Brill’s New Pauly

Get access Subject: Classical Studies
Edited by: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider (Antiquity) and Manfred Landfester (Classical Tradition).
English translation edited by Christine F. Salazar (Antiquity) and Francis G. Gentry (Classical Tradition)

Help us improve our service

Brill´s New Pauly is the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, published by Verlag J.B. Metzler since 1996. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. The section on Antiquity of Brill´s New Pauly are devoted to Greco-Roman antiquity and cover more than two thousand years of history, ranging from the second millennium BC to early medieval Europe. Special emphasis is given to the interaction between Greco-Roman culture on the one hand, and Semitic, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavonic culture, and ancient Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on the other hand. The section on the Classical Tradition is uniquely concerned with the long and influential aftermath of antiquity and the process of continuous reinterpretation and revaluation of the ancient heritage, including the history of classical scholarship. Brill´s New Pauly presents the current state of traditional and new areas of research and brings together specialist knowledge from leading scholars from all over the world. Many entries are elucidated with maps and illustrations and the English edition will include updated bibliographic references.

Subscriptions: see brill.com

M.

(69 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation of the Latin personal name Marcus and (already in antiquity with an apostrophe: M') Manius. As a numerical sign, M stands for the number 1,000, but it was not derived from mille (Latin word for thousand), rather it came about by reforming the Greek letter Φ ( phi), which was not adopted into the Latin alphabet (see D as a numerical sign). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Ma

(730 words)

Author(s): Gordon, Richard L. (Ilmmünster)
(Greek Μᾶ/ , Lat. Ma-Bellona). One of a number of powerful Anatolian deities, whose cult was concentrated on the great temples (cf. Anaitis in Zela, Cybele/ Mḗtēr in Pessinus, Men Pharnaku in Cabira). The basic meaning of the word [1], widespread as a feminine proper name, is ‘mother’. [German version] A. Temple and cult in Anatolia The original centre of the cult was Comana [1]/Hierapolis in Cappadocian Cataonia. The local temple was already significant at the time of Suppiluliuma I ( c. 1355-1320 BC) ( Ḫattusa B. 3). A second ‘temple state’ arose in Comana [2]/Hierocaesa…

Maat

(142 words)

Author(s): Kahl, Jochem (Münster)
[German version] (mʿ.t) is an intellectual concept that was a central component of religion and society in ancient Egypt. The basic principles of maat are order, justice, truth and communal action. Maat is given by the creator god to the king who makes maat rule on earth but also gives it back to the creator god. As a principle that creates order, maat contributes to the course of the world. Presented as a deity, Maat as the daughter of the sun god keeps the course of the sun in motion and thus also guarantees the order of the cosmos. In addition maat has a significant role in the judgem…

Mabartha

(38 words)

Author(s): Podella, Thomas (Lübeck)
[German version] (Aramaic maʿbartā, ‘ford, passage’; Greek Μαβάρθα/ Mabártha; Latin Mamortha). Name of a place or landscape in Palestine between Ebal and Garizim, near Neapolis (Talmud: jTaan 4,68c,74-d,1; Jos. BI 4,449; Plin. HN 5,69). Podella, Thomas (Lübeck)

Macae

(297 words)

Author(s): Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) | Huß, Werner (Bamberg)
(Μάκαι; Mákai). [German version] [1] People in eastern Arabia According to Ptol. 6,7,14, a people in eastern Arabia in the hinterland of the bays around modern Rāʾs Musandam on the road from Hormuz. Also mentioned in Str. 13,765f., Plin. HN 6,98.152 and Mela 3,79; according to them, the M. settled opposite the Carmanian foothills. According to Arr. Ind., Μακέτα/ Makéta (Rāʾs Musandam) was an important trading centre for the spice trade ( Spices) on the Persian Gulf. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) [German version] [2] Nomadic tribe or tribal league ( Macae). A large nomadic tribe o…

Macareae

(40 words)

Author(s): Lafond, Yves (Bochum)
[German version] (Μακαρέαι; Makaréai). Town west of Megale Polis, belonging to its region, in the plain to the left of the Alpheius, in ruins at the time of Pausanias (8,3,3; 27,4; 36,9); remains not known. Lafond, Yves (Bochum)

Macar(eus)

(348 words)

