A1- Apennines - The mountain range which runs the length of the Italian peninsula.

B1- Po - A wide river that runs from west to east through the flat regions of northern Italy.  It has many feeders and can flood easily because of the flat terrain.

C1- Arno - A river in northwestern Italy that flows down from the Apennines in the opposite direction from the Tiber River.

D1- Tiber - A large river in Italy about 251 miles long that begins high in the Apennines and flows through Rome.

A2- Latins - Latins, in ancient times, inhabitants of Latium, particularly of the great plain of Latium. The Latins established themselves in many small settlements. Gradually increasing in size, these settlements were joined in religious confederations that later took on political significance. Rome early took a dominant place among the cities of Latium and Roman hegemony was definitely established by 338 B.C.; the smaller states were absorbed and the larger states made subject allies by Rome. The Latins, however, continued to have a special status, and in theory the social and political equality of the Latins continued.  We still use the term "Latin" to refer to the language and culture of Rome.

B2- Etruscans-  Etruscan civilization, highest civilization in Italy before the rise of Rome. The core of the territory of the Etruscans, known as Etruria to the Latins, was northwest of the Tiber River, now in modern Tuscany and part of Umbria. many scholars long upheld the tradition of Herodotus that the Etruscans migrated to Italy from Lydia in the 12th cent. B.C. to escape a severe famine. Other scholars have argued that the Etruscans are an ancient people, indigenous to Italy, whose customs are merely distinct from other Italian peoples. The third theory - that the Etruscans came down from the north through the Alpine passes - has been largely discredited.   Etruscan culture evolved about the 8th cent. B.C., developed rapidly during the 7th cent., achieved its peak of power and wealth during the 6th cent., and declined during the 5th and 4th cent. Etruria had no centralized government, but rather comprised a loose confederation of city-states. Important centers were Clusium (modern Chiusi), Tarquinii (modern Tarquinia), Caere (modern Cerveteri), Veii (modern Veio), Volterra, Vetulonia, Perusia (modern Perugia), and Volsinii (modern Orvieto).

C3- Republic -  The term republic formerly denoted a form of government that was both free from hereditary or monarchical rule and had popular control of the state and a conception of public welfare. It is in this sense that we speak of the ancient Roman republic.  As with a modern representative democracy, elected officials were expected to enact laws that would be of benefit to all the people.

D3- Patricians -  Member of the privileged class of ancient Rome. Two distinct classes appear to have come into being at the beginning of the republic. Only the patricians held public office, whether civil or religious.  External marks of a patrician were a distinctive tunic and a shoe adorned with an ivory crescent.  The root of the word comes from the Latin "pater", meaning "father".

A4- Plebeians-  The lower class of ancient Rome.  From the 4th century B.C. the plebeians struggled constantly for political equality until, by the 3rd century B.C., the only offices reserved to the patricians were the civil office of interrex and some priestly offices. The increasing number of plebeians in office together with patricians gave rise to the nobiles, an aristocracy of ruling families of both classes. Caesar and Augustus promoted plebeians to the patrician class.  It comes from the Latin "plebs" meaning "common people".

B4- 12 Tables -  early code of Roman law. Most modern authorities accept the traditional date of 450 B.C., but several place the work later. The tables were supposedly written in response to the plebeians' protest that the patrician judges were able to discriminate against them because the principles governing legal disputes were known only orally.  Two decemvirs [10-man commissions] were appointed to state the law in writing, and they first produced 10 tablets, probably wooden, with laws inscribed thereon; in the next year they produced two more. Exact quotations of the Twelve Tables are rare, but from references in later Latin writings their content has been approximately reconstructed. They appear to have been an exceedingly formalistic statement of the customary law.  In later times the Twelve Tables were regarded with reverence as a prime legal source.

