodisian (comparative)
most Aphrodisian (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀφροδῑ́σιος (aphrodī́sios) + -an.

suffix

Near-synonym: Venusian

en:pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.


Aeolian

Relating to Aeolus, the Greek god of wind.

And they played softly in the Aeolian mode a music that was like the wailing of wind through bare branches on a moonless night, and the Red Foliot leaned forth from his high seat and recited this lamentation: […]

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 31:

(music) Designating the Aeolian mode or scale; the name of the minor key in modal theory.


Aeaea

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Αἰαία (Aiaía).

(Greek mythology) The mythical island said to be the home of Circe.


quinquennalia

en-noun

quinquennalia (plural quinquennalia or quinquennalias)

quinquennalia (plural)
quinquennalias (plural)

From Latin quīnquennālia, from quīnquennium (“5-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from quīnquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to quinquennium + -alia.

(historical) The festival and religious rituals sometimes observed celebrating a Roman emperor's 5th year of rule.


herostratic fame

/ˌhɪəɹəʊˌstɹætɪk ˈfeɪm/

Herostratic is derived from Herostratus (learned borrowing from Latin Hērostratus, from Ancient Greek Ἡρόστρατος (Hēróstratos) + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns)). Herostratus (died c. 356 B.C.E.) was a Greek arsonist who sought fame by destroying the second Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (now in Izmir Province, Turkey), according to tradition by setting fire to it on 21 July 356 B.C.E., the birth date of Alexander the Great.

lbor

Fame (or infamy) won through crime, destruction, or some other misdeed.

Alexander the Great
Herostratus
Temple of Artemis

Herostratuksen maine

fame (or infamy) won through crime, destruction, or some other misdeed


tripudium

(historical) A solemn religious dance of the Ancient Romans, performed in triple time.


Œneus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰνεύς (Oineús).

For they ſay, that Œneus who reigned in Ætolia, being driven from his kingdom by the ſons of Agrius, fled to Diomed at Argos; and that Diomed led an army into Calydonia, and revenged the injuries of Œneus, but told him, that he could not remain in his dominions.

1794, Pausanias, The Description of Greece, (translated from Greek) volume I, chapter XXV, page #206

(Greek mythology) King of Calydon; husband of Althaea.


Œcles

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰκλῆς (Oiklês).

The gods in those days were sometimes mortals who are still worshipped, Aristæus, and Britomartis of Crete, and Hercules, the son of Alcmena, and Amphiarus, the son of Œcles, and beside them Castor and Pollux.

1917, Pausanias, quoted by Donald Mackenzie in Myths of Crete and Pre‐Hellenic Europe, re‐published by Forgotten Books, page 298

(Greek mythology) Son of Mantius and father of Amphiaraus.


Œnomaus

This ſeemed totally impoſſible, and to render it more terrible, Œnomaus declared that death would be the conſequence of a defeat in the ſuitors.

1797 C.E., John Lemprière, Bibliotheca Classica, third edition, MY, page #519

For every suitor, he presented the challenge of a chariot race across the Peloponnese to the Isthmus of Corinth. If the challenger won, he got to marry the girl. If he lost, the king would kill him. Oenomaüs was weighed down with his full armor— probably so as to be ready to murder the challenger who would lose[…]

2015 July 6, Richard A. Spencer, Harry Potter and the Classical World: Greek and Roman Allusions in J.K. Rowling's Modern Epic, McFarland, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235:

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Oenomaus


Œnotrus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἴνωτρος (Oínōtros).

[…] yet I hold it to have been a very ancient dialect, (probably brought into Latium by Œnotrus and his Arcadians, 17 generations before the Trojan war), which came off from the parent language before it was completely formed.

1789, James Burnett Monboddo, chapter III, in Of the Origin and Progress of Language, volume V, J. Balfour, page 91:

(Greek mythology) One of the younger sons of Lycaon.


Pythia

From Ancient Greek Πυθία (Puthía), from Πυθώ (Puthṓ) + -ία (-ía).

(Ancient Greece) A priestess of Pythian Apollo, the Oracle of Delphi


choragus

From Latin chorāgus, from Ancient Greek χορᾱγός (khorāgós), Doric form of χορηγός (khorēgós), from χορός (khorós, “chorus”) + ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).

af

(historical, Ancient Greece) A chorus leader, especially one who provided at his own expense and under his own supervision one of the choruses for the musical contests at Athens.


euhemerization

en-noun

euhemerization (countable and uncountable, plural euhemerizations)

/juːˌhiːməɹɪzˈeɪʃən/

From euhemerize + -ation, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

The euhemerization of Taoist myth by Confucian historians sometimes led to the appearance of figures such as "Lord Primordial Chaos" (渾沌氏) in the imperial genealogies.

(uncountable, derogatory) The fanciful invention of plausible historical figures and events as an attempt to rationalize mythology and legends

One such euhemerization is a Rowan Atkinson bit where he presents Jesus Christ as a misunderstood street magician.

Much of Chinese mythology appears to have been the result of euhemerization, the later deification of Neolithic tribal leaders and inventors incompletely remembered through oral traditions and now-lost records.

(uncountable) Synonym of deification: the actual creation of mythology and legends from historical figures and events; (countable) an instance of this.

rationalization & pseudohistory

fanciful creation of rational explanations for the supernatural


Twelve Labours of Hercules

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Twelve tasks carried out by the Greek hero Herakles (romanized as Hercules) as his penance.


Palamism

From Palamite + -ism, a technical term in the field of Church history coined in the mid 20th century.

The last years of the empire witnessed in Palamism a great revival of mystical personal religion.

1949, English Historical Review, 64, p. 505:

The victory of Palamism in the fourteenth century was therefore the victory of a specifically Christian, God-centered humanism for which the Greek patristic tradition always stood.

1974, John Meyendorff, Byzantine theology: historical trends and doctrinal themes, I. v., p. 78:

(Christianity) The beliefs and practices of the Palamites.


Latona

From Latin Lātōna, a Latinization of Ancient Greek Λητώ (Lētṓ).

(Greek mythology) The Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Leto and the mother of Apollo.


gynaeceum

gynaeceum (plural gynaeceums or gynaecea)

From Latin gynaecēum, gynaecīum, from Ancient Greek γυναικεῖον (gunaikeîon), from γυνή (gunḗ, “woman”). By surface analysis, gynaec- + -eum.

A master, however this may be, was very jealous of the inmates of his gyneceum, and he permitted no one to enter the place, which was protected as a sanctuary in the legislation of the Barbarians.

1926, PL Jacob, History of Prostitution, page 249:

It was agreeable to see men, after days in this gyneceum, bringing the place to life, to see waiters speeding to their command.

1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 61:

(Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) The women's quarters in a household; (hence, loosely) any building or area for women.


Leda

(Greek mythology) The wife of Tyndareus and mother of Helen, Clytemnestra and Castor and Pollux hatched from eggs as a result of a seduction by Zeus in the guise of a swan


Aegeus

(Greek mythology) A character in the founding myth of Athens.


Justinian

Borrowed from Latin Iūstīniānus, from Iūstīnus (“Justin”) + -iānus.

A family name in Late Antiquity, notably that of Justinian I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565.

