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)

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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.

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Beroea

(1,229 words)

Author(s): Errington, Robert Malcolm (Marburg/Lahn) | Wirbelauer, Eckhard (Freiburg) | von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) | Leisten, Thomas (Princeton)
(Βέροια; Béroia). [German version] [1] In Macedonia This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity | Macedonia, Macedones | Macedonia, Macedones | Education / Culture In Macedonia. Errington, Robert Malcolm (Marburg/Lahn) [German version] A. Hellenistic and Roman periods City in Macedonian  Bottice, east of the Bermium; now Verria. First mentioned in the 5th cent. BC (Thuc. 1,61,4), B. had its development, like many Macedonian cities, principally in the Hellenistic period; the Antigonids seem to have particularly favoured…

Berones

(41 words)

Author(s): Barceló, Pedro (Potsdam)
[German version] Celtic tribe on the middle Iberus in La Rioja. Their most important towns were Tricio, Oliba and  Vareia (Liv. fr. 91: validissima urbs). Sertorius occupied the tribe's territory in 76 BC. Barceló, Pedro (Potsdam) Bibliography Tovar 3, 77-78.

Berosus

(375 words)

Author(s): Pongratz-Leisten, Beate (Tübingen)
[German version] of Babylon. Priest of Bēl/Marduk, contemporary of Alexander [4] the Great's (FGrH 680 T 1), author of a Chaldean history in three volumes for  Antiochus [2] I, transmitted with the titles Babylōniaká (F1 [1], F 2) or Chaldaiká (T 8a, 7a, 11). Vol. 1: Geography of Babylon (modelled on Hellenistic ethnography); fish-man ( apkallu synonym for sage) Oannes as the bearer of culture; cosmogony; anthropogony. Vol. 2: 10 antediluvian kings; account of the flood; list of post-diluvian dynasties with their sages ( apkall) up to Nabû-nsir (8th cent. BC), on the lines of t…

Bersabe

(240 words)

Author(s): Köckert, Matthias (Berlin)
[German version] (Βηρσαβεέ; Bērsabeé). In the northern Negev, identified either with bir as-saba (now Beer Ševa) or with tall as-sab (5 km east). In the biblical tradition, B. appears as an open-air sanctuary of Yahwe with the name of El-Olam and is associated with the three arch fathers. However, it has some grounding only in the Isaac tradition, if that. Its meaning in popular etymology is ‘well of the oath’ (Gen. 21,22-27, 31b; 26,25-33), or ‘seven wells’ (Gen. 21,28-31a). In the set phrase ‘from Dan to Be…

Beryllos

(5 words)

see  Precious stones

Berytus

(536 words)

Author(s): Finkbeiner, Uwe (Tübingen) | Leisten, Thomas (Princeton)
This item can be found on the following maps: Syria | | Coloniae | Commerce | Hasmonaeans | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pompeius | Aegean Koine (Βηρυτός; Bērytós). [German version] A. Phoenician period B., modern Beirut, is mentioned as Beruta in the  Amarna letters and in documents from Ugarit (14th and 13th cent. BC respectively), and as Birû in the annals of Asarhaddon (7th cent. BC) [1. 48]. Its identification with the Baurad of the Ebla documents is disputed [2. 68]. Sources document that the Canaanite B. of the 2nd millennium BC was controlled by By…

Bes

(330 words)

Author(s): Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) | von Lieven, Alexandra (Berlin)
[German version] [1] Roman coinage In the Roman system of weights and measures the bes ( binae partes assis) represents 2/3 (8/12) of the as and, on the basis of the Roman pound (327.45 g), weighs 218.30 g [1. 72]. In Roman minting the bes was stamped with S as its symbol of value; only issued by C. Cassius in 126 BC in bronze (with the head of Liber/ prora) [2. 290].  As;  Small coin, shortage of;  Libra Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography 1 Schrötter, s.v. Bes 2 M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, 21987. [German version] [2] Dwarfish Egyptian god with hideous face (Egyptia…

