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)
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
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
Magister militum
(1,068 words)
[German version] Under Constantius [2] II (AD 337-361) the offices of the
magister peditum and the
magister equitum (for this office in the Roman Republic
magister equitum ) were created and the military competencies of the
praefecti praetorio were transferred to them (Zos. 2,33,3; Lydus, Mag. 2,10). This arrangement resulted from the separation of military and civilian functions in Roman offices that had started in the 3rd cent. At first,
magister peditum and
magister equitum were appointed as commanders of the relevant arms of service, although from the outset this …
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magister officiorum
(1,248 words)
[German version] A. Origin of the office An office of late antiquity created by Constantinus [1] I, which was among the highest in the Roman empire (Not. Dign. Or. 11; Not. Dign. Occ. 9), attested for the first time in AD 320 (Cod. Theod. 16,10,1). The great imperial chancelleries (
scrinium ) of the
magister memoriae,
magister epistularum and
magister libellorum and lesser palace officials, such as
admissionales,
interpretes,
mensores (
mensor ),
decani (
decanius ),
stratores,
cursores,
lampadarii , and
notarii (
notarius ) were first of all probably mandated to the
magister officiorum …
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magistratus
(2,166 words)
[German version] A. Term Usually a certain bearer of state power elected by popular vote, however, at the same time it is also in concrete terms the office or in the plural the sum of individual offices of Roman or peregrine provenance.
Magistratus is derived from
magister (
magis, ‘more’) (Varro Ling. 5,82; Dig. 50,16,57; Fest. p. 113 L.; CIL I2 401:
mac[i]steratus). The concept is recorded in inscriptions from the 4th/3rd cents. BC, and in literature by Plautus (CIL I2 25:
macistr[a]tos; I2 401; Plaut. Amph. 74; Plaut. Persa 76; Plaut. Rud. 477; Plaut. Truc. 761). The abstra…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magius
(793 words)
Family name of Oscan origin. [I 184]. The family was prominent in Capua (M. [I 3], cf. Cic. Pis. 24) and M.'s [I 5] sons were the first to be admitted to the Senate in the 1st cent. BC. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Grandfather of the poet Vergilius on his mother's side Grandfather of the poet Vergilius on his mother's side; was allegedly an official messenger (
viator ; Donat. Vita Vergilii 1). Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Cologne) [German version] [I 2] M., Cn. Governor of Numidia AD 256-258. From Larinum in Samnium, died about 88 BC; heir of his (half…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnae
(170 words)
[German version] (or
Magni). Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in northern England (Not. Dign. Occ. 40,43; Geogr. Rav. 107,11), probably dating to the Flavian period (AD 69-96), modern Carvoran, identified because of epigraphical evidence (
numerus Magn(c)es(ium) [1. 1825]). In the early 2nd cent., before M. became part of the Hadrianic Limes after AD 122, it may have been part of Trajan's border line [2. 192-196]. The fort was not integrated into the
vallum as was usually the case, but remained situated to the south. Under Hadrian and after him, the
cohors I Hamiorum was stationed there unt…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magna Graecia
(3,167 words)
(Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς/
Megálē Hellás, ‘Great Greece’). I. Geography and history [German version] A. Definition From a geographical point of view, the concept of Magna Graecia (MG) is superimposed on
Italia without being identical with it. In the 5th cent. BC, it referred to the outermost part of Italia, surrounded by the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas from Laus [2] to Metapontium. Later MG was used for the whole part of Southern Italy that had been settled by Greeks, from Taras to Cyme [2]. The term
Megálē Hellás was already widespread around the middle of the 5th cent. BC. There seem to be…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnentius
(353 words)
[German version] Flavius Magnus M., usurper, Roman emperor, AD 350-353. Born in Amiens
c. 303, of non-Roman origin, not Christian. M. entered a military career and made it to the rank of
comes . The
comes rerum privatarum Marcellinus [5] incited him to conspire against Constans [1]: On 18 January 350, M. revolted in Autun (Aur. Vict. 42; Zos. 2,42); Constans was killed. By the end of February, M. was recognized as emperor in northern Italy, and thereafter in the entire West and in Africa as well. In the Danube reg…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnes
(305 words)
(Μάγνης;
Mágnēs). [German version] [1] Eponymous ruler of the central Greek territory of Magnesia Eponymous ruler of the central Greek region of Magnesia. His origins are variously described; the oldest reference (Hes. Cat. 7) calls him a son of Zeus and Thyia, daughter of Deucalion and a native of Pieria. Here Macedon, the mythical progenitor of the Macedonians, is referred to as his brother; according to Apollod. 1,16 he has a son named Pierus. These familial relationships indicate acquisition of land by the Magnesians from the north. Visser, Edzard (Basle) [German version] [2] Son o…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnesia
(1,218 words)
(Μαγνησία;
Magnēsía). [German version] [1] Thessalian coastal region (Ethnicon Μάγνης, Μαγνῆτες/
Mágnēs,
Magnêtes; IG IX 2,1228 b16: dat. pl. Μαγνείτεσσι/
Magneítessi 3rd cent. BC). The Thessalian coastal region of Peneius to the Gulf of Pagasae with a narrow peninsula stretching far to the south, which encloses the Gulf of Pagasae in the east and south, filled up completely by the mountains Ossa and Pelion and their foothills. The east coast toward the open sea was without a harbour and feared by sailors; in 480 B…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnets
(329 words)
[German version] (Μαγνῆτις/
magnêtis or Ἡρακλεία λίθος/
Hērakleía líthos; Lat.
