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praetor
praetor , in ancient Rome, originally a consul , and later a judicial magistrate (from c.366 BC). In 242 BC two praetors were appointed, the urban praetor ( praetor urbanus ), deciding cases to which citizens were parties, and the peregrine praetor ( praetor peregrinus ) deciding cases between fore...
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fasces
fasces [Lat.,=bundles], ancient Roman symbol of the regal and later the magisterial authority. The fasces were cylindrical bundles of wooden rods, tied tightly together, from which an axe projected; they were borne by guards, called lictors, before praetors, consuls, proconsuls, dictators, and empe...
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quaestor
quaestor , Roman magistrate, with responsibility for the treasury; in early times a quaestor also had judicial powers. At first there were two quaestors. Sulla named 20, and Caesar set 40 as the number (45 BC), but Augustus reduced them to 20. Quaestors were in theory deputies for consuls, praetors,...
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Galba
Galba (Servius Sulpicius Galba) , 3 BC-AD 69, Roman emperor (AD 68-AD 69). He distinguished himself in a political and military career as praetor (AD 20), governor of Aquitania, consul (AD 33), commander in Gaul, and governor of Hispania Tarraconensis (AD 60). In AD 68 an insurrection against Ner...
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consul
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 BC, and it was well established by the early 4th cent. BC The consuls led the troops, controlled the treasury, and were supreme in the governme...
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Cinna
Cinna (Lucius Cornelius Cinna) , d. 84 BC, Roman politician, consul (87 BC-84 BC), and leader of the popular party. Shortly after Cinna's first election, Sulla left Rome to fight against Mithradates VI of Pontus, having received from Cinna and Cinna's colleague Gnaeus Octavius a promise to maint...
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handkerchief
handkerchief In classical Greece pieces of fine perfumed cotton, known as mouth or perspiration cloths, were often used by the wealthy. From the 1st cent. BC, Roman men of rank used an oblong cloth of linen (the sudarium ) chiefly to wipe perspiration from the face and hands. During the empire a s...
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Roman law
Roman law the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 BC to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in AD 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil law . Most authorities, however, disregard the largely static period following the reign of Justinian I (527-65).
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Sallust
Sallust (Caius Sallustius Crispus) , 86 BC-c.34 BC, Roman historian. He was tribune of the people (52 BC) and praetor (46). He was ejected (50) from the senate ostensibly for adultery, but more probably because of his partisanship for Caesar. He served with Caesar after his praetorship and was his...
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Brutus
Brutus , in ancient Rome, a surname of the Junian gens. Lucius Junius Brutus, fl. 510 BC, was the founder of the Roman republic. He feigned idiocy to escape death at the hands of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (see under Tarquin ). Roman historians tell how he led the Romans in expelling the Tarquins...
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