Հուստինիանոս

emperor of the Byzantine or East Roman Empire from 527 to 565


Zend-Avesta

18th/19th-century misnomer for the Avesta, related to the confusion surrounding 'Zend'.


thriambus

Borrowed from New Latin thriambus, from Ancient Greek θρίαμβος (thríambos), of Pre-Greek origin. Doublet of triumph and trump.

(religion, Ancient Greece) A hymn to Dionysus, sung in processions in his honour.


Zephyrus

From Middle English Zeferus, Zepherus, Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin zephyrus, from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Not related to Latin zephirum (“zero”). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and zephyr.

doublet

(Greek mythology) The Ancient Greek god of the west wind, supposed to be the gentlest of the winds and the messenger of spring. His parents are Eos/Aurora and Astraeus, and his brothers are Boreas, Notus and Eurus, (the Anemoi), and the Astra Planeta. His wife is Chloris and their son is Karpos. His Roman counterpart is Favonius.


duumviral

Of or belonging to the duumviri or the duumvirate.


Hippolyte

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Hippolyta


Leucippus

(philosophy) an Ancient Greek philosopher from Miletus, the founder of atomism and the first thinker in western history to consider determinism as a possibility, disciple of Zeno of Elea


Ceyx

(Greek mythology) A king who was transformed into a kingfisher, together with his wife Alcyone.


Medea

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece.


Laocoön

From Latin Lāocoōn, from Ancient Greek Λᾱοκόων (Lāokóōn).

(Greek mythology) A Trojan priest of Poseidon (or Apollo, depending on the author), whose rules he had defied (or whom he had otherwise offended), who tried to warn his fellow citizens against the Trojan horse. He was killed for this, along with his two sons, by giant snakes sent by Minerva (or Poseidon, or Apollo).

(Greek mythology) An Argonaut, son of Porthaon.


Tiresias

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Τειρεσίας (Teiresías).

[…]somewhere a ship's radio was blaring out the latest jazz-hit to reach Alexandria:
Old Tiresias / No one half so breezy as, / Half so free and easy as / Old Tiresias.

1958, Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar, page 35:

1997, Nicole Loraux, translated by Paula Wissing, The Experiences of Tiresias: The Feminine and the Greek Man, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

The myth associated with how Tiresias became a hermaphrodite reveals much about relations between the sexes.

2004, Leonard Shlain, Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, page 255:

(Greek mythology) A long-lived blind soothsayer who participated over seven generations in the legendary history of (the Greek city) Thebes, noted also for being transformed into a woman for seven years, so being symbolic of androgyny.


Chalcedon

From Latin Chalcēdōn, from Ancient Greek Χαλκηδών (Khalkēdṓn). See Kadıköy.

An ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor in modern Turkey, almost directly opposite Byzantium.


Niobe

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Tantalus, said to have turned into stone while weeping for her children.


Nowruz

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *new-
Proto-Indo-European *néwos
Proto-Indo-Iranian *náwas
Proto-Iranian *náwah
Middle Persian 𐭭𐭥𐭪𐭩 (nʿky)
Proto-Indo-European *lewk-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-Iranian *ráwčas
Proto-Iranian *ráwčah
Old Persian 𐎼𐎢𐎨𐏃 (r-u-c-h)
Middle Persian 𐭩𐭥𐭬 (yʿm)
Middle Persian nwklwc
Classical Persian نَوْروز (nawrōz)
Iranian Persian نُوروز (nowruz)bor.
English Nowruz
Borrowed from Iranian Persian نُوروز (nowruz), from Classical Persian نَوْروز (nawrōz), from نَو (naw, “new”) + روز (rōz, “day”), cognate with the English phrase "new light".

bor+

New Year in the Iranian/Zoroastrian calendar, celebrated on the spring equinox.


thesmothete

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θεσμοθέτης (thesmothétēs).

(historical, Ancient Greece) A junior archon in Ancient Greece.


propylaeum

en-noun

propylaeum (plural propylaea or propylaeums)

/ˌpɹəʊpɪˈliːəm/

From Latin propylaeum, from Ancient Greek προπύλαιον (propúlaion), from προ- (pro-, “before”, “in front of”) + πύλη (púlē, “gate”).

On either side of the road young girls stood with pitchers at the fountains which bubbled there, and behind the houses forming the propylaea of the rock rose the massive forehead of the Isle — crested at this part with its enormous ramparts as with a mural crown.

(historical, especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome) A vestibule or entrance, (especially) to a temple.


Proserpina

From Latin Prōserpina from Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē) by metathesis perhaps first in Magna Graecia via a Sicilian Doric Greek Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) or Ionic Greek Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”) and *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike”), meaning 'corn-thresher'.

der

(Roman mythology) The goddess of springtime, queen of the underworld; the Roman equivalent of Persephone.


Cloelia

From Latin Cloelia, feminine form of the gens name Cloelius, Cluilius, from clueo.

(Roman mythology) A woman who saved Roman hostages from the Clusian camp.


Roman Republic

Roman Republic
Roman Republic (disambiguation)

(historical) The period of Ancient Rome where its government operated as a republic (approx. 509 BC – 27 BC).

რომის რესპუბლიკა

the period of Ancient Rome where its government operated as a republic


flaminical

flaminical college

flaminical couple

flaminical taboo

the unclouded serenity of Christian religion , with the dark overcasting of superstitious copes and flaminical vestures

1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, The Reason of Church-governement Urg’d against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC:


Protagoras

From Ancient Greek Πρωταγόρας (Prōtagóras).

man is the measure of all things
man is the measure of all things

A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, who famously said "man is the measure of all things".


praetexta

en-noun

praetexta (plural praetextas or praetextae)

From Latin praetexta (toga), from praetextus, past participle of praetexere (“to weave before, to fringe, border”); prae (“before”) + texere (“weave”).

The officers who had attended the proceſſion, ſtripped off the robes in which they were dreſſed, and caſt them in the flames. Women crowded to the pile, and threw upon it, as a ſacrifice to the manes of the dead, the ornaments of their own perſons, the gorgets and the prætextas of their children.

1783, Adam Ferguson, chapter II, in The History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic, volume III, Dublin: Printed for Meſſrs. Price, Whitestone, Colles, […], book V, page 73:

It gave to Pompey the Great the privilege of appearing in triumphal robes, and with a golden crown at Circensian games, and with a praetexta and golden crown at theatrical plays.

1886 October 30, Claverley, “The Origin of the Drama, and Old Dramatic Writers of Tragedy”, in Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, volume 62, number 9,350, Supplement, page 2:

In ancient Rome, after a boy celebrated his sixteenth birthday he was considered a man. He threw aside the praetexta worn in his youth, and donned the toga of a full-fledged Roman citizen.

