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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Eagle

(715 words)

Author(s): Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg)
[German version] (ἀετός; aetós, aquila). Most distinguished bird of antiquity (Il. 8,247; 24,315; Aesch. Ag. 112; Pind. Pyth. 1,6 al.; Plin. HN 10,6). Description of the six types in Aristot. Hist. an. 8(9),32,618 b 18-619 b 12 and with alterations in Plin. HN 10,6-8. (1) πύγαργος, νεβροφόνος ( pýgargos, nebrophónos; ‘deer calf killer’) (in Plin. no. 2), with white tailfeathers, living on plains, in forests, mountains and in towns, perhaps snake eagle [1. 208]. (2) πλάγγος, νηττοφόνος ( anataria) or μορφνός, Homer. (= περκνός, Il. 24,316), in damp lowlands or by lakes,…

Eagle-stone

(203 words)

Author(s): Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg)
[German version] (ἀετίτης; aetítēs). According to Plin. HN 36.149 (cf. Plin. HN 10.12) a so-called rattle stone found in both sexes in eagles nests, which like a pregnant woman contained a further stone inside it, of which Pliny according to Sotacus (3rd cent. BC) [1.468] distinguished a total of four kinds in Africa, Arabia, Cyprus and near Leucas. Without its presence the eagle would not produce any progeny. According to the stone book of Evax ch. 1 [2.234-236], the eagle brought it from the peri…

Ear ornaments

(960 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] I. Ancient Orient see  Jewellery Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) [German version] II. Classical Antiquity Ear ornaments (ἐνώτια/ enṓtia, ἐνωτάρια/ enōtária, ἐνωτίδιον/ enōtídion, Lat. inaures) are seldom mentioned in Gr. myth (Hom. Il. 14,183; Hom. Od. 18,298; Hymn. Hom. ad Ven. 8), but numerous finds and representations attest that already in early times they formed part of the  jewellery of men (Hom. Od. 18,298) and women. In the classical period and later, the wearing of ear ornaments by men was regarded…

Earth­quake

(850 words)

Author(s): Maul, Stefan (Heidelberg) | Krafft, Fritz (Marburg/Lahn)
[German version] I. Mesopotamia The push of the Arabian peninsula to the north-east against the Eurasian plate caused the uplift of the Zagros and Taurus mountains. Seismic release of tensions can lead to earthquakes in the whole of Mesopotamia, particularly in the north. Earthquakes were considered to be expressions of wrath by  Enlil, king of the gods, by various  chthonic gods and by Inanna/Ištar as the star of Venus. They were regarded as severe warnings to the king and as precursors of further …

Easter chronicle

(6 words)

see  Chronicon paschale

Easter computation

(5 words)

see  Calendar

East Greek pottery

(1,554 words)

Author(s): Schaus, Gerald P. (Waterloo, Ontario)
[German version] A. Introduction The region of eastern Greece, i.e. the west coast of Asia Minor and the offshore islands, was settled by Greeks in part during the late Bronze Age and more comprehensively in the early Iron Age. Culturally and politically, the region was subdivided into the Aeolian north, the Ionic middle and the Doric south; artistically, the prosperous cities of Ionia (Miletus, Samos, Ephesus and Smyrna) were the leading ones in the region. Local pottery workshops influenced by the…

Ebionaei

(379 words)

Author(s): Rist, Josef (Würzburg)
[German version] (Greek Ἐβιωναῖοι; Ebiōnaîoi, from Hebr. םיִנֹויְבֶא < æbyōnı̄m, ‘[the] Poor’). Since  Irenaeus (Haer. 1,26,2); the usual collective term for selected, heterodox Jewish-Christian groups in antiquity. The name was wrongly interpreted as pejorative by Patristic authors (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 3,27; Orig. contra Celsum 2,1: ‘poor of mind’) or, since Tertullianus (De praescriptione haereticorum 10,8; also Hippolytus, refutatio omnium haeresium 7,35,1), ascribed to a homonymous namegiver Ebion, su…

Ebla

(525 words)

Author(s): Klengel, Horst (Berlin)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Mesopotamia Town in North West Syria (today Tall Mardı̄ḫ, c. 60 km southwest of Aleppo). Excavations since 1964 show proof of extensive building developments from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC; since 1974, substantial archives with c. 17,000 clay tablets and fragments (24th/23rd cents. BC) have come to light. They are written in the  Cuneiform script adopted from Mesopotamia and composed in an archaic Semitic language on whose character there are differing opinions ( Eblaite). So…

Eblaite

(238 words)

Author(s): Krebernik, Manfred (Munich)
[German version] The texts from palace G in  Ebla (24th cent. BC) are the oldest written records found in North West Syria so far. They reflect a complex linguistic situation: along with the cuneiform script, Sumerian and Akkadian texts from Mesopotamia were also imported, and the local material itself is not homogenous. The Semitic idiom ( Semitic languages) used in local texts (of which the bilingual lexical lists are particularly important), which is closely related to  Akkadian, is called Ebla…

Ebony

(199 words)

