SPQR - Notes
Explanatory notes for SPQR, for those interested in the working of my (our, in some cases) mind.
First of all, a linguistic note: I decided to consistently use via instead of vicus for the name of any street, for simplicity and understandability's sake. It's not quite technically correct (though the matter is debatable), but I figured it'd be a little smoother, and more recognisable to non-Latinate readers.
DISCLAIMER: Though there was also a significant amount of secondary research and already-acquired knowledge, there was also a lot of Wikipedia searching, as well as a lot of knowledge snatched from verecunda. Most of the information about Vannus' legion is taken from Wikipedia, and almost all of that about his medical knowledge was researched by verecunda, who is, without a doubt, sent by the gods. :DDD
Names (all thought up with the generous help and exuberance of verecunda, by which I mean she basically did the bulk of the work with these, let's be honest >.>)
Marcus Caelius Piso Vannus
John was named after a few conventions. First of all, we wanted it to be incredibly ordinary, as 'John' and 'Watson' both are (and are intended to be).
Amulius Cornelius Celatus
Sherlock had to be posh. The Holmeses, in the books, are an old family of country squires, and Sherlock in the show is well-dressed, well-put-together, and well-enunciated. Plus, class differences are fun to play with, and with Sherlock coming from an old and hence traditional family, it's easier to emphasise the difference in class: an ancient, patrician family, versus the son of a foreign freedman. If Celatus often comes off sometimes as highly old-fashioned, this is because a) his family likes to think it's still the republic because they're ~traditional like that, and b) I have significantly more experience with the republic than the empire, so it's kind of my default mode. >.>
For 'Numitor' and 'Cornelius', see above. 'Sollemnis' was chosen for its meanings such as 'regular', 'religious', 'solemn', implying his (at least apparent) adherence to the ancient and respected tradition of political life, as well as his dedication to custom. It also has the side benefits of resembling 'somnus', meaning 'sleep' or 'sloth' (reflecting the laziness more characteristic of the canon Mycroft than that of the show, I'm afraid), and neatly allowing for the pun in the title: instead of things being for the senate and the Roman people, it's for Sollemnis and the Roman people; because, after all, he practically is the Roman senate.
Dido
Donovan, perversely, had to made into a slave to be able to have the kind of position she has in the show. She is named for the sad African queen of Aeneid fame.
Gaius Valerius Laevinus
'Greg' to 'Gaius' is, of course, no difficult leap, in sound and in ordinary function. 'Valerius' is the name of another highly illustrious family; our Laevinus, of course, is from a more obscure subset, and he'd only be an equite instead of a patrician, but it makes him more than qualified to be rising in the ranks of the vigiles (the city watch/guard -- the closest thing Rome had to a police force and still far from it). 'Laevinus' shares some sounds with 'Lestrade', and there was a Laevinus branch of the Valerii existing into the imperial period.
Aulus Cassius Mercurialis
(I can't actually remember why 'Aulus' was chosen, but it's in my original notes, and by the time I got around to writing shit up properly, we were far too exhausted to think of more names.) Cassius, of course, is for the scheming and treacherous Gaius Cassius Longinus, of Caesar-stabbing fame; and 'Mercurialis' is, rather obviously, for its implications in 'mercurial', and the shared initial with 'Moriarty'.
Any other names were just chosen for similarities in sound: first letters, middle consonants, syllables, etc.
Legio XV Apollinaris
Vannus joined the Fifteenth Apollonian Legion in approximately AD 55, at the age of around 22, while they were stationed in the province of Pannonia (which covered a good portion of modern-day... uh... Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bosnia, according to Wikipedia); standard fare for an imperial legion, lots of drills and discipline. In 61/2, Nero sent the legion to Syria, possibly Armenia, which had just been wrested from the Parthians. They were then sent briefly to Alexandria, but were sent back to Judaea when the Jewish revolt broke out in 66.
The XV Apollinaris, led by Vespasian (the future emperor) alongise the V Macedonica and X Fretensis, beseiged of the town of Jotapata (Yodfat) in AD 67. Though as the cohort surgeon, Vannus wouldn't necessarily have been always expected to fight (more later), he still did. At Jotapata, Vannus was shot in the shoulder, and rescued by his fellow soldier (and occasional assistant/orderly) Murena, who removed the shaft of the arrow but was unable to extract the head, which Vannus himself later had to do. The wound, inevitably, got infected, and in early AD 68, Vannus was forced to leave the army and return to Rome, far too weak to fight or operate.
