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Ma'at - positive force in the life of the ancient Egyptians, Ma’at was the goddess of truth, order, and Egypt’s physical and moral law; depicted as a seated or standing woman, Ma’at held an ankh in one hand and a specter in the other. She wore an ostrich feather in her hair.

Ancient Egyptian Gods - Ma'at

Macedonia - the area between Greece and the Balkans; in 288 BCE, Lysimachus and Pyrrhus partition Macedonia after the defeat of King Demetrius I; Phillip of Macedon worked to unite Macedonia and created there a strong army; his son, Alexander the Great, strengthened and added to the Macedonian territory; in 169 BCE, the Third Macedonian War began and in 167, the land was divided into four republics; in 146 BCE, Macedon became a Roman province.

Macedonians - Greek people who inhabited the northernmost part of the Greek mainland and whose blood lines had been mixed with non-Greek peoples; the Macedonians spoke a rather crude dialect of Greek.

macto - (Latin) to magnity, to glorify, to honor; to punish.

Maecenas - the literary patron of Vergil and Horace who supported their work.

maenad - a raving woman; a female worshipers of Dionysus. See Bacchae who takes part in Bacchic processions; for an example, see Boston 24.450 (image).

maestus - (Latin) gloomy, dejected.

magister - (Latin) a teacher; in Rome, the job of teacher was not held in high esteem and the teachers received little respect from students; the magister provided little in terms of lesson materials and their ludus litterarius was located under an awning often on a busy street.

magna cum laude - (Latin) with great praise; a term used to describe academic records of great distinction.

Magna Mater - Great Mother Goddess or Cybele; a Temple of the Magna Mater was built on the Palatine Hill in Rome and dedicated in 191 BCE; the cult of the Magna Mater was imported from Asia Minor after the 2nd Punic War; under the Republic, it was not allowed for male Roman citizens to belong to the Magna Mater’s cult; part of the ritual of the goddess’ cult was the slaughter of a bull.

mainomenos - crazed, refers to Dionysus, "Dionysos Mainomenos;" for an example, see London E 439.

makellarios - (Latin) butcher; the makellarios prepared the meats in and sold them from a makelleion, or a butcher’s stall; another word for makellarios is laniator.

Malta - an island in the Mediterranean Sea; known as “Melita” to the Romans; once controlled by the Carthaginians, it was added to the Roman Republic in 218 BCE and became attached to the province of Sicily.

Maltho - an ancient Greek gymnasium at Olympia used to train youths.

• The Ancient Olympics

maneo - (Latin) to remain, to stay, to stay the night.

Marathon - plain in Attica where the Athenians defeated the Persians in 490 BCE;

• Perseus Historical Overview: 8.3.4. The Battle of Marathon
• Map of Greece: Marathon

Marcellus - nephew of Augustus and son of Augustus’ sister Octavia; he was married to Augustus’ daughter Julia; he was positioned to be Augustus’ heir until his death at the age of 19 in 23 BCE.

mare - (Latin) sea.

Marius - Gaius Marius, 157-86 BCE; soldier and politican; a skilled soldier, he worked in Spain (Hispania) and gained wealth there; Marius served as quaestor, tribune, and, later, had his second consulship in 104; in 100 BCE, Marius was given power through a senatus consultum ultimum to fight against an uprising in the Roman republic led by L. Appuleius Saturninus and C. Servilius Glaucia; he later fought in the Social War; Sulla seized the city of Rome when it was supposed to be led by Marius, causing Marius to flee the city; he died in 86 BCE.

Mark Antony - see Antony, Mark.

Maro - the surname of P. Vergilius Maro.

Mars - Roman god of war and agriculture; son of Jupiter and Juno; father of Romulus and Remus; identified with Ares.

• Story of Mars and Venus, Ovid's Metamorphoses.
• Encyclopedia Mythica: Mars

Massalia - an originally independent area that became, after 125 BCE, a province of Rome; Massalia is currently known as Marseille; Massalia became less important after it politically backed Pompey against Caesar; the area developed into an important economic and academic site.

Martial - (43 CE-103/104 CE) Marcus Valerius Martialis; Roman poet who specialized in epigrammatic poetry; his literary texts include Epigrammata, Xenia and Apophoreta.

matrimonium iustum - (Latin) in ancient Rome, a legal union; matrimonium iustum had three requirements, 1) both partners must have coniubium, the right to marry, 2) the couple was expected to have reached puberty, thought to be 14 years old for boys and 12 for girls, and 3) consent of the paterfamilias of the girl and the groom, or his paterfamilias if he had not reached puberty yet; the validity of a marriage would later affect the inheritance rights of any children produced by the marriage as well as the inheritance rights from husband to wife and vice versa.

• Ancient Weddings

maturitas - (Latin) maturity.

matutinalis - (Latin) morning; the Roman goddess of dawn and morning, Matuta, had a temple in the Forum Boarium in Rome.

