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

Bia

(153 words)

Author(s): Bloch, René (Berne)
[German version] (Βία; Bía). Personification of violence; daughter of Pallas and the Styx, sister of Zelus, Nike and Cratus (Hes. Theog. 385-388). In the titanomachy Styx goes over to Zeus with her children and they then follow him. As Zeus' henchmen, Cratus and B. spur Hephaestus on to chain  Prometheus to a rock (Aesch. PV 1-87, in which B. plays a silent part). An Athenian scyphus shows  Ixion being bound to a wheel by Hephaestus, Cratus and B. [1]. Themistocles tells the people of Andros that h…

Biaion dike

(91 words)

Author(s): Thür, Gerhard (Graz)
[German version] (βιαίων δίκη; biaíōn díkē). A private action that could be brought in Athens against robbery, rape of a free person (male or female), or abduction of a free person for the purpose of illicit sexual relations. In the 6th cent. BC Solon had established a monetary fine for this offence; later, on grounds of public interest, the fine paid to the injured party was accompanied by one of the same amount to the state. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. Cohen, Law, violence, and community in classical Athens, 1995.

Biaiothanatoi

(4 words)

see  Ahoroi

Bianor

(192 words)

Author(s): Bloch, René (Berne) | Degani, Enzo (Bologna)
[German version] [1] Son of Tiber and Manto, founder of Mantua Son of the Tiber and Manto, daughter of Teiresias or Hercules. B., also named Ocnus (Aucnus) (Verg. Aen. 10,198), is said to have founded the city of Mantua and named it after his mother. According to others (Serv. Aen.) B. founded Felsina, later to become Bononia (Bologna); Virgil (Ecl. 9,60) mentions B.'s grave. Bloch, René (Berne) Bibliography F. E. Brenk, War and the shepherd. The tomb of B. in Vergil's ninth Eclogue, in: AJPh 102, 1981, 427-430. [German version] [2] Writer of epigrams in the ‘Garland’ of Philippus Writer of …

Bias

(447 words)

Author(s): Bloch, René (Berne) | Hölkeskamp, Karl-Joachim (Cologne)
(Βίας; Bías). [German version] [1] Mythical son of Amythaon Mythical son of  Amythaon and Idomene or Aglaea; brother of the seer  Melampus. The latter assisted B. in his courtship of Pero, daughter of Neleus and Chloris. As bride-price, Neleus demanded restoration of the cattle that Phylacus had stolen from his wife Chloris. Melampus did that for his brother (Apollod. 1,96-103; Hom. Od. 11,287-297; 15,225-238). Originally from Pylos, B. gained mastery -- again with the help of his brother, who cured the…

Bible

(2,502 words)

Author(s): Perdue, Leo (Fort Worth, TX) | Balch, David (Fort Worth, TX)
[German version] A. Definition The word ‘Bible’ (Lat. biblia, Greek τὰ βιβλία; tà biblía) describes the collection of holy scriptures comprising the Hebrew Bible (Tenach) and the Old and New Testaments of Christians ( Christianity) and encompassing their many genres -- including narratives (myths, legends, romances, sagas or epics, folk tales, gospels), body of laws, psalms, poems, speeches, exhortations, proverbs and parables, letters and apocalypses. There were similar collections of holy texts in the anc…

Bible

(9 words)

see Theology and the Christian Church

Bible translations

(2,867 words)

Author(s): Marti, Heinrich (Küsnacht) | Brock, Sebastian P. (Oxford) | Ott, Claudia (Berlin)
I. General [German version] A. Introduction The terms  Bible and translation are not clearly separable from each other since the acknowledged textual basis ( Canon) has changed in the course of time and even paraphrases are regarded as translations. Recent discoveries ( Qumran, papyri) have shown that even the texts of the source language, the so-called Masora text, and of the target language, the Septuagint (LXX; Peshitta; Vetus Latina), have undergone historical development and should be read only b…

Biblical epic

(6 words)

see  Biblical poetry

Biblical poetry

(1,645 words)

Author(s): Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Roberts, Michael (Middletown, CT)
[German version] I. Greek Biblical poetry (BP) started with the early church poetry of hymns and psalms that were part of devotional service. Extensive biblical quotations or poetic paraphrases mark the origin of BP. Then as later, it is impossible to separate literary from liturgical poetry. Thus the heirmós (εἱρμός) Χριστὸς γεννᾶται, for example, is taken from the beginning of a  homily of  Gregorius of Nyssa (PG 36, 312ff.). The  kontakion, developed in Constantinople around 500, marks the high point of BP. One of the leading figures for t…