Author(s): Visser, Edzard (Basle)
[German version] (Μάκαρ/ Mákar, Μακαρεύς/ Makareús; Latin Macareus). Mythical king of Lesbos who resettled this island after it was depopulated through the Deucalian flood ( Deucalion) and thus gave it the name of Macaria; Lesbos is already called ‘seat of Macar’ by Homer (Hom. Il. 24,544; H. Hom. 1,37). In the last-mentioned reference, the information ‘son of Aeolus’ is added; this patronymicon was probably a reflection of the Aeolian settlement of Lesbos. The most detailed depiction of M. is provided by Diod. Sic. 5,81f.: according to this, M. was a grandson of Ze…

Macaria

(197 words)

Author(s): Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) | Lohmann, Hans (Bochum) | Meyer, Ernst (Zürich) | Lienau, Cay (Münster)
(Μακαρία; Makaría). [German version] [1] Daughter of Heracles and Deianira Daughter of Heracles and Deianira; sacrifices herself voluntarily in the war of the Athenians and the Heraclidae against Eurystheus to secure victory ( Human sacrifices): first referred to in this way in Eur. Heracl., but without mentioning her name; possibly already in Aeschylus or in Athenian local myth [1. XVI, XXXI-XXXIII, 111f.] Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) Bibliography 1 J. Wilkins (ed.), Euripides, Heraclidae, 1993 (introduction and commentary). [German version] [2] Spring in Tricorythus Spring in Tricor…

Macarius

(751 words)

Author(s): Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Schindler, Alfred (Heidelberg)
(Μακάριος; Makários). I. Greek [German version] [1] Spartiate, in 426/5 BC in the council of war of Eurylochus Spartiate, in 426/5 BC he took part in the council of war of Eurylochus [2] in the campaign of the armed forces of Spartan allies against Naupactus and the Acarnanians and fell in battle at Olpae (Thuc. 3,100,2; 109,1). Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) Bibliography J. Roisman, The General Demosthenes and his Use of Military Surprise, 1993, 27ff. [German version] [2] M. of Alexandria Monk, 4th cent. AD According to the Historia monachorum in Aegypto [1. § 23], a certain M. (4th …

Macaronic Poetry

(1,780 words)

Author(s): Sacré, Dirk
[English version] Macaronic poetry (MP) is sometimes used in a figurative sense when words, groups of words or sentences of another language are inserted unaltered into a poetic text, be it systematically or alternately, as e. g. in the Plautinian comedy Poenulus, in which sentences in the Punic language appear (Poen. 930-949), or in the medieval Carmina Burana. Nevertheless, the term MP ought to be used exclusively in its original sense, which is that of a poem, or part of a poem or drama ( e.g., the famous macaronic scene in Molière’s Le malade imaginaire), in which two languages are i…

Macartatus

(282 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld)
(Μακάρτατος; Makártatos). [German version] [1] Athenian, fell in battle in 458/7 or Athenian, fell in battle in 458/7 or c. 410 BC as a cavalryman against the Lacedaemonians The Athenians M. and Melanopus fell in battle in 458/7 or c. 410 BC as cavalrymen in the battle against the Lacedaemonians and Boeotians in the border territory between Tanagra and Eleon. Pausanias (1,29,6) saw a stele dedicated to the two of them in the Kerameikos. A remnant of the base of this stele appears to have been found (IG I3 1288). Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Bibliography PA 9658 Traill, PAA 631475. …

Maccabean Revolt

(9 words)

see Judas [1]; Jewish Wars; Maccabees

Maccabees

(372 words)

Author(s): Gerber, Jörg (Bochum)
[German version] (Μακκαβαῖοι; Makkabaîoi). Jewish priestly family from Modeïn north-west of Jerusalem (named after its historically most important representative Judas [1] Maccabaeus); also called Hasmonaeans. From 167 BC onwards the M. led the Jewish uprising against the religious persecution of Antiochus [6] IV and his Hellenizing Jewish party liners (so-called Maccabean Revolt). After the recapture of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Temple (III.) for the traditional Jewish cult in 165 BC, …

Maccala

(79 words)

Author(s): Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)
[German version] (Μάκκαλα; Mákkala). According to Ptol. 6,7,41, a city in Arabia Felix. We should probably reject the obvious identification with the modern harbour town of Mukallā/Yemen on the south coast, as it is inconsistent with the sequence of place names in Ptolemy. It corresponds rather with Manqal in the hinterland of Mélan óros (Μέλαν ὅρος, Arabic as-Saudāʾ). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Phil.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 417 (map).