Mauretania - a province created in 44 CE during the reign of Claudius; the area spanned northwest Africa, ranging from Numidia to the Atlantic ocean.

meander - a winding line shape sometimes found on vases; for an example, see Louvre A 514 (image).

mechane - (plural mechanai) in ancient Greek a machine, crane; a crane used in the Greek theater to which a cable with a harness for an actor was attached and which was used whenever the plot required a character to fly (e.g., a divinity).

Medea - daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis who helps Jason steal the Golden Fleece; sorceress heroine of the Medea by Euripides that was first performed in 431 BCE at a tragic competition and won third prize; in the play, Medea murders he two children as a result of learning that her husband, Jason, will take a new wife.

• Netshot: Euripides' Medea
• Bulfinch's Mythology Medea and the Golden Fleece

medicamen - (Latin) medicine, something to fight illness.

Melankomas - Melankomas, a ancient Greek boxer and Olympic champion from Karia, floated like a butterfly but did not sting like a bee; he did not believe a brave man caused injury to others or allowed others to injure him; his style of boxing was purely defensive; during a match, Melankomas exhausted his opponent by defending himself against punches but never throwing any; frustrated and exhausted, his opponents gave up.

• The Ancient Olympics

Meleagros - Greek hero who, when angered by his mother, withdrew from battle.

Melians - inhabitants of the island of Melos who rejected Athens' invitation to join the Delian League and whose men were put to death and women and children enslaved by the Athenians.

melicus - of or related to music.

Melissa - a nymph and daughter of King Melisseus; she nursed the infant Zeus with goat milk on Mt. Ida; she taught humans how to use honey and her name comes from the Greek word for bee, melitta.

Melpomene - the Muse of tragedy; the Muses were nine goddesses whom artists appealed to in order to inspire their works.

memoria - (Latin) memory; in Book 9 of the Aeneid, Virgil sings that Nisus and Euryalus will live in the memoriae of all for as long as his poem’s fame lasts.

Menelaos - brother of Agamemnon and husband of Helen who is abducted by Paris while Menelaos is away.

Menenius Agrippa - Roman consul in 503 BCE; famously told the parable of the Belly and Limbs to the plebs in 494 BCE to try to convince them that secession would not help their situation.

mensa prima - (Latin) the main course in a Roman meal; this course could be cooked meats and/or vegetables.

mensa secunda - (Latin) the sweet course of a Roman meal, including pastries, fruits, or sweets.

mercatus - (Latin) any kind of trade, market, a place where business is conducted.

Mercedinus - a month of 22 or 23 days inserted into the Roman calendar by the Roman ruler Numa Pompilius to make the calender correspond approximately to the solar year; Mercedinus was added to the calender every other year, inserted after February 23 or 24; the final days of February were then moved to the end of Mercedinus.

Mercury (Mercurius) - protector of merchants and travelers; carried a caduceus, wears a broad-brimmed hat and winged sandals, and carries a purse (kibisis); messenger god; equated with Hermes in Latin poetry.

• Horace Odes 1.10.2, Mercury
• Encyclopedia Mythica: Mercury

messis - (Latin) harvest; to harvest their crops, the Romans might use an aratrum, a tribulum, or a vallus.

metal - ancient Greek coins could be made of Bi, gold, silver, bronze and electrum. Coins were made of the metal(s) most readily available in the region where the coins were minted.

metaphor - a word which does not precisely or literally refer to the entity to which it is supposed to refer. Metaphors are sometimes thought to exist only in works of literature, but is actually prevalent in language in general. One engages in the metaphorical use of language, for instance, when one says that one is feeling 'down'. [Contributor: Dr. Ismail S. Talib, National University of Singapore.]

meter - the arrangement of words in a rhythmical pattern of verse.

metope - in a sculpture frieze, the square sections between the triglyphs. For more information, see a architectural drawing of a metope and an image of the metope of Berlin L 21.1.

mile - Latin mille passus (1,000 paces); 5,000 Roman feet are approximately 0.92 English mile or approximately 4,850 English feet .

• A Dictionary of Units of Measurement: Mile

miles - (Latin) soldier; the miles was the primary agent in the Roman military; the greatness of Rome and political power in Rome depended on its military for support and continued service.

militia - (Latin) warfare, service in war.

Milo - Titus Annius Milo, politician; elected tribune in 57 BCE, Milo worked to end Cicero’s exile; he was a political rival of Clodius; Milo and Clodius each had armed gangs in Rome who caused unrest in the city of Rome; Milo was forced into exile in 52 after he ordered the murder of Clodius and he died in 48 BCE.

Milon - also known as Milo, an ancient Greek wrestler from Croton won his first Olympic victory in boy's wrestling; during his career Milon won six wrestling championships at both the Olympic and Pythian games; in total Milon won 32 wrestling championships; strong enough to carry an ox on his shoulders as a young man, the older Milon died a horrible death when he attempted to rip a split tree apart and one of his hands became stuck; unable to free himself, wild animals attacked and killed the captive Milon when night fell.