1896 May 17, “A Chicago Boys First Vote”, in The Sunday Inter Ocean, volume 25, number 54, Chicago, Ill., page 23:

(historical, Ancient Rome) A white robe with a purple border, worn by a Roman boy before he was entitled to wear the toga virilis, or until about the completion of his fourteenth year, and by girls until their marriage. It was also worn by magistrates and priests.


fosseway

(Ancient Rome) A Roman military road with a fosse or ditch on each side to keep it dry.


navarch

From Latin navarchus, from Ancient Greek ναύαρχος (naúarkhos, “leader of the ships”), corresponding to navy + -arch.

der

The commander of a fleet was called Navarch

1784-1810, William Mitford, The History of Greece:

(historical, Ancient Greece) The commander of a fleet.


thalamegos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θᾰλᾰμηγός (thălămēgós).

bor+

(historical) A state barge fitted with cabins, on the Nile


adrogate

en-verb

adrogate (third-person singular simple present adrogates, present participle adrogating, simple past and past participle adrogated)

adrogates (present singular third-person)
adrogating (participle present)
adrogated (participle past)
adrogated (past)

There were certain sacred rites (sacra gentilitia) which belonged to a gens, to the observance of which all the members of a gens, as such, were bound, whether they were members by birth, adoption, or adrogation. A person was freed from the observance of such sacra, and lost the privileges connected with his gentile rites, when he lost his gens, that is, when he was adrogated, adopted, or even emancipated; for adrogation, adoption, and emancipation were accompanied by a diminutio capitis.

1848, G[eorge] L[ong], “GENS”, in William Smith, editor, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 2nd improved and enlarged edition, London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly, Upper Gower Street; and Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row; John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, page 568, column 2:

(transitive, Ancient Rome, law, historical) To adopt (a free citizen).


Argean

en-adj

Argean (comparative more Argean, superlative most Argean)

more Argean (comparative)
most Argean (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Argoan (“of or pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.”)


vexillary

From Latin vexillarius: compare French vexillaire.

In letters like to those the vexillary / Hast left crag-carven o'er the streaming Gelt— […]

1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Gareth and Lynette”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 84:

(Ancient Rome) A standard-bearer of a vexillum.


fetialis

This was the mode in which Roman treaties were made, the fecialis praying Jupiter to punish the infringer of the treaty as he did the animal, which he instantly dispatched with a flint stone.

1843, Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, “Heraldick Matters”, in Encyclopaedia of Antiquities and Elements of Archaeology, Classical and Mediaeval, volume 2, London, page 765:

[...] but when the theatre of war became more distant, the fetialis, consul, or praetor, contented himself with hurling his lance from a pillar near the temple of Bellona in the direction of the hostile territory, while the declaration of war itself was made by the military commander of the province through an ambassador.

1874, Theodore D. Woolsey, Introduction to the Study of International Law, 4th edition, New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., page 196:

Fetiales also investigated allies' claims of abuse by Romans; if substantiated, the fetiales delivered the men accused to the injured parties.

2016, Amanda J. Coles, “Ius Fetiale”, in Sara E[lise] Phang, Iain Spence, Douglas Kelly, Peter Londey, editors, Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia, volumes 3 (H–Z, Roman Section), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 973, column 2:

(Ancient Rome, politics, religion, historical) A fetial.


interdictum

(historical, Ancient Rome) A prohibition: a legal order issued by a praetor (or, in the provinces, a proconsul) at the request of a claimant and addressed to another person, imposing a requirement either to do something or to abstain from doing something.


dicast

From Ancient Greek δικαστής (dikastḗs, “judge”).


harmost

From Ancient Greek ἁρμοστής (harmostḗs). See harmony.

(Ancient Greece) A governor or ruler appointed by the Spartans in the cities they subjugated.


psephisma

From Latin psēphisma, and its source, Ancient Greek ψήφισμα (psḗphisma).

The ruin of the antient democracies was, that they ruled […] by occasional decrees, psephismata.

1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France:


Vulcanian

Directly from Latin Vulcāniānus or from Latin Vulcānius + -an within English, from Vulcānus + -iānus (“-ian”) or -ius (“-y: forming adjectives”). In reference to a type or stage of volcanic activity, via Italian Vulcaniano, with specific reference to Giuseppe Mercalli's observations of the 1888–90 eruptions of the Aeolian island Vulcano. Equivalent to Vulcan + -ian. Doublet of volcanian. Compare slightly earlier Middle French vulcanien.

...Nor cou'd Vulcanian Flame
The Stench abolish; or the Savour tame...

1697, John Dryden translating Vergil as Georgics, Book III, in The Works of Virgil, p. 121

(Roman mythology) Of, related to, or created by Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalwork, considered equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus and several German and Celtic gods.

Yet Muto, like a good Vulcanian,
An honest Cuckold, calls the bastard sonne,
And brags of that which others for him done.

1598, John Marston, “Certaine Satyres”, in The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image..., page 41:

(rare, obsolete) Alternative letter-case form of vulcanian, a cuckold.

(astronomy) Of or related to the proposed planet Vulcan or a cluster of asteroids at the same location in the Solar System.


Pegasean

en-adj

Pegasean (comparative more Pegasean, superlative most Pegasean)

more Pegasean (comparative)
most Pegasean (superlative)

Deſcend from Heav'n Urania, by that name / If rightly thou art call'd, whoſe Voice divine / Following, above th' Olympian Hill I ſoare, / Above the flight of Pegaſean wing.

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1–4:

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to the mythical winged horse Pegasus.


Ancient Egypt

(historical) A civilization that existed in the valley of the Nile River from c. 3150 BCE to 30 BCE.


thranite

From Ancient Greek θρανίτης (thranítēs), from θρᾶνος (thrânos, “bench”).

(historical, Ancient Greece) One of the rowers on the topmost of the three benches in a trireme. They were usually the best rowers.


septemvir

en-noun

septemvir (plural septemvirs or septemviri)

(Ancient Rome) A member of a septemvirate; one of seven people associated in some office.


quadragintireme

As to the Quadragintiremes, or vessels usually described as having forty ranks or tiers of oars, we cannot reconcile the report to our understandings, except by supposing them nothing more than galleys fitted with as many oars in each rank.

1799, The Naval Chronicle, volume 1, page 132:

(nautical, historical) A vessel with 40 rows of oars.


Hero

(Greek mythology) Any of a number of legendary men and women, including the priestess loved by Leander.


Astraea

Translingual: Astraea

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀστραῖα (Astraîa, literally “star maiden”)

lbor

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of stars and justice; similar to Dike, equivalent to the Roman goddess Justitia.


Parthenope

From Latin Parthenopē, from Ancient Greek Παρθενόπη (Parthenópē, from παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin, virginal”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”)).

der

(Greek mythology) One of the sirens, daughter of the god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore.

(astronomy) 11 Parthenope, a main belt asteroid.


Egeria

On the heroine of his play he dwelt with the passionate fondness of a lover: there the real mingled with the ideal: could he write of love, and not think of Ethel Churchill? She was the Egeria of his heart, who taught him all the truth of tenderness.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 165:

(Roman mythology) A nymph or minor goddess from Roman mythology.


Eunomia

From Ancient Greek Εὐνομία (Eunomía, “Order of Law, Good Order”).


Fortuna

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of luck, fortune and fate, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche.


Bellona

But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War
Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo
All sciences that speed Bellona's car,
All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […]

1831, Thomas Campbell, The Power of Russia:

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of war, wife or sister of Mars. Equivalent to the Greek goddess Enyo.


Amphitrite

From Ancient Greek Ἀμφιτρίτη (Amphitrítē).

(Greek mythology) A nymph, the wife of Poseidon.


Leukothea

From Ancient Greek Λευκοθέα; "white goddess".

(Greek mythology) A nymph or minor sea goddess of Greek mythology.


Fides

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of trust and loyalty. Her Greek equivalent was Pistis.