D4- Consul-  Title of the two chief magistrates of ancient Rome. The institution is supposed to have arisen with the expulsion of the kings, traditionally in 510 B.C., and it was well established by the early 4th cent. B.C. The consuls led the troops, controlled the treasury, and were supreme in the government. At first only patricians were eligible but in 367 B.C. the Licinian law opened the office to plebeians. Before becoming consul a man generally had to have experience as quaestor, aedile, and praetor, and the minimum age for a consul was normally set at 40 or 45.  At various times, the term of office was 1 or 2 years, sometimes with reelection available and sometimes forbidden.

C5- Pyrrhic Victory-  Pyrrhus, c.318-272 B.C., King of Epirus.  He went to southern Italy with a large force to aid the Tarentines and defeated the Romans at Heraclea in 280 BC. In the same year Pyrrhus' peace proposals were rejected by the Romans.  In 279 he again defeated the Romans at Asculum in Apulia.  His heavy losses caused him to declare, "One more such victory and I am lost", became the origin of the term Pyrrhic victory.  It is a victory which is so costly that one cannot take any satisfaction.

D5- Quinquiremes - Roman ship about 40 Meters long by 7 Meters wide that held approximately 300 men.  The name derives from the fact that oars were in banks of 5, and there were probably 20 banks per side.  The banks were arranged in tiers (levels) so that 2 men sat above 2 other men, who sat above a single man.  Teamwork was essential, because the oars could easily get tangled if the men didn't work together.  The ship's structure enabled the Romans to grapple onto other ships, pull them alongside, and fight what amounted to a land battle at sea.

A9- Philip V - One of the last of the Antigonids, he attempted to reunite the Macedonian part of Alexander's empire by making an alliance with Hannibal.  Though an excellent military leader and good organizer, his time as king (221-179 BC) was marked by conflict.  He did little to help Hannibal, seeking only to benefit his own goals, but was eventually subdued and controlled by the Romans.  This ironically led eventually to the expansion of the Roman Empire.

B9- Antiochus III  - One of the last Seleucids, he attempted to reunite the Middle Eastern part of Alexander's empire and to conquer Egypt.  While king of Syria (223-187 BC) he allied himself with Philip V of Macedon, consolidated the Arabian peninsula under his rule, and wrested control of Egypt from King Ptolemy V.  All this action made him noticed by Rome, and eventually led to the expansion of the Roman Empire into the East.

D10- Socii Wars - From the Latin word for "allies", these conflicts between Rome and the common folk resulted from three main factors: the deaths of the Gracchii, the impressment of common folk into the Roman army for an assault on Carthage, and the general concern of the provinces for rights equal to those of the Roman citizens.  Roman General Sulla emerged victorious, and used his success to bully Rome into increasing his power, eventually becoming dictator.  His military-backed regime did improve the quality of life for plebeians somewhat, but worse was to come.

A11- Sulla-  Sulla, Lucius Cornelius, 138 B.C. - 78 B.C., Roman general.  Sulla came back to Italy (83 B.C.) having defeated Mithradates VI of Pontus in Africa, as well as his enemies from opposing Roman political factions.  He returned with 40,000 loyal men to take what he considered his rightful place in Rome. The ensuing civil war lasted about a year in Italy. The war ended just after the battle of the Colline Gate, following which Sulla captured and massacred 8,000 prisoners. He had himself named dictator (82 B.C.) and began the systematic butchery of his enemies. As the murders were legalized, the property of the victims went to Sulla's friends.  The dictator reorganized the government with measures which would remove any popular check on the Senate.

D15- Lucretius  -  was a Roman poet and philosopher from c.99 B.C. - c.55 B.C.   The poetry of Lucretius constitutes one great didactic work in six books, De rerum natura [On the Nature of Things]. In dignified and beautiful hexameter verse the poet sets forth arguments founded upon the philosophical ideas of Democritus and Epicurus.  He seeks to persuade man that there need be no fear of the gods or of death, since man is lord of himself.  He also hypothesizes the existence of "atoms", tiny units of matter that contain all the essential nature of the thing itself.

