- annona
- the Roman government’s distribution of grain to the population, which was also a political tool for the emperor
- centuriation
- the Roman practice of dividing land into a grid in preparation for development and agriculture
- clients
- less well-off Romans who relied on a patron’s gifts for subsistence
- Colosseum
- a large structure in Rome that was the site of gladiatorial matches and other entertainments
- domus
- the name for a typical Roman house, as well as the family unit
- gladiator
- an enslaved professional fighter paid to battle before an audience, sometimes to the death
- Hellenism
- a high regard for the cultural institutions of Greece including its religion, philosophy, and system of education
- imperial cult
- the religious cult that venerated the Roman emperors as gods
- lanista
- the trainer and manager of a group of gladiators
- latifundia
- large agricultural estates in the countryside, worked by enslaved people to produce profit for the owner
- legion
- the basic unit of the Roman army, made up of around five thousand soldiers
- manumission
- the process of releasing a person from slavery, usually in front of a magistrate or via a slaveholder’s will, or through a person’s purchasing their own freedom
- paterfamilias
- the patriarch of an extended Roman family, with authority over his wife, children, and any other dependents
- patron
- a wealthy Roman aristocrat sought by clients in need of assistance
- publicani
- provincial contractors who bid for the right to collect taxes and profited from the excess money they gathered
- vestal virgins
- the priesthood of six women who took a vow of chastity and maintained the sacred fire in Rome