Trophonian

en-adj

Trophonian (comparative more Trophonian, superlative most Trophonian)

more Trophonian (comparative)
most Trophonian (superlative)

Trophonian den

Of or pertaining to Trophonius, a mythological figure of Ancient Greece, said to have built the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the treasury of King Hyrieus in Boeotia.


Salii

From Latin Salii (“the Leapers, the Jumpers”), from salīre (“to leap, to jump”).

bor

(historical) The 12 priests of Mars Gradivus in Ancient Rome.


Lotophagi

Latin, from Ancient Greek Λωτοφάγος (Lōtophágos).

(Greek mythology) The lotus eaters; a people visited by Ulysses who subsisted on the lotus.


gymnasiarch

From Latin gymnasiarchus, from Ancient Greek γυμνασίαρχος (gumnasíarkhos).

uder

γυμνασίαρχος

(Ancient Greece) An officer who had various powers and duties connected with the gymnasia, such as the payment of training, oil, or other necessities.


Hellanodic

From Ancient Greek Ἑλλανοδίκας (Hellanodíkas), from Ἕλλην (Héllēn, “Greek”) + δίκη (díkē, “justice”).

af

(Ancient Greece) A judge or umpire in certain games or combats.


enomoty

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐνωμοτία (enōmotía).

(historical, Ancient Greece) A band of sworn soldiers; a division of the Spartan army ranging from twenty-five to thirty-six men, bound together by oath.


parascenium

(Ancient Greece, theater) One of two apartments adjoining the ancient stage, probably used as dressing rooms.


eparch

From Ancient Greek ἔπαρχος (éparkhos), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “ruler”).

(historical, Ancient Greece) The governor or prefect of a province.

eparkhos

(Ancient Greece) the governor or prefect of a province

An Orthodox eparch, or metropolitan bishop, was installed in Polatsk in 992.

2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 246:

(Eastern Orthodoxy) The metropolitan bishop of a province or eparchy.


taxiarch

From Ancient Greek ταξῐαρχος (taxĭarkhos, “taxiarch”), from τάξις (táxis, “body of soldiers”) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “leader, commander”). Equivalent to taxi- + -arch.

bor

The Taxis of the Athenian service, like the Lochus of the Lacedæmonian, was analogous to our battalion, and the rank of the Taxiarch, its commander, as of the Lochage, was nearly that of our colonel.

1838, William Mitford, History of Greece, revised edition, volume 1, section IV, chapter V:

In recognition of his services in the education of the women of Athens, he was buried with the honors of a taxiarch, by special orders […]

1968, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography:

(historical, Ancient Greece) An Athenian military officer commanding a certain division of an army.


tricennial

From Latin trīcennium (“30-year period”) + -al, from trīcennis (“30-year”) + -ium, from trīciēs (“30 times”) + annus (“year”) + -is. Compare Latin tricennalis. Equivalent to tri- + decennial. Doublet of tricennal.

Some manuscripts of Eusebius' Life of Constantine contain not only the four books of the Life and Constantine's Speech to the Assembly of the Saints but also two speeches which are conventionally known by a single title as Laus Constantini, Laudes Constantini, De laudibus Constantini, or the "Tricennial Oration," and which all editors of Eusebius so far have published as a single work.

1977, T.D. Barnes, “Two Speeches by Eusebius”, in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, number 18, page 341:

(vi) The employment of Constantine's high-crested helmet in the gold coinage of Constantius in his tricennial issues...

1997, Patrick Bruun, “The Victorious Signs of Constantine: A Reappraisal”, in Numismatic Chronicle, volume 157, page 53:

(historical) Of or related to a tricennalia, the celebrations marking the 30th year of a Roman emperor's rule.


Valley of the Kings

The tomb chapel has no burial shaft below it, and it has been suggested that Rekhmira was buried in a shaft tomb in the Valley of the Kings, although the location of this burial-place remains unknown.

1995, Ian Shaw, Paul Nicholson, “Rekhmira”, in The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, The British Museum Press, published 2002, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 244, column 1:

(Egyptology) A valley in Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, known for the tombs constructed there for the pharaohs.


Aonian

en-adj

Aonian (comparative more Aonian, superlative most Aonian)

more Aonian (comparative)
most Aonian (superlative)

The Aonian fount stood at the foot of Mount Helicon, not far from Thebes, and was sacred to the Muses.

(Ancient Greece) Pertaining to Aonia, or to the Muses, who were supposed to dwell there.

aonio

pertaining to Aonia, or to the Muses, who were supposed to dwell there


Orestes

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὀρέστης (Oréstēs).

(Greek mythology) The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother, avenging his father's death, and was then pursued by the Furies.


andron

Latin andron, from Ancient Greek ἀνδρών (andrṓn).

(architecture, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome), the room reserved for males and their activities, often in the lower part of the house.


Argoan

Argoan (comparative more Argoan, superlative most Argoan)

more Argoan (comparative)
most Argoan (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.


amphoric

From Latin amphoricus (“of or related to an amphora”), from amphora + -icus (“-ic: forming adj.”). Equivalent to amphora + -ic.

der

amphoric respiration or resonance

(medicine) Produced by or indicating a hollow cavity in the lungs, giving a sound like that produced by blowing into an empty decanter.

amphorique

medicine: produced by or indicating a hollow cavity in the lungs


symposiarch

From Ancient Greek συμποσίαρχος (sumposíarkhos). By surface analysis, symposium + -arch.

συμποσίαρχος

(historical, Ancient Greece) The master of a feast.


chelandion

From Ancient Greek χελάνδιον (khelándion).

(historical, nautical) a Byzantine bireme used primarily for cargo transport


dromon

(historical, nautical) A Byzantine bireme, similar to the chelandion, but used primarily for naval combat.


pentecoster

From pentecost + -er, from Medieval Latin pentēcostē, from Ancient Greek πεντηκοστή (pentēkostḗ, “fiftieth”). Cognate with Pentecost.

...they would have the command of the pentecoster, penteconter, or pentecoptater (for thus variously the title is written)...

1784-1810, William Mitford, The History of Greece:

An officer who commands fifty men, particularly (historical) in the Spartan army.


Orcus

From Latin Orcus. Doublet of ogre and orc.

Then ſhall our footmen lie within the trench,
And with their Cannons mouth’d like Orcus gulfe
Batter the wales, and we will enter in:
And thus the Grecians ſhalbe conquered.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:

(Roman mythology) The Etruscan and Roman god of the underworld.


triaconter

From Ancient Greek τριακοντήρης (triakontḗrēs).

τριακοντήρης

(Ancient Greece) A vessel with thirty banks of oars, or thirty ranks of rowers.


civic crown

Calque of Latin corōna cīvica, the adjective being from cīves (“citizen”).

(historical, Ancient Rome) A crown or garland of oak leaves and acorns, bestowed on a soldier who had saved the life of a citizen in battle.


lemures

Coordinate term: Lares

The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint.

1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:

So still lay the figure, and so dim was its outline, that any other than Arbaces might have felt a superstitious fear, lest he beheld one of those grim lemures, who, above all other spots, haunted the threshold of the homes they formerly possessed.

1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC, book IV, page 13:

(Roman mythology) The spirits or ghosts of the dead, considered as malignant.