A16- Cicero -  One of the greatest Roman orators, who was also a politician and philosopher.  He was always a member of the senatorial party.  Cicero was strongly opposed to Julius Caesar and supported Pompey during the civil war.  After Pompey was defeated, Caesar forgave Cicero.  Although Cicero was strongly opposed to Caesar, he did not take part in the assassination of him, however he did applaud it.  Cicero was also an enemy of Marc Antony who lashed out at Cicero in the senate.  Cicero replied with the First Philippic and the Second Philippic, in which he sought to defend the republic. When Octavian (later Augustus) took Rome, he allowed Antony to put Cicero's name among those condemned, and Cicero was put to death on Dec. 7, 43 B.C.  Much was revealed about Roman life in Cicero's many letters to close friends, partners, and anonymous persons.

B16- Livy -  A Roman historian (formal name: Titus Livius) who lived from 59 B.C. - A.D. 17, probably from a noble family.  His life work was the History of Rome from its founding in 753 B.C.  Of the original 142 books of the work (published in sections) 35 are extant (Books I-X, XXI-XLV).  He was a romantic, and not a scientific, historian.  He chose what seemed to him most authentic and credible, and presented it with the enthusiasm of a patriot in the form of annals (yearly chronologies).  Livy's accuracy is often questionable; he ignored certain sources and had little practical knowledge of military affairs or the workings of politics.

D16- Praetorian Guard-  The Roman emperor's bodyguards, although they were often the ones that carried out the assassinations of their emperors.  Growing out of an early troop that served as bodyguard to the general commanding in Rome, they were formally organized in the time of Augustus. The number of cohorts (from 500 to 1,000 men each) forming the guard varied, but in the days of the later empire it was 10. The Praetorians under a prefect attended the emperor wherever he went. They had special privileges and, in the period when the empire declined, held almost unchallenged authority. Constantine I disbanded them in 312 AD.

C17- Ovid -  Publius Ovidius Naso was a famous poet whose  works could be categorized into three groups - erotic poems, mythological poems, and poems of exile.  The love poems include Amores [loves], in the mythological category is the Metamorphoses [changes], a masterpiece and perhaps Ovid's greatest work (written in hexameters, it is a collection of myths concerned with miraculous transformations linked together with such consummate skill that the whole is artistically harmonious), and the poems of exile include Tristia [sorrows].  Ovid was accused of debauchery due to the vivid imagery in his poetry and exiled from Rome.

B18- Plutarch -  Greek essayist and biographer who visited many countries including Rome where he lectured on philosophy.  He returned to his native Boeotia where he became a priest at the temple of Delphi.  His great work is The Parallel Lives comprising 46 surviving biographies arranged in pairs (one Greek life with one comparable Roman) and four single biographies. Although Plutarch displays evident pride in the culture and greatness of the men of Greece, he is nevertheless fair and honest in his treatment of the Romans. As a biographer Plutarch is almost peerless, although his facts are not always accurate. Since his purpose was to portray character and reveal its moral implications, his technique included the use of much anecdotal material.

C18- Ptolemy -  Common name of Claudius Ptolemy, member of the Greek-Egyptian ruling class and famous geographer.  He lived from 127-148 AD, studied in Alexandria, and left behind 3 intriguing books.  Almagest is a set of textbooks on astronomy, Tetrabiblos is a series of studies in astrology, and Geography is, of course, a description of the land masses of the Earth.  Ptolemy basically invented the system of latitude and longitude by which we locate objects on the Earth.  Because of the complicated nature of his calculations, it remains difficult to translate his measurements accurately.  Worse, he made certain predictions about unknown land masses that were incorrect, and have caused great disaster.  For example, he theorized that in order for the Earth to rotate properly, the masses of land must be equally distributed.  Therefore, he reasoned, Africa must continue South and wrap around the globe.  This led to the expectation of a Northwest Passage, by which Europeans imagined they could travel northwest, around the globe, and end up in India.  Of course, almost all such expeditions ended in the deaths of all explorers.

