seraphA burning serpent, often winged, with human hands and sometimes feet; one of God's entourage. On Earth, they strike with burning poison; in Heaven, with burning coal.
sicaA curved dagger used in Ancient Roman times, associated with the Thracian and Illyrians, gladiators, and Sicarii.
nomenThe family name of an Ancient Roman, designating their gens.
devastateTo ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.
BosphorusThe narrow strait beside Istanbul, Turkey connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, the northern end of the Turkish Straits connecting the Black Sea with the Aegean and Mediterranean.
CylonCylon of Athens, an Athenian noble who attempted a coup in either 636 BCE or 632 BCE.
ApuliaA peninsula and administrative region in southern Italy.
mensesThe discharge of blood and cellular tissue that flows from the inner lining of the uterus out through the vagina, occurring typically once a month in uninseminated women; a menstrual flow.
mirabilisAny of the plant genus Mirabilis; a four-o'clock.
cochleaThe complex, spirally coiled, tapered cavity of the inner ear of higher vertebrates, which contains the organ of Corti and in which sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses.
spicaA spike (kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis).
reticentUnwilling to communicate; keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself; reserved or restrained.
deserterA person who has physically removed him- or herself from the control or direction of a military or naval unit with the intention of permanently leaving
exudeTo discharge through pores or incisions, as moisture or other liquid matter; to give out.
Britannicof or pertaining to Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom; British
AurigaA winter constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a charioteer. It includes the star Capella.
corrigendumAn error that is to be corrected in a printed work after publication.
subjunctiveInflected to indicate that an act or state of being is possible, contingent or hypothetical, and not a fact.
inaugurateTo induct (someone) into a dignity or office with a formal ceremony.
TartarusA dark and gloomy part of the realm of Hades, reserved for the damned and the wicked, such as the Titans; an equivalent of hell in Greek and Roman mythology.
hecatombA great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.
visceraCollectively, the internal organs of the body, especially those in the abdomen and thorax, such as the liver, heart, or stomach.
AeschylusA Greek dramatic poet (525 BCE—456 BCE); Aeschylus was the earliest of the three greatest Greek tragedians.
PeloponneseA peninsula in Greece, separated from mainland Europe by the Gulf of Corinth and connected to it by the Isthmus of Corinth.
ThucydidesA great ancient Greek historian (c. 460 BCE – c. 395 BCE) and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BCE war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BCE.
diopterA unit of measure of the power of a lens or mirror, equal to the reciprocal of its focal length in meters. Myopia is diagnosed and measured in diopters.
repudiateTo reject the truth or validity of; to deny.
furiesSynonym of Erinyes; the goddesses of vengeance.
triumvirateA council of three magistrates ruling jointly; specifically, the First Triumvirate (60 or 59 – 53 B.C.E.) or the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.); the office of a triumvir (“one of such magistrates”), or of the three triumviri.
instarAny one of the several stages of postembryonic development which an arthropod undergoes, between molts, before it reaches sexual maturity.