• The Ancient Olympics

Min - an ancient Egyptian god, Min was the god of the sky and chief of heaven; Min was depicted as a bearded ithyphallic man carrying a lightening bolt in one raised arm; from the time of the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom, Min was called Shu or Re and was identified with Horus the Elder.

Ancient Egyptian Gods - Min

minae - (Latin) threats.

minax - (Latin) threatening.

Minerva - goddess of intellectual thought and academic activities; brought to Rome by Numa; identified with Athena.

• Bullfinch's Mythology: Minerva

mint - the place where a coin was created under government authority; the first silver coins in Rome were minted in 269 BCE.

misera - (Latin) sad, unhappy.

Mithras - a Persian god whose cult and popularity grew in Rome; Mithras was originally worshipped by outsiders of the Roman state - pirates and thieves; however, the military began to participate in his worship and thus it spread throughout the empire; Mithras' cult was a mystery cult with seven different stages of initiation.

Mithridates - (132 BCE-63 BCE) king of Pontus, in Asia Minor, from 120–-63 BCE; following a successful invasion of Crimea, Mithridates attempts to conquer the Roman client of Bithynia but is unsuccessful; angered, Mithridates invades the province of Asia and causes the death of eighty-thousand Italians and Greek commercial representatives by encouraging Asian debtors to kill their Italian creditors; this invasion of Asia began 25 years of Mithridatic wars starting in 88 BCE; he was beaten back by the Romans, who sent an army led by Sulla to Greece, in 87; Pompey eventual takes command in the Mithridatic wars from Sulla and defeated Mithridates in Armenia in 63 BCE; Mithridates attempts to escape to Crimea but there, faced by a rebellion led by his son, commits suicide.

• Mithridates the Great

mitis - (Latin) mild, ripe, mature.

moderatio - (Latin) moderation, a Roman virtue; a Roman person should always control him or herself and remain balanced.

modius - Roman dry measurement, 16 sextarii or approximately 1 peck.

Moesia - a territory located in Thrace, part of current-day Serbia; this territory extended from the Balkans to the Black Sea; in 86 BCE, Moesia was divided by Domitian into two sections – Upper and Lower Moesia; it was an important military stronghold for the Romans.

Moirae - three sisters, Atropus, Clotho, and Lachesis, known as the Fates; daughters of Zeus and Themis and sisters of the Horae; in Homer, the Moirae regulated the length of each person's life; one of the sisters spun the thread of life, one wound it, and one cut it when life came to an end; each person has a moira and it cannot be altered not even by the gods; the Moirae resembled the Keres.

monarchy - first period of Roman government; legend relates that Rome was governed by seven kings, the first of whom was Romulus; the Roman monarchy lasted from the founding of the city of Rome by Romulus and Remus to 509 BCE.

morbus - (Latin) an illness or disease.

mos maiorum - (Latin) “the custom of the forefathers”; the mos maiorum came to refer to an idyllic idea of time past in which people had better morals and lived more correctly; when Cicero used the term, it meant to refer back to the time of Cato the Elder, although Cato also used it referring to ancestors before him; Vergil’s Aeneid also refers to the mos maiorum and creates through Aeneas a personification of it; Plautus generally parodied the mos maiorum for comic effect.

motif - an element which recurs in a literary work, or across literary works. [Contributor: Dr. Ismail S. Talib, National University of Singapore.]

Mt. Olympus - the home of the gods, mountain in northern Greece (image).

mulsum - (Latin) honeyed wine that was a very popular ancient Roman drink.

munera - see munus.

munerarius - (Latin) the sponsor of gladiatorial games in Rome.

• The Roman Gladiator

municipium - (Latin) a town, usually in Italy, whose inhabitants could but did not always have Roman citizenship; the municipia were governed by their own magistrates and laws; a free town.

munus - (Latin) funeral gift or games for the dead paid for by the descendents of the dead person being honored; literally "a duty"; these games, or munera, could be held annually or every five years for the purpose of keeping the dead person's memory alive.

murex shell - a sea shell; for an example, see RISD 31.001 (image).

Muses - daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddesses of epic poetry, lyric poetry, tragedy, choral dance, love poetry, sacred music, astronomy and comedy.

musica - (Latin) music; the Romans used music as a means of entertainment and also in their religious rites or political celebrations; they employed many different musical instruments, including the lyre, the lute, the kithara – a guitar-like instrument, and flutes.

Mut - an ancient Egyptian goddess, Mut was a mother goddess regarded as the mother of pharaohs. Her husband was Amon and her son Khonsu, the moon god; her name means “mother” or “one who dives birth” although, according to myth, she was self-created.

Ancient Egyptian Gods - Mut

Myrmidons - the men of Achilles who fought at Troy.

mystagogos - sponsor of an initiate in an ancient Greek mystery cult; a person who would take on a mystes (initiate) and tutor him or her in mystery cult knowledge.

mystes - (plural mystai) initiate; a person who was being instructed in the mysteries; being a mystes was the beginning stage of learning about and joining an ancient Greek mystery cult.