Maceda

(92 words)

Author(s): Kutsch, Ernst (Vienna)
[German version] (Hebrew Maqqēdā; LXX, Euseb. On. 126,22 Μακηδά/ Makēdá; Jos. Ant. Iud. 5,61 Μακχίδα/ Makchída; Egyptian mḳt). Town in the southern part of the western Judaean hill country, known because of a cave (Jos. Ant. Iud. 10,10ff.) and under Josiah belonging to the district of Laḫiš (Jos. Ant. Iud. 15,41); according to Euseb. On., 8 milia passuum east of Eleutheropolis (= Bēt Ǧibrīn), therefore possibly to be identified with Bēt Maqdum 11 km south-east of Bēt Ǧibrīn. Kutsch, Ernst (Vienna) Bibliography K. Elliger, Josua in Juda, in: Palästina Jahrbuch 30, 1934, 55-58.

Macedo

(166 words)

Author(s): Eck, Werner (Cologne)
[German version] [1] Indebted Roman under Vespasian, 1st cent. AD According to the Digesta (14,6,1), under Vespasian a M. who was being pressured by his creditors is said to have killed his father so that he could settle his debts. A senatus consultum was therefore enacted stating that there was no option - even after the death of the father - for a creditor to bring a suit against sons who are under the authority of their father and have taken up a loan [1.; 2. 443f.]. Naming a senatus consultum after a person affected instead of after the magistrate putting in an application nevert…

Macedon

(167 words)

Author(s): Frey, Alexandra (Basle)
(Μακεδών; Makedṓn). Tribal hero and eponym of the Macedonians. There are several genealogies: [German version] [1] Son of Zeus and Thyia Son of Zeus and Thyia (the daughter of Deucalion), brother of Magnes [1] (Hes. fr. 7). His wife is Oreithyia, his sons are, among others, Europus (Steph. Byz. s.v. Εὐρωπός), Pierus, Amathus: also eponyms for Macedonian cities (schol. Hom. Il. 14,226). Frey, Alexandra (Basle) [German version] [2] Son of Aeolus Son of Aeolus, the son of Hellen and brother of Dorus and Xuthus; thus M. links his people with the Hellenic genealogies (S…

Macedonia, Macedones

(7,662 words)

Author(s): Errington, Robert Malcolm (Marburg/Lahn) | Duridanov, Ludmil (Freiburg) | Jung, Reinhard (Berlin) | von Mangoldt, Hans (Tübingen)
(Μακεδονία/ Makedonía, Μακεδόνες/ Makedónes, Lat. Macedonia, Macedones). [German version] I. Geography, economy, ethnogenesis The core territory of the ancient Macedonian state was in the plains immediately to the east and north of the Olympus mountain range. Beginning with the 7th cent. BC, the Macedones conquered from their capital Aegae [1] step by step Pieria (south of the lower Haliacmon), Bottiaea (between Haliacmon and Axius), Almopia, Mygdonia (located in lowlands of lake Bolbe), Crestonia (to the no…

Macedonian

(732 words)

Author(s): Haebler, Claus (Münster)
[German version] A reliable verdict on the character and origins of Macedonian is hardly possible (μακεδονίζειν/ makedonízein ‘to speak Macedonian’, μακεδονιστί/ makedonistí ‘in Macedonian’) as it only survives in small fragments. In spite of a few recently found inscriptions possibly composed in Macedonian (among them a defixio from Pella, 4th cent. BC), for now we depend entirely on the vocabulary left to us by Greek lexicographers and historians including around 140 glosses which were designated as Macedonian or used a…

Macedonian dynasty

(392 words)

Author(s): Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
[German version] Byzantine dynasty AD 867-1056, founded by Basilius [5] I, who hailed from the province ( théma) of Macedonia, after the murder of Michael III ( Amorian dynasty). Basilius was succeeded in 886 by his second son Leo [9] VI (until 912), who was in turn first succeeded by his brother Alexander [20] (until 913), then his son Constantinus [9] VII (913-959; b. 905). Initially, various regents reigned in place of the young Constantine, then, from 920 onwards, his father-in-law Romanus I; only from Janua…
▲   Back to top   ▲