Lampadrome

(Ancient Greece) A race run by young men carrying lighted torches.


enomotarch

/ɪˈnəʊməˌtɑː(ɹ)k/

From Ancient Greek ἐνωμοτάρχης (enōmotárkhēs).

sixteen Enomotarchs : the number of soldiers he leaves unmentioned

(historical, Ancient Greece) The commander of an enomoty.


uti possidetis

From Latin [Term?] (literally “as you possess”).

bor

(law, historical, Ancient Rome) A species of interdict granted to one who was in possession of an immovable thing, in order that he might be declared the legal possessor.


Punic War

So ended the first and longest of the three Punic Wars; or, if viewed from a more romantic standpoint, the first act of a three-act tragedy, the tragedy of the destruction not only of Carthage but also of old Rome - of Rome the city state.

1992, Brian Caven, The Punic Wars, Barnes & Noble, page 64:

The first Punic War has ended in 241 BC, but another Punic War would begin in 218 BC.

2002, Richard Michael Pasichnyk, In Defense of Nature: The History Nobody Told You About, iUniverse, page 133:

The third and last Punic War (151-146 B.C.E) led to the complete destruction of Carthage.

2004, Kevin McGeough, The Romans: new perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 69:

Any of several wars between Ancient Rome and Carthage.


phyle

From New Latin phȳlē, from Ancient Greek φῡλή (phūlḗ, “a union of individuals into a community”).

der

(Ancient Greece) A local division of the people; a clan or tribe.


stellionate

From Latin stellionatus (“cozenage, trickery”), from stellio (“a newt, a crafty, knavish person”).

The crime of stellionate[…]includes every fraud which is not distinguished by a special name; but it is chiefly applied to conveyances of the same numerical right granted by the proprietor to different disponees

1754, John Erskine of Carnock, Principles of the Law of Scotland:

(law, Scotland, Ancient Rome) Any fraud not distinguished by a more special name; chiefly applied to sales of the same property to two different persons, or selling that for one's own which belongs to another, etc.


glossocomon

Apparently from Ancient Greek γλωσσόκομον (glōssókomon, “a case for flute mouthpieces”).

(Ancient Greece) A kind of winch used to hoist patients.


hemiditone

(music, Ancient Greece) The lesser third.


Asiarch

From Latin Asiarcha, from Ancient Greek Ἀσιάρχης (Asiárkhēs).

They now begged Philip, the Asiarch, to let out a lion against Polycarp

1794, Joseph Milner, The History of the Church of Christ:

(historical) One of the chiefs or pontiffs of the Roman province of Asia, who had the superintendence of the public games and religious rites.

asiarque

one of the chiefs or pontiffs of the Roman province of Asia


postscenium

(Ancient Rome, theater) The part of a theater behind the stage; the backstage area.


Mazdean

en-adj

Mazdean (comparative more Mazdean, superlative most Mazdean)

more Mazdean (comparative)
most Mazdean (superlative)

Of or pertaining to Mazda, the Zoroastrian deity.


Pnyx

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πνύξ (Pnúx); since ancient times it has been claimed the word is derived from πυκνός (puknós, “close-packed; dense; thick”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *puḱ- (“to press together”), but the Oxford English Dictionary considers this a folk etymology with no evidence supporting it.

der

(Ancient Greece, historical) A hill in Athens west of the Acropolis with a stone platform and steps set into its side, which was used as the meeting place of the democratic assembly in Ancient Greece.


prolegate

From Latin prolegatus, from pro (“for”) + legatus (“legate”).

(Ancient Rome) The deputy or substitute legate.


hetaerism

From Ancient Greek ἑταῖρος (hetaîros, “companion”) + -ism.

An Ancient Greek custom according to which a man's wife was forbidden to accompany him to many public events, including the banquets or symposia which made up a large part of Greek social life, and where men sought out the company of courtesans or hetaerae instead.


Lampadist

(Ancient Greece) One who gained the prize in the Lampadrome.


plebiscitum

en-noun

plebiscitum (plural plebiscitums or plebiscita)

plebiscitums (plural)
plebiscita (plural)

Learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum, plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”) (from scīscō (“to ascertain; to know; to decree, enact, ordain”) (from sciō (“to know; to understand”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect; to split”)) + -scō (suffix meaning ‘to begin [doing something]’)) + -tum (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).

der

Still worse went it with another individual; doomed, by extempore Plebiscitum, to the Lanterne; […]

1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

(Ancient Rome, historical) A law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate.


Asclepiad

First used by the Ancient Greek poet Asclepius.

(Ancient Greece) A member of one of the families that claimed descent from Asclepius, known as physicians or healers.


decurionate

/dɪˈkjʊəɹɪənət/

(Ancient Rome) The position or office of a decurion.


panegyris

From Ancient Greek πανήγυρις (panḗguris), from παν- (pan-, “all”) + ἄγυρις (águris), Aeolic form of ᾰ̓γορᾱ́ (ăgorā́, “assembly”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to assemble, gather together”). See panegyric.

(Ancient Greece) religious festival on a fixed day in honor of a god, often including prayers, games, and panegyrics.


pancratist

An athlete or gymnast in the pankration in Ancient Greece.


ecbole

en-noun

ecbole (countable and uncountable, plural ecboles)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐκβολή (ekbolḗ, “a digression”), from ἐκβάλλω (ekbállō, “to throw out”).

bor

Ecbole: a […] change in the enharmonic genus, by the accidental elevation of a chord, or string, five dieses above its ordinary pitch.

1813, J.M. Good & al., Pantologia, s.v. "Ecbole"

(music) The raising or sharping of a tone, especially (historical) in relation to Ancient Greek music.


parapherna

From Late Latin parapherna, from Ancient Greek παράφερνα (parápherna, “things additional to a dowry”), from παρα- (para-, “beside”) + φερνή (phernḗ, “dowry”). In the propertied classes, a dowry was placed under the control of the husband, while the 'paraphernalia' which she brought with her remained the wife’s property.

der

(law, historical, Ancient Rome) A woman's property which was not made a part of her marriage dower but remained her own.


Cyrenaic

en-adj

Cyrenaic (comparative more Cyrenaic, superlative most Cyrenaic)

more Cyrenaic (comparative)
most Cyrenaic (superlative)

From Latin Cyrenaicus, from Ancient Greek Κῡρηνᾰῐ̈κός (Kūrēnăĭ̈kós), from Κῡρηναῖος (Kūrēnaîos, “Cyrenian, n.”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic: forming adjectives”), from Κυρήνη (Kurḗnē, “Cyrene”) + -ιος (-ios, “-y: forming demonyms”), q.v. Equivalent to Cyrene + -ic or a backformation from Cyrenaica.

(chiefly historical) Of or related to Cyrenaicism, the philosophical school founded by Aristippus of Cyrene and codified by Aristippus the Younger.

(historical) Synonym of Cyrenian, of or related to Cyrene.

Cyrenaican

(chiefly historical) Synonym of Cyrenaican, of or related to Cyrenaica, the area around Cyrene in northeastern Libya.


Cyrenaic

(chiefly historical) A member or adherent of Cyrenaicism, the philosophical school founded by Aristippus of Cyrene and codified by Aristippus the Younger.

(historical) Synonym of Cyrenian, a person of or from Cyrene.

