B

Babylon - an ancient city, located about 50 miles south of modern-day Baghdad; this city first flourished during Hammurabi's rule from 1792-1750 BCE; eventually Babylon grew most powerful under the Persian Achaemenid and Seleucid rulers; there have been many important excavations of Babylon, and many cuneiform tablets have been found there.

Bacchae - female worshippers of Dionysus (Bacchus) and title of tragedy by Euripides; see also maenad.

• Netshot: Euripides Bacchae

Bacchanalia - (Latin) three-day wild festival held originally only by women in honor of the god Bacchus; eventually men were also allowed at the festival; the Bacchanalia was banned, except when explicitly allowed, by the Senate in 186 BCE by means of the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus; see Bacchae.

• Teacher's Companion: Dionysus

Bacchant[e]s - female follower of Dionysus (Bacchus); see Bacchae and maenad.

baculum - (Latin) a walking stick.

balatro - (Latin) fool, jester.

baldric - a belt or strap hung diagonally from the shoulder to the hip from which weapons might be hung; for an example, see Toledo 1950.261 (image).

ballista - (Latin) a high powered crossbow that hurled missiles long distances and could pierce armor.

barbarian - term used by Greeks for non-Greeks.

basilica - (Latin) a Roman public building used as an exchange and law court; the origin of the word basilica is the ancient Greek word basileus, king; a basilica was originally a royal palace, but for the Romans it served judicial and business purposes; according to Vitruvius' De Architectura Libri Decem, the dimensions of the basilica had to follow prescribed standards, for example, the width of the basilica had to be one half to one third of its length; the earliest basilica in Roma was built by Cato the Elder in 184 BCE; in the Roman forum, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior built the Basilica Aemilia in 179 BCE; Julius Caesar began building the Basilica Julia in 54 BCE and Augustus finished it.

• The Basilica Aemilia
• The Basilica Julia

Bastet - an ancient Egyptian goddess; the daughter of Re and mother of Khonsu (the moon), Bastet was the goddess of cats, fire, the home, and pregnant women; appearing in myth as both submissive and belligerent, Bastet protected expecting mothers and slaughtered enemies.

Ancient Egyptian Gods - Bastet

bater - in ancient Greek athletics, a fixed point on the side of jumping pit from which a jump is measured.

• The Ancient Olympics

Battle of Bibracte - a famous battle fought in 58 BCE between Julius Caesar's army and the Helvetii; this battle occurred after a series of diplomatic negotiations fell through; lasting 9 hours, this battle took place near a mountain close to the city of Bribacte, which is found near present-day Burgundy in France; the Roman army defeated the Helvetii and slaughtered nearly 65 % of their total population.

Battle of Mons Graupius - a famous battle fought in 83 CE (or possibly 84 CE) between the Romans and the Caledonians; this battle took place in Caledonia, present-day Scotland; the Romans were greatly outnumbered but still managed to win the battle, demonstrating the power of the Roman military.

BCE - abbreviation for Before the Common Era.

Belatucadrus - a native deity of Roman Britain who was associated with the Roman God Mars and sometimes called "Mars Belatucadrus"; Belatucadrus was a war god and also perhaps a solar deity; archaeological evidence of his worship still exists in Britain today.

Bellerophon - son of Glaukos and Eurymede; his name means 'killer of Bellerus' who was his brother; Bellerophon is purified by King Proteus for the killing of his brother; after refusing to meet secretly with Stheneboea (King Proteus' wife), Stheneboea claims Bellerophon tried to seduce her; as punishment he is sent to his father-in-law, Iobates, king of Lycia, with a letter that says that Iobates should kill its barer; Iobates, unwilling to kill Bellerophon, sends him to kill the chimera; Bellerophon, riding the winged horse Pegasus, slays the chimera; Bellerophon later in life tries to ride Pegasus up to the realm of Zeus, but Zeus hurdles him back to earth killing him.

• Image: Chimaera and Bellerophon on Pegasos

Bellerophontes - grandfather of Glaukos (Iliad).

bellicosus - (Latin) warlike, from the stem word bellum, which means "war."

Bellona - a goddess of war; she was usually portrayed with weapons and armor in art; the temple to Bellona in Rome was on the Capitoline Hill and was the site of senate meetings about foreign wars.

bema - a raised platform or podium from which a speaker might address a court or on which a competitor in a music contest might play; for an example see the Delos Site Catalog (image, description) and Austin 1980.32.

beneficium - (Latin) benefit, service, right.

benignitas - (Latin) kindness; in his Fables, Phaedrus describes a watchdog as being full of benignitas.

• Link to Phaedrus Story "Canis Fidelis"

beo - (Latin) to make happy, to bless.

Berenice - the wife of King Ptolemy I of Egypt; she was made queen of Egypt in 290 BCE; she was the mother of Ptolemy II.

Bes - an ancient Egyptian male deity and protector of children, Bes was the god of war and of music and dance; he was thought to be of African or Middle Eastern origins.

Ancient Egyptian Gods - Bes

Bestia - consul in 111 BCE; he led military forces in Numidia; Jugurtha’s easy agreement with Bestia raised suspicions that bribery had occurred; when Jugurtha came to Rome, he testified in bribery cases and three important generals – and former consuls – were convicted in 110 BCE of having accepted bribes, including Bestia, Albinus and Opimius and sent into exile.

bestia - (Latin) an animal, one without the skills to reason or think.

bestiarius - (Latin) literally, "the hunter of wild beast in an arena"; bestiarii hunted wild animals in an arena in the venatio during the day long gladiatorial games held in Rome.

bibliotheca - (Latin) Study (as in room in a house); there was a bibliotheca in the Temple of Augustus in Rome which held a large statue of Apollo, according to Pliny the Elder.

biography - a written account of another person's life; to see the biography for the following authors, click on their name: Aeschylus (4), Aeschines, Andocides, Antiphon, Apollodorus (4), Aristophanes (2), Aristotle, Bacchylides, Demades, Demosthenes, Diarchus, Diodorus Siculus, Euripides, Herodotus (3), Hesiod, Homer, Isaeus, Isocrates, Lycurgus, Lysias, Pausanias, Pindar, Plato, Plutarch (2), Sophocles (3), Strabo, Thucydides, Xenophon (4).

boule - Athenian council.

bouleuterion - council-house.

• Bouleuterion at Olympia

brevitas - (Latin) brevity.

Briseis - daughter of Brises, also known as Hippodamia; Achilles' concubine taken by Agamemnon.

Bronze Age - in Classical myth, this is the third of the four ages of man; the Bronze Age lasted from 3000 BCE to 1100 BCE.

Brundisium Agreement - a pact made in 40 BCE among the triumvirate of Octavian, Lepidus, and Mark Antony concerning land; Octavian was put in charge of the West, Antony received the East and Lepidus was given Africa.

brutum fulmen - (Latin) literally a “insensible thunderbolt”, comes to mean an empty threat.

Brutus - Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus; Roman politician and assassin of Julius Caesar; an early supporter of Julius Caesar, Brutus fought on Caesar's side in the naval Battle of Massilia and defeated Pompey's forces in 49 BCE; in 42 BCE, Brutus and Cassius fought the armies of Mark Antony and Octavian at Philippi and lost; he died in 43 BCE while trying to flee to Macedonia.

bulla - (Latin) an amulet a father would hang around his child’s neck on the eighth day of the child’s life; this amulet was supposed to protect the child; during the Liberalia festival, a young boy would take off his bulla and his toga praetexta in order to put on more adult clothing.