Vannus the army doctor
Though civilian doctors were often frowned upon (who knows what those superstitious quacks are up to), army doctors were highly-trained and well-respected, and, amidst the usual array of stupidity common to most ancient medical beliefs, emplyed some pretty advanced tools and techniques in patching their men up. As a medic, Vannus would have been exempt from some of the worst drills and duties, but he was still a soldier, and would have had to serve as a regular troop before studying for, and being promoted to, their doctor. Every cohort (~500 men) had one surgeon (excepting the First Cohort which, as the elite, double-strength cohort, had two), along with a few assistants/prospective surgeons. Back in Rome, he doesn't come off as having a particularly good rep -- the son of a British freedman, and a doctor? :\ But, of course, his background as an army surgeon means he has significantly more expertise and experience than your average street-corner physician.
A note about body language
I'm the kind of person who read an entire book called Walking in Roman Culture, so you can probably guess that this stuff is important to me. I'll limit myself to my favourite points though...
First of all, a linguistic note: I decided to consistently use via instead of vicus for the name of any street, for simplicity and understandability's sake. It's not quite technically correct (though the matter is debatable), but I figured it'd be a little smoother, and more recognisable to non-Latinate readers.
DISCLAIMER: Though there was also a significant amount of secondary research and already-acquired knowledge, there was also a lot of Wikipedia searching, as well as a lot of knowledge snatched from verecunda. Most of the information about Vannus' legion is taken from Wikipedia, and almost all of that about his medical knowledge was researched by verecunda, who is, without a doubt, sent by the gods. :DDD
Names (all thought up with the generous help and exuberance of verecunda, by which I mean she basically did the bulk of the work with these, let's be honest >.>)
Marcus Caelius Piso Vannus
John was named after a few conventions. First of all, we wanted it to be incredibly ordinary, as 'John' and 'Watson' both are (and are intended to be).
- 'Marcus' is one of the most common praenomina, and carries an implied connection to Mars, the Roman god of war.
- 'Caelius' was taken from Caelius Aurelianus, a fifth-century physician, and hence a reference to Vannus' medical side.
- 'Piso' is a terrifically ordinary Roman name, particularly for that time; when I was studying the early imperial period recently, both myself and a friend repeatedly complained about the proliferation of Pisones and how easy it was to get them confused. Additionally: in-universe, Vannus' nomen and cognomen are, of course, taken from his father, and hence from his parents' former owner, another 'Caelius Piso'.
- 'Vannus' is a Romano-British name which he, as mentioned in the fic, uses as a personal name, only for close friends and family. It has a possible meaning of 'killer'. It sounds sufficiently like 'John' to make that final fit, particularly taking into account the Latin pronunciations of V (as a W) and J (as, here, a Y, or consonantal I).
Amulius Cornelius Celatus
Sherlock had to be posh. The Holmeses, in the books, are an old family of country squires, and Sherlock in the show is well-dressed, well-put-together, and well-enunciated. Plus, class differences are fun to play with, and with Sherlock coming from an old and hence traditional family, it's easier to emphasise the difference in class: an ancient, patrician family, versus the son of a foreign freedman. If Celatus often comes off sometimes as highly old-fashioned, this is because a) his family likes to think it's still the republic because they're ~traditional like that, and b) I have significantly more experience with the republic than the empire, so it's kind of my default mode. >.>
- 'Amulius' is taken from the backstory of the founding myth of Romulus and Remus. Amulius and Numitor were brothers, related to Romulus and Remus, and contesting kings of Alba Longa (see Wikipedia for more). The point, of course, was for the family to convey their ~noble and ancient~ line. They're not the obvious choice of founding-era names (these Cornelii are hardly so ordinary), but they set the brothers (and their family) as having been around since the founding of Rome; before the Empire, before the Republic, before the kings.
- 'Cornelius' is a very old, and very distinguished Roman family name. Like, really, really respectable. Our little Holmesian branch of the Cornelii is, of course, currently a little less than distinguished -- no consul in a few generations, and only one son in the senate, and then no higher than a quaestor (even if he secretly runs the entire empire) -- but they still hark back to their glory days, and lord it over everyone else like they're still something big. Which, let's face it, they are.
- 'Celatus' is a cognomen related to the word 'celer', meaning 'quick'/'swift'/'hasty'. Celatus is, of course, both swift of foot, and incredibly swift of mind.
For 'Numitor' and 'Cornelius', see above. 'Sollemnis' was chosen for its meanings such as 'regular', 'religious', 'solemn', implying his (at least apparent) adherence to the ancient and respected tradition of political life, as well as his dedication to custom. It also has the side benefits of resembling 'somnus', meaning 'sleep' or 'sloth' (reflecting the laziness more characteristic of the canon Mycroft than that of the show, I'm afraid), and neatly allowing for the pun in the title: instead of things being for the senate and the Roman people, it's for Sollemnis and the Roman people; because, after all, he practically is the Roman senate.