D18- Tacitus -  Cornelius Tacitus (55-117 AD) was a sub-consul to the Emperor Nerva, and a writer of some note.  He took an interest in history, and wrote two famous works, Annals and Histories.  His day-by-day description of events (annals) provide valuable contemporary insight into the activities in Rome during one of its most interesting periods.  He was unafraid to criticize the social flaws in the Roman Empire, and makes moral judgments about the events of his lifetime.

B19- Galen -  Born of Greek parents, he resided chiefly in Rome from c.162 AD.  Noted for his lectures and writings, he established a large practice and became court physician to Marcus Aurelius.  He is credited with some 500 treatises, most of them on medicine and philosophy; at least 83 of his medical works are extant. He correlated earlier medical knowledge in all fields with his own discoveries (based in part on experimentation and on dissection of animals) and systematized medicine in accordance with his theories, which emphasized purposive creation.  He discovered that arteries carry blood instead of air and added greatly to knowledge of the brain, nerves, spinal cord, and pulse. He did not believe that blood circulated, which led to the development of the practice of bleeding or leeching ill patients in the belief that some "bad blood" needed to be drained out.  Until the 16th Century his authority was virtually undisputed, thus discouraging original investigation and hampering medical progress.

C20- Mt. Vesuvius - the large, volcanic mountain just south of Naples (Napoli) that erupted violently in  burying Pompeii and Herculaneum.

D22- "Barracks Emperors"- Originated by Septimius Severus, this group of later emperors came from the ranks of the army and usurped power through military might.  Ruling from 235-284 AD, they populated the Senate and Roman aristocracy with military leaders.  Ironically, the disorganization and insecurity of everyday life under these emperors left the Roman people desperate for some sort of comfort, and many turned to the mysticism of Christianity.

A24- Theodosius -  Theodosius I or Theodosius the Great, 346? - 395, Roman emperor of the East (379-95) and emperor of the West (394-95), son of Theodosius, the general of Valentinian I.  Gratian made him co-augustus in 379, after which he took up arms against the Visigoths, who were plundering the Balkan Peninsula. By 381 he had achieved an advantageous peace, permitting the Ostrogoths to settle in Pannonia and the Visigoths in northern Thrace. In return he secured their services as soldiers, and soon Gothic influence predominated in the army.

C24- Visigoth -  Having settled in the region west of the Black Sea in the 3d cent. A.D., the Goths soon split into two divisions, the Ostrogoths (East Goths) and the Visigoths (West Goths).

D24- Alaric-  He headed the Visigoth troops serving Emperor Theodosius I. After the emperor's death (395) the troops rebelled and chose Alaric as their leader. Alaric devastated Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece.  In 401 he invaded Italy, where after some indecisive warfare he agreed to withdraw. Stilicho persuaded the Romans to buy Alaric's alliance, but shortly afterward Emperor Honorius had Stilicho executed for treason. Alaric again invaded Italy and laid siege to Rome. After the failure of renewed negotiations with Honorius, Alaric stormed and sacked Rome (410) and then marched south to attack Sicily and Africa. A storm destroyed his fleet, and Alaric, having turned back, died of an illness.