Besa

(173 words)

Author(s): Lohmann, Hans (Bochum)
[German version] (Βῆσ(σ)α; Bês(s)a). Attic   paralia-deme of the phyle Antiochis, later Hadrianis. Two bouleutai. Significant mining district in  Laurion, for which 24 mining leases are attested. Probably located near today's Hagios Konstantinos (formerly Kamareza), as Xen. Vect. 4,43 recommends the construction of a fortification on the highest point of B. (= Vigla Rimbari?) halfway between Anaphlystus and Thoricus. In the south, therefore, B. adjoined Amphitrope; in the north, Thoricus; in the east and south-east, Sunium, to which it was linked by the astikè hodós. Road conne…

Besantinus

(135 words)

Author(s): Degani, Enzo (Bologna)
[German version] (Βησαντῖνος; Bēsantînos). Writer in Hadrian's era, possibly from Rhodes (according to the heading in Anth. Pal. 15,27, a poem that in any case belongs not to him but to Simias of Rhodes; also wrongly attributed to him: 9,118 = Thgn. 527f., cf. Stob. 4,50,44). MSS F and Y of the Bucolics attribute a βωμός ( bōmós) to him, a pattern poem in the shape of an altar: 26 verses in different metres forming the eulogizing acrostic Ὀλύμπιε πολλοῖς ἔτεσι θυσείας, that is certainly addressed to Hadrian (cf. ThGL 5,1924A). It is also transmitted a…

Bessapara

(91 words)

Author(s): Burian, Jan (Prague)
[German version] Roman settlement on the road from Serdica to Philippopolis (It. Ant. 136; Procop. Aed. 4,11 Βεσούπαρον; Besoúparon), modern Sinitovo/Pazardžik, southern Bulgaria. Flourished in the imperial age. Thanks to its location, it retained its supraregional importance throughout late antique and the early Byzantine period. Its fortifications date from the time of Justinian I. Greek inscriptions and votive reliefs. Burian, Jan (Prague) Bibliography V. Velkov, Gradât v Trakija i Dakija prez kâsnata antičnost, 1959, 109 (Bulgarian with German resumé: …

Bessas

(101 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Goth of Thracian origin (born around AD 480), whose family did not accompany Theoderic to Italy in AD 488. He served as an officer in Justinian's army against the Persians, under  Belisarius in the reconquest of Italy, as also against the Goths and in his old age in Syrian territory. He achieved high rank ( dux Mesopotamiae 531; mag. mil. vacans in Italy 535-546; mag. mil. per Armeniam 550-554), was even patricius, but was finally banished for having a too nonchalant attitude towards his duty as a consequence of excessive financial dealings. PLRE 2, 226-229. Eder, Walter (B…

Bessi, Bessoi

(240 words)

Author(s): von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen)
[German version] (Βεσσοί; Bessoí). Term given to various Thracian tribal groupings, first mentioned by Hdt. 7,111 as part of the  Satrae in the western Rhodope mountains, but thereafter not again until the 2nd cent. BC (Pol. 23,8,4; Syll.3 710 A). The B. gained political significance because of their opposition to the Romans: defeated by Lucullus in 72 BC, by C. Octavius (ILS 47) in 59 BC, and brought to battle c. 15 years later by Brutus (Liv. Per. 77); in 29 BC M. Licinius Crassus attacked them, took away from them the Dionysus sanctuary in the Rhodope and trans…

Bessus

(72 words)

Author(s): Kuhrt, Amélie (London) | Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Helen (Utrecht)
[German version] Satrap of Bactria, Darius III's general at the battle of  Gaugamela. Shortly afterwards he killed Darius, assumed the name Artaxerxes and tried to hold the eastern part of the Persian Empire against  Alexander [4] the Great.  Spitamenes i.a. betrayed him; he was condemned to death in Ecbatana for high treason (Arr. Anab., Curt. passim). Kuhrt, Amélie (London) Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Helen (Utrecht) Bibliography F. Holt, Alexander the Great and Bactria, 1989.  