Cyrenaican

(chiefly historical) Synonym of Cyrenaican, a person of or from Cyrenaica, the area around Cyrene in northeastern Libya.


Pre-Greek

Calque of German Vorgriechisch. By surface analysis, pre- + Greek.

A hypothetical language (or languages) conjectured to have been spoken in prehistoric Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greek speakers, and used to explain the large number of non-Indo-European words found in Ancient Greek.


Marcian

(Ancient Greece) A minor fourth century Greek geographer from Heraclea (an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia).

(Ancient Rome) Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457, born 392.

(Ancient Rome) Son of Anthemius, grandson of the Emperor Marcian, who led an unsuccessful rebellion in 479.


atimy

From Ancient Greek ἀτιμία (atimía, “disgrace”).

uder

the decree of atimy, or deprivation of rights and honors, which had been passed against him on occasion of the mutilation of the Mercuries[…]

(historical, Ancient Greece) public disgrace or stigma; outlawry; loss of civil rights


chiliarchy

From Latin chiliarchia, from Ancient Greek χιλιαρχία (khiliarkhía), from χῑ́λιοι (khī́lioi, “1000”) + -αρχία (-arkhía, “-archy: rule by”). Equivalent to chilia- + -archy.


psephism

Ancient Greek ψήφισμα (psḗphisma, “a decree”) from ψηφίζω (psēphízō, “to vote”)

No psephism shall pass to the commons before the senate's supervisal. The tablets on which the psephisms are engraved are by no means to be removed.

1694, John Potter, Archaeologica Graeca:

The well-known story of the Spartan psephism quoted by Boethius de musica, via. that the Spartans ordered him to cut off four of his eleven strings […] is contradicted by the present text

1880, John Pentland Mahaffy, History of Classical Greek Literature:

(historical, Ancient Greece) A proposition adopted by a majority of votes, especially by the vote of the Athenian people; a statute.


Rhadamanthus

/ˌɹæ.dəˈmæn.θəs/

From Latin, from Ancient Greek Ῥαδάμανθυς (Rhadámanthus).

(Greek mythology) A king of Crete, one of the three judges in Hades.


trabea

When the emperors were themselves consuls, they wore a Trabea adorned with gems, which were allowed to none else.

1767, Basil Kennett, Romae Antiquae Notitia:

(historical, Ancient Rome) A toga of purple, or ornamented with purple horizontal stripes, worn by kings, consuls, and augurs.


Lotusland

In reference to Vancouver, coined by Canadian journalist Allan Fotheringham.

coined

We will abide in the golden vale / Of the Lotos-land, till the Lotos fail; / We will not wander more.

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 117:

Calypso is by far the most effective impediment Odysseus encounters on his journey home to Ithaca, holding him in a sensuous but tedious captivity for seven years, Lotusland revisited.

1994, Judith Yarnall, Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress:

(Greek mythology) The legendary island of the lotus-eaters.


primipilar

From Latin primipilaris, from primipilus (“the centurion of the first cohort of a Roman legion”), from primus pilus (“the division made up of the triarii in the Roman army”).

Upon ſuch grounds it may be reaſonable to allovv S. Peter a primacy of order; ſuch an one as the Ring-leader hath in a Dance, as the primipilar Centurion had in the Legion, or the Prince of the Senate had there, in the Roman State; […]

a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “[The I. Supposition Discussed, that Saint Peter had a Primacy over the Apostles]”, in J[ohn] Tillotson, editor, A Treatise of the Pope’s Supremacy. […], London: […] Miles Flesher, for Brabazon Aylmer, […], published 1680, →OCLC, page 49:

(Ancient Rome) Of or relating to the captain of the vanguard of a Roman army.


catasterism

From Ancient Greek καταστερισμός (katasterismós, “star legend”), from καταστερίζω (katasterízō, “to place among the stars”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”).

uder

καταστερισμός

(Greek mythology) The transformation of a hero or mythological creature, into a star, constellation, comet or other celestial object.


Senones

Via Latin from Ancient Greek Σήνωνες (Sḗnōnes), originally the capital of the Gaulish people of the same name.


gymnopaedic

Ancient Greek From Ancient Greek γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”) + a child.

(Ancient Greece) Of or relating to the Gymnopaedia (a Spartan festival)


Areopagitic

en-adj

Areopagitic (comparative more Areopagitic, superlative most Areopagitic)

more Areopagitic (comparative)
most Areopagitic (superlative)

/ˌɛəɹiəʊpəˈd͡ʒɪtɪk/

Latin Areopagiticus, from Ancient Greek.

(Ancient Greece) Of or pertaining to the Areopagus (council of ancient Athens).

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the Areopagitic Oration of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (named after but only loosely connected to the Areopagus).


Areopagitic

/ˌɛəɹiəʊpəˈd͡ʒɪtɪk/

1836 (1810), William Mitford, The History of Greece, Volume VIII, T. Cadell (London), W. Blackwood & Sons (Edinburgh), New Edition, page 60,
The Areopagitic carries within itself clear indication of its own date, after the conclusion of peace with the confederates, and before the measures which quickly followed […] .

1884 (1869), Thomas Carlyle, Carlyles' Works: Critical and miscellaneous essays, Volume IV, Dana Estes & Charles E. Lauriat, page 201,
And one Mr. Milton sat in his house, by Bride's Church, teaching grammar, writing Areopagitics; and had dined that day, not perhaps without criticism of the cookery.

(Ancient Greece) A document connected to the Areopagus, particularly an oration delivered before it.


helotry

en-noun

helotry (countable and uncountable, plural helotries)

Apparently influenced by Montesquieu's judgment that Spartan helotry combined the worst features of slavery and serfdom, Dew credited the Athenians with treating their slaves gently.

2005, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Eugene D. Genovese, The Mind of the Master Class, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 289:

(Ancient Greece) Collectively, the helots (slaves or bondsmen).


centumvir

centumvir (plural centumvirs or centumviri)

(historical, Ancient Rome) One of a court of about 100 judges chosen to try civil suits. Under the Empire the court was increased to 180, and met usually in four sections.


Hathor

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἅθωρ (Háthōr), from Egyptian ḥwt-ḥr O10-C9.

(Egyptian mythology) The goddess of joy, love, and motherhood; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ra/Horus; often depicted as having a cow's head.


Bastet

From Egyptian bꜣstjt (“Bastet”, literally “she of the ointment jar”).

bor

(Egyptian mythology) The goddess of the sun and the moon, of cats, and Lower Egypt; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ptah, often depicted as having a she-cat's head.


Sekhmet

From Egyptian sḫmt (“Sekhmet”), in turn from sḫm (“to have control”) (compare sḫm jb (“violent”)).

(Egyptian mythology) The goddess of death, war, violence, plague, and medicine; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ptah; depicted as having the head of a lioness.


Eleatic

en-adj

Eleatic (comparative more Eleatic, superlative most Eleatic)

more Eleatic (comparative)
most Eleatic (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin Eleāticus, from Ancient Greek ’Ελεατικός (’Eleatikós), from Ἐλέα (Eléa, “Elea, Velia”).