A25- Vandals  -  They originated in north Jutland and, along with other Germanic peoples, settled in the valley of the Oder about the 5th century B.C.  In the early 5th century, the Vandals began a migration that was to take them farther than any other Germanic people.  They invaded Gaul, where the Franks, as allies of Rome, refused them permission to settle. In 409 they crossed the Pyrenees to Spain. After meeting opposition there, they concluded a peace with Roman Emperor Honorius, who recognized their right to the land, subject to imperial authority. While in Spain, however, they continued to fight the Romans and Visigoths and were able to develop their maritime power. In 428, Gaiseric became the Vandal king, and his leadership carried the tribe to its greatest heights. Pressed by the Goths, and taking advantage of unsettled conditions in Africa, the Vandals crossed (429) to that continent and defeated the Roman general Boniface. By 435 the Vandals controlled most of the Roman province of Africa, and in 439 they took Carthage.  Their vessels made pirate attacks on ships in the Mediterranean, and they went on plundering expeditions to Sicily and southern Italy. In 442, Valentinian III recognized Gaiseric as an independent ruler, and Vandal migration ceased. The next years were spent in building a powerful kingdom. Their fleet controlled the Mediterranean, and even the Eastern Empire felt their power. In 455, Rome was sacked by Gaiseric's troops, and Empress Eudoxia and her two daughters were taken as hostages.  After the death of Gaiseric, the Vandals declined quickly as a dominant power.  Their name is still attached to mindless destruction of the property of others.

B25- Huns-  Nomadic and pastoral people who originated in north central Asia, appeared in Europe in the 4th century A.D., and built up an empire there. They were organized in a predominantly military manner.  The Huns have been described as short and of somewhat Mongolian appearance. Their military superiority was due to their small, rapid horses, on which they practically lived, even eating and negotiating treaties on horseback. Despite the similarity of their tactics and habits with those of the White Huns, the Magyars, the Mongols, and the Turks, their connection with those peoples is either tenuous or - in the case of the Magyars and the Turks - unfounded.

C25- Attila-  Leader of the Huns. Most of the territories that now constitute European Russia, Poland, and Germany were tributary to him, and he was long in Roman pay as Roman general in chief. When Rome refused (450) further tribute, the Huns invaded Italy and Gaul and were defeated (451) by Aetius, but they ravaged Italy before withdrawing after Attila's death (453). Their later movements are little known; some believe that the White Huns were remnants of the Hunnic people. The word Huns has been used as an epithet, as for German 

A26- Odovacar-  Chieftain of the Heruli, the Sciri, and the Rugii. He and his troops were mercenaries in the service of Rome, but in 476 the Heruli revolted and proclaimed Odovacar their king. Odovacar defeated the Roman general Orestes at Piacenza, took Ravenna (the West Roman capital), and deposed Romulus Agustulus, last Roman emperor of the West (until the coronation in 800 of Charlemagne). The date 476 is often accepted as the end of the West Roman Empire. However, Odovacar's action made little difference in the status of Western Rome, which had long been prey to the barbarian armies; the emperors had been mere puppets.

B26- Ostrogoth- Division of the Goths, one of the most important groups of the Germans. According to their own unproved tradition, the ancestors of the Goths were the Gotar of Southern Sweden. By the 3d cent. A.D., the Goths settled in the region N of the Black Sea. They split into two divisions, their names reflecting the areas in which they settled; the Ostrogoths settled in Ukraine, while the Visigoths, or West Goths, moved further west of them. By c.375 the Huns conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom ruled by Ermanaric.  The Ostrogoths entered Italy in 488, defeated and slew (493) Odovacar, and set up the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy, with Ravenna as their capital. After Theodoric's death (526) his daughter Amalasuntha was regent for her son Athalric. She placed herself under the protection of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Her murder (535) served as pretext for Justinian to send Belisarius to reconquer Italy. He crushed the Ostrogothic kingdom, but on his recall (541) the Ostrogoths rebelled under the leadership of Totila. In 552 the Byzantine general Narses defeated Totila, who fell in battle. As a result, the Ostrogoths lost their national identity, and the hegemony over Italy passed to Byzantium and shortly afterward to the Lombards. 

C26- Theodoric - King of the Ostrogoths who sliced Odovacar in two with a sword and became King of Rome (493-526 AD).  He admired Roman culture, architecture, and values, and attempted to preserve them.  As an Arian Christian (those who believed that God and Jesus were two separate beings rather than part of the trinity or one great spirit), Theodoric was very tolerant of other religious beliefs such as Catholicism and Judaism.  After his death, the Ostrogoths essentially disappeared, and Justinian ruled Rome from Byzantium.