Brill’s New Pauly Supplements II - Volume 7 : Figures of Antiquity and their Reception in Art, Literature and Music

(Ἀρχιμήδης/ Archimḗdēs; Latin Archimedes; Arabic Arsimidis) A. Historical dimension The Greek mathematician and physicist A., born around 287 BC in Syracuse (Tzetz. Chil. 2,35,105), the son of the astronomer Phidias, was part of the circle of King Hieron II of Syracuse (Plut. Marcellus 14,7). According to some sources (Cic. Tusc. 5,64; Sil. 14,343), he was from an impoverished background (discussion: [04.10]). A. spent some time in Egypt (Diod. Sic. 5,37,3), and maintained friendships with the Alexandrian mathematicians of his day (Conon, Dositheus, Era…

(Ἀριστοτέλης/ Aristotélēs; Latin Aristoteles) A. Historical dimension A., born the son of the physician Nicomachus in Stageira, northern Greece in 384 BC, became a student at Plato's Academy in Athens at the age of 17, remaining there for 18 years. From 343 to 340, he tutored the heir to the Macedonian throne, Alexander, at Pella. A. founded his own school and research institute at Athens, the Lyceum, in 335, and Alexander provided money and research materials for it. When Alexander died sud…

(Latin Arminius; Greek Ἀρμίνιος/ Armínios or Ἀρμένιος/ Arménios; "Hermann the Cheruscan") A. Historical dimesion The description of the Germanic nobleman A. ( c. 16 BC– c. AD 21) that has proved decisive to his reception – "Assuredly he was the deliverer of Germany" – came from the Roman historian Tacitus ( liberator haud dubie Germaniae, Tac. Ann. 2,88,2). Little is known of his biography prior to the year AD 9 – apart from the testimony of Tacitus, details are also provided by the Roman historian Velleius Paterculus (1st cent. AD). According to…

(Ἀσπασία/ Aspasía; Latin Aspasia) A. Historical dimension A. was a highly educated woman from Miletus, who settled at Athens around 440 BC. There, she became the lover and partner of the politician Pericles. Their son took his father's name. When Pericles died in 429, A. entered into a relationship with the cattle dealer Lysicles (Plut. Pericles 24,2–6; Schol. Pl. Menex. 235 e, Harpoc. s. v. A.; Suda, s.v. Aspasía). There are few other biographical details on A. Even the date of her death is unknown. In Antiquity and in later reception, A. was often wrongly believed to be a h…

(Latin Attila; Greek Ἀττίλας/ Attílas or Ἀττήλας/ Attḗlas) A. Historical dimension The king of the Huns, A., reigned jointly from AD 434 with his brother Bleda, until he murdered him in 445/46 (Amm. Marc. 445; Jord. Get. 35; 49). As sole king, A. ruled over a vast territory stretching from the Rhine to the Caucasus from his base in what is now Hungary, using a system of vassal monarchs and tight organization (Jord. Get. 24; 35; 50; 53). The Huns reached the height of their power during his reign. A. acqui…

( Aurelius Augustinus) A. Historical dimension A. (AD 354–430), Augustine, was Bishop of Hippo from AD 395/96 to 430 (Annaba in present-day Algeria), and is regarded as the most influential early Christian thinker of the Latin West. Born at Thagaste (North Africa, then a Roman province), son of a Christian mother, Mon(n)ica, and a pagan father Patricius, he embodied the transitional phase of Late Antiquity, in which Christianity was becoming increasingly established as the Roman Empire underwent a slow political disintegration. In his spiritual autobiography, the  Confessiones ( c…

A. Historical dimension ( Gaius Octavius; after his adoption, Gaius Iulius [ Divi Filius] Caesar; Imperator Caesar Augustus; Greek Αὔγουστος/ Aúgoustos) A. Historical dimension Gaius Octavius (or Octavianus in Cicero; 63 BC–AD 14) was born into a wealthy, non-patrician family. A. ("the August") was his later honorific name, granted to him by the Roman Senate in 27 BC.  It was under this name that he entered history. His father died when Octavius was four. Caesar, his great-uncle, adopted him and thereby pave…