Ancient

Ancient (period)

Of, or pertaining to, the ancient civilisations of Europe, in particular the pre-christian Greek and Roman civilisations. The humanists were particularly fond of finding and translating ancient Greek texts to add to their knowledge.

Ancient (fighting)

An Ancient is a military rank, often seen in the 16th century armies of especially England. Probably somewhere approximately equivalent to a lieutenant in the modern era. At the very least it ranked underneath a captain, who was a knight as often as not.

The term was eventually replace by ensign in the 17th century and as in earlier times referred to one who would bear the standard of the unit, company or army in which he was associated.