Biblical Uncials

(5 words)

see  Uncials

Bibliographic Abbreviations

(12,236 words)

A&A Antike und Abendland A&R Atene e Roma AA Archäologischer Anzeiger AAA Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology AAAlg S. Gsell, Atlas archéologique de l'Algérie. Édition spéciale des cartes au 200.000 du Service Géographique de l' Armée, 1911, repr. 1973 AAHG Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaften, publication of the Österreichische Humanistische Gesellschaft AArch Acta archeologica AASO The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research AATun 050 E. Babelon, R. Cagnat, S. Reinach (ed.), Atlas archéologique de la Tunisie (1:50.000), 1893 AATun 100 R. Cagnat, A. Merlin (…

Bibliophily

(5 words)

see  Library;  Book

Bibliotheca Corviniana

(326 words)

Author(s): Csapodi, Csaba (Budapest RWG)
[English version] The Bibliotheca Corviniana (BC), set up in the castle of King Mathias I (Corvinus; 1458-1490) in Buda (today part of Budapest), was in its time, after the Vatican Library, the second largest and most valuable royal Humanist library. The king strove to amass as complete a collection of valuable literature as possible, mainly the classics of antiquity with particular emphasis on Greek authors. A Greek-Latin duality was a characteristic of the library. To give the precious contents …

Bibliothecarius

(4 words)

see  Library

Bibracte

(176 words)

Author(s): Lafond, Yves (Bochum) | Pingel, Volker (Bochum)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Caesar | Celts | Oppidum Oppidum of the Haedui in Gallia Celtica, later Lugdunensis (modern Mont-Beuvray), located on a hilltop, separated by valleys from the rest of the Morvan massif. In 58 BC, B. was the location of Caesar's victory over the Helvetii (Caes. B Gall. 1,23; 7,55; 7,63). Excavations particularly since 1984. More recent investigations have above all opened up the (pre-)Caesarean B., with its Celtic workshops and dwellings, as well as typical fortifications (walls built using the murus gallicus techniq…

Bibrax

(34 words)

Author(s): Lafond, Yves (Bochum)
[German version] Oppidum of the Remi, modern Vieux-Laon or Camp de Saint-Thomas (Départment Aisne). Captured by Caesar in 57 BC (Caes. B Gall. 2,6). Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography P. Leman, s.v. B., PE, 792.

Bichrome ware

(180 words)

Author(s): Docter, Roald Fritjof (Amsterdam)
[German version] Modern technical term for ceramic styles with two-tone painting, mostly black with a red overlay. It differs from  black-on-red ware in the application upon a third, unintentional colouring from the clay surface of the vessel. Several production sites have been identified. In east Cyprus kraters and jugs with handles were in particular produced as bichrome ware (BW) in the late Bronze Age. They were exported in large quantities to the Levantine coast and were also imitated there. …

Bidens

(96 words)

Author(s): Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg)
[German version] Term for those ruminants that at second dentition had both middle incisors in the lower jaw replaced by larger teeth at the age of 1 1/4 to 2 years (Paul. Fest. 4,17). Servius describes just such sheep as preferred sacrificial animals (Serv. Aen. 6,39: mactare praestiterit ... lectas ex more bidentes, ‘it would be better to slaughter ... bidentes selected as prescribed by custom’; later Isid. Orig. 12,1,9; cf. Serv. Aen. 4,57).  Ruminants Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography Nehring, Jb. für class. Philol., 1893, 64ff. E. Norden, Vergils Aeneis, 6. Buch, …

Bidental

(215 words)

Author(s): Briquel, Dominique (Paris)
[German version] Name of a place struck by lightning which therefore became an object of procuratio prodigii. Ancient etymologists explain that bidental is based on the sacrifice of a two-year-old sheep, a bidens (Non. 53,22 M; Fest. p. 30; Ps.-Front. diff.; GL 7,523,30), or on places struck twice ( bis) by lightning (Ps.-Acro and Porph. ad Hor. Ars P. 471) or double-forked lightning (schol. ad Pers. 2,27). The latter explanation which regards the term as a translation from the Etruscan [1. 137; 2], is today considered to be correct [3; 4.96].…
▲   Back to top   ▲