Dido
Donovan, perversely, had to made into a slave to be able to have the kind of position she has in the show. She is named for the sad African queen of Aeneid fame.
Gaius Valerius Laevinus
'Greg' to 'Gaius' is, of course, no difficult leap, in sound and in ordinary function. 'Valerius' is the name of another highly illustrious family; our Laevinus, of course, is from a more obscure subset, and he'd only be an equite instead of a patrician, but it makes him more than qualified to be rising in the ranks of the vigiles (the city watch/guard -- the closest thing Rome had to a police force and still far from it). 'Laevinus' shares some sounds with 'Lestrade', and there was a Laevinus branch of the Valerii existing into the imperial period.
Aulus Cassius Mercurialis
(I can't actually remember why 'Aulus' was chosen, but it's in my original notes, and by the time I got around to writing shit up properly, we were far too exhausted to think of more names.) Cassius, of course, is for the scheming and treacherous Gaius Cassius Longinus, of Caesar-stabbing fame; and 'Mercurialis' is, rather obviously, for its implications in 'mercurial', and the shared initial with 'Moriarty'.
Any other names were just chosen for similarities in sound: first letters, middle consonants, syllables, etc.
Legio XV Apollinaris
Vannus joined the Fifteenth Apollonian Legion in approximately AD 55, at the age of around 22, while they were stationed in the province of Pannonia (which covered a good portion of modern-day... uh... Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bosnia, according to Wikipedia); standard fare for an imperial legion, lots of drills and discipline. In 61/2, Nero sent the legion to Syria, possibly Armenia, which had just been wrested from the Parthians. They were then sent briefly to Alexandria, but were sent back to Judaea when the Jewish revolt broke out in 66.
The XV Apollinaris, led by Vespasian (the future emperor) alongise the V Macedonica and X Fretensis, beseiged of the town of Jotapata (Yodfat) in AD 67. Though as the cohort surgeon, Vannus wouldn't necessarily have been always expected to fight (more later), he still did. At Jotapata, Vannus was shot in the shoulder, and rescued by his fellow soldier (and occasional assistant/orderly) Murena, who removed the shaft of the arrow but was unable to extract the head, which Vannus himself later had to do. The wound, inevitably, got infected, and in early AD 68, Vannus was forced to leave the army and return to Rome, far too weak to fight or operate.
Vannus the army doctor
Though civilian doctors were often frowned upon (who knows what those superstitious quacks are up to), army doctors were highly-trained and well-respected, and, amidst the usual array of stupidity common to most ancient medical beliefs, emplyed some pretty advanced tools and techniques in patching their men up. As a medic, Vannus would have been exempt from some of the worst drills and duties, but he was still a soldier, and would have had to serve as a regular troop before studying for, and being promoted to, their doctor. Every cohort (~500 men) had one surgeon (excepting the First Cohort which, as the elite, double-strength cohort, had two), along with a few assistants/prospective surgeons. Back in Rome, he doesn't come off as having a particularly good rep -- the son of a British freedman, and a doctor? :\ But, of course, his background as an army surgeon means he has significantly more expertise and experience than your average street-corner physician.
A note about body language
I'm the kind of person who read an entire book called Walking in Roman Culture, so you can probably guess that this stuff is important to me. I'll limit myself to my favourite points though...
- Celatus' body language says a lot about him, in more ways than one. In the ancient world, the aristocratic, good, "Roman" way to be was controlled and reserved. Celatus, however, has little self-control at all. When he walks, he runs, or spins, or jogs, usually to catch up with a criminal or on the high of his own genius. He bends, jumps and clatters in pursuit of clues. He's either nose-first and arrogant, or lounging all over the furniture in a most unmanly fashion. His body and its language place him definitively apart from what is expected of him as a Roman, and as a patrician.
- On the other hand, of course, Sollemnis has the perfect statesman's walk. His retinue would not be overlarge (he's only ever been a quaestor), but he walks with meaning, and gravity, and no undue speed. Although he also probably has a slightly effeminate love of riding in litters, if it means he gets to avoid getting on his feet.
- Vannus, then, is stuck in the position of having quite the opposite of being expected to live up to a stately bearing. He is unfortunately often mistaken for a freedman, or even a slave, despite being a Roman- and free-born citizen, and actively strives for the composure and confidence of a 'Roman walk'. However, chasing after criminals with Celatus (and not without a little influence from military training) means he is also often found hurrying, leaping, running -- the unrefined and overeager actions of a slave.