Classics key terms

An opening in the roof of an atrium that admitted light and allowed rainwater to drain into the pool below.

The process of creating and organising a literary work, including its language, verse form and arrangement of material.

Creating a poem while performing it, using learnt traditional stories, phrases and patterns.

A companion who shares an activity or danger, especially a fellow soldier.

Loyalty, mutual support and shared responsibility between people who fight together.

A sacred form of Roman marriage required for the Flamen Dialis and Flaminica Dialis.

Compulsory recruitment into military service, rather than joining voluntarily.

Work intended to preserve archaeological material and reduce further deterioration.

The decree issued by Emperor Caracalla in AD 212 which extended Roman citizenship to most free inhabitants of the empire.

One of Rome’s two annually serving senior magistrates, with major governmental and military responsibilities.

The subjects, actions, symbols or written information represented on an object.

Placing different people, situations or ideas alongside one another to make their differences significant.

A group of eight Roman soldiers who shared a tent or barrack room.

An established artistic way of depicting something, such as using particular skin colours for male and female figures.

A building technique in which successive layers of stone project further inwards, gradually covering an opening.

A Greek helmet design with extensive head and face protection, including a nose guard, cheek protection and openings for the eyes.

A ‘horn of plenty’, representing abundance; an attribute of Hades.

Checking a claim against other evidence to see whether that evidence supports it.

A governing body in Athens that prepared business for discussion and voting in the Assembly.

The burning of a dead person’s body, followed by the deposition of the cremated remains.

A small enclosed room in a Roman house, conventionally described as a bedroom; its architectural form alone does not establish its actual use.

A decorated breastplate protecting the torso; Augustus’ cuirass carries scenes presenting Roman power and divine support.

Religious worship organised around a particular deity, including its associated rituals and practices.

An image of a deity housed in a temple and associated with that deity’s worship.

The political circumstances, social practices and shared beliefs surrounding an object’s production and use.

Marriage accompanied by manus: the wife entered her husband's legal family and left her previous legal family.

Cleverness used to achieve an aim through deception, concealment or an unexpected strategy.