Of or relating to a certain school in Elea of Ancient Greek philosophers who taught that reality is stable and unchanging and that real knowledge comes from reason rather than senses.


pentecosty

en-noun

pentecosty (plural pentecosties or pentecostys)

pentecosties (plural)
pentecostys (plural)

From Ancient Greek πεντηκοστύς (pentēkostús), from πεντήκοντα (pentḗkonta, “fifty”).

There were seven companies in the field without counting the Sciritae, who numbered six hundred men: in each company there were four Pentecostyes, and in the Pentecosty four Enomoties.

1874, Thucydides, translated by Richard Crawley, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 5:

(military, Ancient Greece) A troop of fifty soldiers in the Spartan army.


disdiapason

(music, Ancient Greece) An interval of two octaves, or a fifteenth.


amphictyonic

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀμφικτυονικός (Amphiktuonikós). By surface analysis, amphictyon + -ic.

bor

Ἀμφικτυονικός

an Amphictyonic town or state

the Amphictyonic body

Of the duties of the Amphictyonic Council nothing will give us a better idea than the oath taken by its members. It ran thus “We will not destroy any Amphictyonic town, nor cut it off from running water in war or peace[…]

1854, William Smith, A History of Greece: From the Earliest Times to the Roman ... - Página 50:

(Ancient Greece) Of or relating to the amphictyons or their League or Council.


prytany

From Ancient Greek πρυτανεία (prutaneía, “presidency”), from πρύτανις (prútanis).

der

(historical, Ancient Greece) The period during which the presidency of the senate belonged to the prytanes of the section


amphictyon

Borrowed from Latin Amphictyones, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀμφικτύονες (Amphiktúones), both of which are only attested in the plural. Probably the word originally meant "dwellers around, neighbours".

(Ancient Greece) One of the deputies from the confederated states of Ancient Greece to a congress or council. They considered both political and religious matters.

amphictyon

deputee from the confederated states of Ancient Greece


conistra

From Ancient Greek κονίστρα (konístra), from κονίς (konís, “dust”).

(historical) A part of the orchestra of the Ancient Greek theatre.


pilentum

(Ancient Rome) An easy chariot or carriage, used by Roman ladies, and in which the vessels etc. for sacred rites were carried.


hemina

From Latin hemina (“half-sextarius”), from Ancient Greek, from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-: half”) + -ίνα (-ína, “-ina: forming nouns”). As a Spanish unit, via Spanish hemina.

...an Æginean Hemina of Hydromel ...

1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations:

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of ⁵⁄₆ Roman pound of wine and equivalent to about 0.27 L although differing slightly over time, used in English pharmacy into the 17th century.

(historical) A traditional Spanish unit of dry measure equivalent to about 23 L, used particularly in Leon.

(historical) A traditional Spanish unit of land area, varying in size depending on the land's quality and used particularly in Leon.


decury

Accordingly, the hundred senators divided the government among themselves, ten decuries being formed, and the individual members who were to have the chief direction of affairs being chosen into each decury.

1904, John Henry Freese, Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb, Roman History, Books I-III:

If one, two, or more of a decury proceed bravely to battle, and the rest do not follow, the cowards are slain.

1760, Robert Kerr, A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1:

(Ancient Rome) A group of ten men under the command of a decurion.


Philippi

From Latin Philippī, from Ancient Greek Φίλιπποι (Phílippoi). Doublet of Filippi.

A city, the county seat of Barbour County, West Virginia, United States.


Angelos

From Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos). Doublet of Angel.

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Zeus and Hera, and a goddess of the Underworld.


Agdistis

(Greek mythology) A hermaphroditic being, associated with the worship of Cybele or Rhea


Massilia

Unadapted borrowing from Latin Massilia.

Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis#English

(historical) A city in Gallia Narbonensis, now Marseille


moirai

(Greek mythology) The three Fates, personifications of destiny.


polemarch

/ˈpɑləˌmɑɹk/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πολέμαρχος (polémarkhos).

(historical, Ancient Greece, originally) The military commander in chief in Athens, one of the nine archonts.

Ancient Greece; originally; Ancient Greece; originally

(historical, Ancient Greece) A civil magistrate in Athens who had jurisdiction in respect of strangers and sojourners.

(historical, Ancient Greece) In other Greek (city) states, a high military and civil officer.


pancratiast

(Ancient Greece) A contestant in the pancratium.


tauroctony

From Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ταυροκτόνος (tauroktónos), from ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”) + κτόνος (któnos, “killing”).

lbor

In any event, if, as I am arguing, the tauroctony represents the astronomical situation which obtained during the epoch in which the spring equinox was in Taurus, the fact that the summer solstice was in Leo during that epoch provides a convincing explanation for the occasional presence of the figure of a lion in the tauroctony.

1991, David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, Oxford University Press, page 54:

The central icon, ever present in Mithras temples throughout the Roman Empire, is the tauroctony, or bull-slaying.

2005, Payam Nabarz, The Mysteries of Mithras, Inner Traditions, page 20:

Tauroctonies featuring Mithras' regular clothes but with a crown instead of a cap would belong to a further cluster. A tauroctony would then also be assigned to other clusters for its patterns of features relating to the torchbearers, to the animals, and so on.

2022, Kevin Stoba, “6: A network analysis of the Mithraic tauroctony”, in Anna Collar, editor, Networks and the Spread of Ideas in the Past, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), unnumbered page:

(Mithraism, historical, art) A depiction (typically in relief or sculpture) of Mithras killing a bull; associated with the practice of Mithraism (as a cult) in the Roman Empire.

tauroctonie

depiction of the killing of a bull by Mithras


sigillaria

(historical, Ancient Rome) Little images or figures of earthenware sold or given as presents on the last two days of the saturnalia.


Adad

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒀭𒅎 (Adad).

Adad was often depicted in human form, standing on a bull and wearing a horned headdress and a tiered skirt decorated with stars.

1998, Tamra Andrews, Dictionary of Nature Myths, Oxford, published 2000, page 4:

The beauty of the sun god, Shamash, shone in his face, and the courage of the storm god, Adad, was in his blood.

2003, Janet Parker, Julie Stanton, editors, Mythology: Myths, Legends and Fantasies, Cape Town, published 2006, page 326:

The god of storms in Mesopotamian mythology.


ancile

(Ancient Rome) The sacred shield of the Ancient Romans, said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa Pompilius. 11 copies were said to have been made, and it was the palladium of Rome.


pylagore

Ancient Greek [Term?] Pylae, or Thermopylae, where the Amphictyonic council met + to assemble: compare French pylagore.

(Ancient Greece) A deputy of a state at the Amphictyonic council.


patavinity

en-noun

patavinity (usually uncountable, plural patavinities)

From Latin patavinitas, from Patavium (now Padua), where Livy was born. Compare French patavinité.

Livy, the Roman historian was often accused of patavinity.

(Ancient Greece) The use of local or provincial words


Faunus

(Roman mythology) Horned god of the forest, plains and fields; Greek counterpart: Pan.


Paulicianism

From Paulician + -ism; see Paulician for more.

(historical) A Christian sect and militarized revolt movement that flourished between 650 and 872 in Armenia and the Eastern Themes of the Byzantine Empire.


secle

From Latin saeculum. Compare French siècle. See secular.

If on this principle we calculate back from this first secular epoch preserved in history, the beginning ot the second secle falls U.C. 78.