magnes). The name
magnes supposedly comes from the homonymous discoverer, a shepherd on the mountain of Ida in the Troad (according to Nicander in Plin. HN 36,127) whom Isid. Orig. 16,4,1 holds to be a person from the Indus. The magnet is the well-known stone of iron oxide (Fe3O4) that attracts normal iron and, as
ferrum vivum, ‘magnetizes’ the iron in its turn (Plin. HN 34,147; Isid. ibid.; Lucr. 6,910-914). Plin. HN 36,128 differentiates, with the Greek stone expert Sotacus, five …
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnia Urbica
(63 words)
[German version] Wife of the emperor Carinus (end of the 3rd cent. AD) from Colonia Iulia Gemella Accitana in Hispania (CIL II 3394). She bore the titles of
Augusta,
mater castrorum and
mater senatus ac patriae (CIL VIII 2384; XI 6957). PIR2 M 99. Franke, Thomas (Bochum) Bibliography H. Cohen, Description Historique des Monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain VI2, 1886, 405-408.
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnillus
(50 words)
[German version] Belonged to the circle associated with Symmachus, with whom he corresponded (Symmachus, Ep. 5,17-33). Governor of Liguria; in AD 391-393
vicarius in Africa, then indicted and acquitted; attested until 396 but no longer in an office, probably not a Christian. PLRE 1, 533. Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover)
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnum Municipium
(107 words)
[German version] Town (Tab. Peut. 5,2; Geogr. Rav. 4,16; CIL XIII 6538) that developed partly from a Dalmatian settlement near Balina Glavica (near Drnis̆, Bosnia-Herzegovina, probably identical with Sinotium/Synodium: Str. 7,5,5; App. Ill. 78) and partly from a
vicus close to the auxiliary camp near Umljanivići.
Beneficiarii succeeded the auxiliary unit (cf. CIL III 9790; 14957ff.). Probably, MM was already a
municipium under emperor M. Aurelius (cf. CIL III 9798). Šašel Kos, Marjeta (Ljubljana) Bibliography M. Zaninović, Ilirsko pleme Delmati II [The Illyrian Tribe of…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnus
(1,025 words)
Roman
cognomen, which originally designated bodily size or birth order (‘the Elder’), as in the Republican period in the case of Sp. Postumius Albinus M. (
cos. 148 BC) and T. Roscius M. (Cic. Rosc. Am. 17) [1. 275; 3. 47]. As an assumption of the epithet of Alexander [4] ‘the Great’ (ὁ μέγας/
ho mégas, in the sense of great historical importance), first taken by Cn. Pompeius (
cos. 70 and 55) in the 1st cent. BC, then inherited by his sons Cn. and Sex. Pompeius and their descendants. Sex. Pompeius used M. also as a
praenomen resp.
nomen gentile [4. 364f.]. In the Imperial period, more frequen…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magnus Sinus
(88 words)
[German version] (μέγας κόλπος/
mégas kólpos, Ptol. 7,2,1; 7,3,1). A large ocean gulf in
India extra Gangem, adjoining the Sinae, i.e. south-east Asia, with three rivers: Daonas, Dorias and Seros (Ptol. 7,2,7). Although the geography of south-east Asia seems hopelessly distorted in Ptolemy, and all interpretations of place names in that region must remain highly hypothetical, nonetheless the Magnus Sinus can be identified with the waters lying between the Malacca Peninsula and southern China. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography H. Treidler, s.v. Μέγας κόλπος, RE Suppl…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Mago
(1,896 words)
(*
Mgn = ‘(god's) gift’; Greek Μάγων;
Mágōn). [German version] [1] Carthaginian king (?), 2nd half 6th cent. BC Carthaginian, leading figure (king?) in the 2nd half of the 6th cent. BC; successor of Malchus [1], efficient promoter of Carthaginian power (Iust. 18,7,19; 19,1,1; [1. 173f.; 2. 475f.]), to whom a great army reform with the goal of the deployment of mercenaries is erroneously attributed [3. 184-187]. As father (?) of Hamilcar [1] and Hasdrubal (Iust. 19,1,2), M. is considered the ancestor of the Magonid…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly
Magog
(240 words)
[German version] In Ez 38:2 M. is the name of the country of the grand duke Gog, whom God has advance together with his armed forces against Israel to attack it; in doing so, however, he will die (for the text Ez 38:1-39:29 and its individual layers cf. [1]; see also Gn 10:2 where M. is counted among the sons of Japheth). Experts have raised the question whether Gog is to be associated with a historical figure, e.g. the Lydian king Gyges, who appears in documents of Assurbanipal under the name
Gug(g)u. M. would then be identifiable with Lydia. The episode was diversely interpreted: Iosephus s…
Source:
Brill’s New Pauly