Bestiarius

(4 words)

see  Munera

Beta-gamma style

(187 words)

Author(s): De Gregorio, Giuseppe (Rome)
[German version] Stylistic trend in Greek everyday minuscules in the early Palaeologan period, so called because of the overly large shapes of the letters beta and gamma; fundamentally the beta-gamma style (BGS) falls into the category of the  Fettaugen style, as is clearly evident from a few specimens (including from the Laurentianus Conventi Soppressi 627 and the Vaticanus graecus 1899). The term BGS, not really officially sanctioned but highly convenient, is still in general use; moreover, many…

Bethania

(273 words)

Author(s): Bieberstein, Klaus (Fribourg) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum)
[German version] [1] Village on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem (Βηθανία; Bēthanía; Anānyā, Neh 11,32, or Bēt Aniyyā, ‘house of the poor’). Village on the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, 15 stades (John 11,18) or two miles (Eus. On. 58) from Jerusalem (ruins of settlement 5th cent. BC -- 14th cent. AD). Place where Jesus was anointed by the sinner (Mark 14,3; Matt. 26,6; John 12,1), home of Mary and Martha, and place where Lazarus was raised from the dead (John 11,1), hence in late antiquity Lazarion, today al-āzarı̄ya, ‘Lazarus(village)’. A chamber tomb in a cliff s…

Beth­el

(813 words)

Author(s): Köckert, Matthias (Berlin)
(Hebrew bēt-ēl ‘House of El’). [German version] [1] Place in the Ephraim range of mountains This item can be found on the following maps: Hasmonaeans Place in the Ephraim range of mountains, original name Lūz (Gen. 28,19; 35,6; 48,3; Jos. 18,3; Judg. 1,23) and identified with today's bētīn; 17 km north of Jerusalem (cf. Eus. On. 40,20f.) at the intersection of the roads from Hebron to Sichem and from Jericho to the Mediterranean; linked with an important sanctuary that, to distinguish it from the city with the earlier …

Bethlehem

(429 words)

Author(s): Köckert, Matthias (Berlin) | Pahlitzsch, Johannes (Berlin)
This item can be found on the following maps: Pilgrimage [German version] A. Early history (Arab bait-laḥm; Βητλέεμ ( Bētléem; NT); Βαιτλεεμ ( Baitleem; LXX); Βητλέμα, Βηθλεέμη (Bētléma, Bēthleémē; Ios.); Hebrew bēt-leẹm ‘House of Bread’); located about 8 km south of Jerusalem on the important communication route between Jerusalem and Hebron on fertile land at the edge of the desert. The interpretation of the place name as a derivation from a goddess named Lachama is improbable [1]. Archaeologically attested from the Iron Ag…

Bethsaida

(189 words)

Author(s): Colpe, Carsten (Berlin)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pompeius (Aramaic bēt ṣaydā, ‘house of the catch’ or ‘of the booty’). Place in Gaulanitis ( Batanaea) on Lake Genezareth (in today's plain el-ibṭeḥa) east of the confluence with the Jordan; established as a city in 3 BC by the tetrarch  Herodes Philippus and named Iulias after Augustus' daughter (Jos. Ant. 18,2,1; Bell. 2,9,1; probably today's et-tell), only 2 kms further inland), but in all four gospels mentioned with an Aramaic name (probably just the fishing settlement on the lake, today's ḫirbet el-araǧ). B./Iulias was…

Beth Shearim

(159 words)

Author(s): Pahlitzsch, Johannes (Berlin)
[German version] Place in Lower Galilee. With the relocation of the patriarch Jehuda ha-Nasi (from c. AD 175-217) B., as seat of the Sanhedrin and the rabbinic school, became for a short while the centre of Palestinian Judaism but gradually declined in importance after the transfer to Tiberias of the patriarchate and its institutions around the middle of the 3rd cent. In the succession to Rabbi Jehuda B. developed into the most important burial site in Palestine in the 3rd and 4th cents., as attested by the sp…
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