1845, Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Sir Travers Twiss, Niebuhr's History of Rome - Volumes 1-2, page 55:

Such a secular year therefore was probably the term assigned to the life of the gods, as the natural secle was to the life of man, the secular day to that of nations, the secular week to that of one human race. They taught, as we know historically, that the expiration of each secular day was announced by wonders and signs, intelligible to them. So was the close of every natural secle; ten of which, of unequal length, made up a great day. The signs by which each of these epochs had been foreshewn, were recorded in their history .

1847, Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Leonhard Schmitz, The History of Rome - Volume 1, page 138:

So the haruspex Vulcatius announced that the comet which appeared shortly after the assassination of Julius Cæsar indicated the end of the ninth secle and the beginning of the tenth.

1887, Horace, James Lonsdale, Samuel Lee, The Works of Horace, page 85:

(Ancient Rome) The length of an epoch, believed to be the amount of time that elapsed from the start of one epoch to the time when no one who was alive at that point is still alive (starting at the founding of Rome).


Astraeus

Ancient Greek Ἀστραῖος (Astraîos), in turn from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”).

(Greek mythology) The Greek god of the dusk. Husband of Eos (goddess of the dawn), and father of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets").


superficiary

(historical, Ancient Rome) One to whom a right of surface occupation is granted; one who pays quitrent for a house built upon another's ground.


chilian

(Ancient Greece) A chiliarch (commander or chief of a thousand men).


Augean stables

Augean stables pl (normally plural, singular Augean stable)

From Augean (“pertaining to Augeas”) + stables. Augeas was a legendary king of Elis in Greek mythology who owned 3,000 divine cattle which produced a huge amount of dung in stables that had not been cleaned for over 30 years. The cleaning of the stables was the fifth of the twelve Labours of Hercules, which Hercules achieved by rerouting the Alpheus and Peneus rivers through them.

compound

Yea, as yee loue your ovvne life, peace, vvelfare; Rouze vp your ſpirits, avvaken your Chriſtian courage, and ſet your ſelues heartily againſt the traitorly ſinnes of theſe times, vvhich threaten the bane of all theſe. Cleanſe yee theſe Augean''' ſtables of our drunken Tauernes, of our profane ſtages, and of thoſe blinde Vaults of profeſſed filthineſſe, VVhoſe ſteppes goe dovvne to the chambers of Death; yea, to the deepe of Hell.

1613 April 3 (Gregorian calendar), Jos[eph] Hall, “An Holy Panegyrick. A Sermon Preached at Paules-Crosse, vpon the Anniuersary Solemnity of the Happie Inauguration of Our Drad Soueraigne Lord, King Iames, March 24. 1613.”, in A Recollection of Such Treatises as Haue Bene heretofore Seuerally Published and are Nowe Reuised, Corrected, Augmented. […], London: […] [Humfrey Lownes] for Arthur Iohnson, Samuel Macham and Laurence Lisle, published 1615, →OCLC, page 711:

Let us ſhevv our Duty to this our great and benevolent Sovereign; let us endeavour to alleviate his Cares, and him of all ungrateful Burthens; let us take upon our ſelves the heavy and long Labour of cleanſing the Augean''' Stables, and of cutting off all the Hydra's Head at once.

1721 February 1 (Gregorian calendar), “Cato” [pseudonym], “Political Letters to the Author of the Lond[on] Journal, from Jan. 14. to Feb. 18.”, in The Political State of Great Britain, volume XXI, London: […] [F]or the author [Abel Boyer], and sold by T. Warner […], and A. Rocayrol, […], published 11 March 1721 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, page 156:

Some perſons imagine, and argue, as if a conſolidation of the Legiſlatures vvould correct the vices and cure the corruption of Parliament, […] as if they conſidered the Britiſh Senate the choſen ſpot, the conſecrated temple of genuine and unſullied freedom, and that of Ireland no better than the Augean ſtable, vvhich no time or labour could cleanſe of its filth and free from its impurities. But, my friends and countrymen, you have too much underſtanding to be deluded by ſuch monſtrous and abſurd poſitions, vvhich have ſuch little foundation, either in fact or in a knovvledge of human nature.

1799, “A Freeholder” [pseudonym], A Letter to the Electors of Ireland, on the Projected Measure of an Union. […], Dublin: […] J. Moore, […], →OCLC, pages 9–10:

We have assembled to discuss those principles of government—principles which have been subverted to the purposes of the present administration. […] We have seen the effect of some of the measures of the administration at Washington, and it is high time, my fellow-citizens, that the Augean stable there was cleansed. […] The Augean stable at Washington has had a number of animals in it for nearly twelve years, without being cleaned out. [Laughter.]

1840 October 5, General [Pierre] Van Cortlandt, “Meeting at Auburn, N.Y.”, in A[nthony] B[anning] Norton, The Great Revolution of 1840. Reminiscences of the Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign, Mount Vernon, Oh., Dallas, Tex.: A. B. Norton & Co., published 1888, →OCLC, page 341:

'What an Augean stable!' he muttered to himself. 'Where does one begin? With the masses? Educate the masses?' He shook his head. 'Not a chance there. It would take centuries. A handful of men at the top. Or even one man with vision – an enlightened dictator. People are scared of the word nowadays. But what kind of democracy can exist side by side with so much corruption and ignorance? Perhaps a half-way house – a sort of compromise.'

1960, Chinua Achebe, chapter 5, in No Longer at Ease (African Writers Series), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Heinemann Educational Publishers, published 1987, →ISBN, page 40:

Augean stables are everywhere under the Congress Raj—whether in agriculture or elsewhere. Only a few days back there was a huge fraud in the CHS dispensaries.

1972 August 23, Dahyabhai V. Patel, “The Insecticides (Amendment) Bill, 1972”, in Parliamentary Debates: Rajya Sabha: Official Report (Rajya Sabha), volume LXXXI, number 16, New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Secretariat, →OCLC, column 248:

For him [Glenn Brown], daft, culturally sanctioned gesturalism is an Augean stable, and he the Hercules whose duty it is to disinfect it. At this time, for example, he mounted an attack on the ultimate in post-war expressionism. Unfortunately, his version of a chimpanzee painting remains unfinished.

1993 October 10, Stuart Morgan, “Confessions of a Body Snatcher: Glenn Brown”, in Frieze, London: Frieze Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-11, page 52:

The legacy of State-based political machines—I need to win an election despite them. And then I can clean out the Augean stables: abolish the National Executive for what they did to Cookie, and abolish the primacy of the State branches.

2004 April 27, Mark Latham, “2004 Pre-election”, in The Latham Diaries, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 283:

The military administration wasted little time in getting down to the business of cleaning up the Augean Stable. The constitution was suspended. All political appointees lost their job. They were all hounded into detention, collectively accused of corruption.

2012 May, Dan Agbese, “The Augean Stable”, in Ibrahim Babangida: The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria, London, Abuja, Nigeria: Adonis & Abbey, →ISBN, page 177:

(figuratively) A place or situation characterized by corruption or moral decay.


Megaric

Derived from Latin megaricus, from Ancient Greek Μεγαρικός (Megarikós). Also Megara + -ic.


Terminalia

(historical) In Ancient Rome, a festival to Terminus, the god of boundaries.


Mithraeum

en-noun

Mithraeum (plural Mithraea or Mithraeums)

A grotto where the god Mithra was worshipped.