Author(s): Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg)
[German version] As ébenos (ἔβενος) or ebénē (ἐβένη; since Hdt. 3,97: 200 logs of ebony as tribute of the Ethiopians to the Persian Great King) and hebenus (since Verg. G. 2,115f.), the precious and very long lasting (Plin. HN 16,213) heartwood imported from India (cf. Str. 15,1,37) and black Africa (cf. Str. 17,2,2) was famous in antiquity; it was derived from various deciduous trees of the genus Diospyros ( D. ebenum in India, hirsutum and haplostylis in Africa) belonging to the family of the Ebenaceae. In his report on Indian trees, Pliny (HN 12,20), like his source…

Ebora

(236 words)

Author(s): Barceló, Pedro (Potsdam)
Whether the name E. is Iberian, Ligurian or Celtic, remains unclear [1. vol. 1, 1394; vol. 2, 205; 2. 68; 3. 150]. [German version] [1] Town of the Carpetani, modern Montalba Town of the Carpetani, today Montalba on the Tajo. The town Aebura referred to in Livy (40,30; 32f.) is probably identical with Libora (Ptol. 2,6,56; Geogr. Rav. 4,44, Lebura; but cf. CIL II p. 111 s. Caesarobriga). Barceló, Pedro (Potsdam) [German version] [2] Modern Évora in Portugal Today Évora in Portugal (Alentejo); its identity is confirmed by inscriptions and archaeological remains (fort, …

Eboracum

(290 words)

Author(s): Todd, Malcolm (Exeter)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity | | Coloniae | Commerce | Legio | Limes | Limes | Pertinax | Rome | Rome | Britannia (Today York). With its strategically favourable location in the heart of the Vale of York, E. presented itself to the Romans as a base for their military control of northern Britannia. The earliest garrison was stationed in E. under Q. Petilius Cerealis in AD 71/74 [1]. The legionary camp ( legio IX Hispana) was a wood-earth fort of the 70s; the reconstruction in stone took place in the early 2nd cent. The legio VI Victrix replaced the legio I…

Eborarii

(4 words)

see  Ivory

Eburnus

(40 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum)
[German version] Cognomen (‘ivory coloured’), derived from the skin or hair colour of Q. Fabius Maximus Eburnus, cos. 116 BC (Ps. Quint. Decl. mai. 3,17; with an obscene meaning in Arnob. 4,26). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography Kajanto, Cognomina 227.

Eburodunum

(110 words)

Author(s): Lafond, Yves (Bochum) | Walser, Gerold (Basle)
This item can be found on the following maps: Rome | Rome [German version] [1] Main town of the Caturiges Main town of the Caturiges. On a rocky plinth towering above the Durance, the pre-Roman oppidum and the Roman town occupied the place of today's urban development (Embrun). Important station on the road from southern Gaul to northern Italy. Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography P.-A. Fevrier, Archéologie dans les Hautes-Alpes, 1991, 242-244. [German version] [2] Gallo-Roman vicus, today Yverdon-les-Bains Gallo-Roman vicus with a pre-Roman sulphur spring still in use toda…

Eburones

(234 words)

Author(s): Schön, Franz (Regensburg)
[German version] People in Gallia Belgica, the most important one amongst the Germani Cisrhenani (Caes. B Gall. 2,4); they were clients of the Treveri in the south; in between the two were the lands of the Germanic  Condrusi and Segni (Caes. B Gall. 4,6; 6,32). In the north, the E. shared a border with the coastal people of the Menapii (Caes. B Gall. 6,5). The core of their areas of settlement between Maas and Rhine (Caes. B Gall. 5,24) comprised the northern Ardennes, the Eiffel and the plains ex…

Ebusus

(172 words)

Author(s): Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg)
[German version] (Ἔβουσος; Ébousos). According to archaeological finds, the larger one of the two  Pityussae (‘Spruce islands’), Ibiza and Formentera, was settled around the middle of the 7th cent. BC, initially under the name of ybšm by Phoenician colonists from the Straits of Gibraltar. The founding of a settlement by Carthage reported in Diod. Sic. 5,16,1-3, evidently refers to an expansion carried out by the north African metropolis some 100 years later. Thanks to its prominent position, the town of E. became an important Pu…

Ecbatana

(479 words)

Author(s): Calmeyer, Peter (Berlin)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Achaemenids | Diadochi and Epigoni | Alexander | Commerce | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states | India, trade with | Mesopotamia (ancient Persian Hāgmātana, Greek Ἐκβάτανα, Ἀκβάτανα; Ekbátana, Akbátana), today Hamadān. Median capital, summer residence of the  Achaemenids (Xen. An. 3,5,15; Xen. Cyr. 8,6,22; Ael. NA 3,13; 10,6; Ezra 6,2) and Arsacids ( Arsaces; Curt. 5,8,1; Str. 11,524), Seleucid Ἐπιφάνεια/ Epipháneia (Steph. Byz. s.v. Ἀκβάτανα), later overtaken by Rhages. Today, the ruins of E. are…

Ecclesiastical/Religious law

(574 words)

Author(s): Podella, Thomas (Lübeck) | Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt)
[German version] I. Old Testament A religious law in the sense of a legal system existing alongside profane law or even preceding it, cannot be reconstructed for the old Israel. At the centre of recent discussions is the question of the ‘theologizing’ or the ‘Jahvism’ of the law. This refers especially to the concept occurring in Exodus (Ex 20,1 ff.: Decalogue and book of the covenant) of a God  Jehova as a lawgiver who thus functionally occupies a domain which in the Old Orient was reserved for roya…
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