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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Mycale

(192 words)

Author(s): Lohmann, Hans (Bochum) | Blümel, Wolfgang (Cologne)
[German version] (Μυκάλη; Mykálē). Mountain range on the west coast of Asia Minor (up to 1237 m high), ending opposite Samos in Cape Trogilium, present-day Dilek Dağı; there is a debate about whether M. is actually the Hittite Arinnanda. Hom. Il. 2,869 states that M.was inhabited by the Cares tribe (cf. [1]). It is famous for the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in 479 BC (Hdt. 9,90ff.). Melia and the Archaic Panionion were situated on the M. (Hdt. 1,148); the later town of Panionion (4th ce…

Mycalessus

(226 words)

Author(s): Funke, Peter (Münster)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Boeotia, Boeotians (Μυκαλησσός; Mykalēssós). Town named in Hom. Il. 2,498 and Hom. H. Apollo 222-224 in northeast Boeotia on the road from Thebae to Chalcis [1] and to the south of the Aniforitis pass near present-day Rhitsona. References: Str. 9,2,11; 26; Stat. Theb. 7,272; 9,281; Nonnus. Dion. 13,77f.; Steph. Byz. s.v. Μ. A few wall remains [1] and a large necropolis used from the Geometric to the Hellenistic periods [2] testify to its heyday in…

Mycena

(96 words)

Author(s): Michel, Raphael (Basle)
[German version] (Μυκήνη; Mykḗnē). Achaean, daughter of Inachus [1] and Melia (Argivian nymph, Meliae), by Arestor the mother of Argus [I 2] (schol. Hom. Od. 2,120; Paus. 2,16,3f.). The suitor Antinous mentions M. together with Tyro and Alcmene in a eulogy to Penelope as an example of skilful and cunning women of the dim and distant past (Hom. Od. 2,120). Another tradition viewed her as the one who gave her name to Mycenae (Mycenae; Eust. in Hom. Il. 2,569: Laconian nymph; Nonnus, Dion. 41,267f.: ‘bright-eyed’ maiden; schol. in Nic. Alex. 103: heroine). Michel, Raphael (Basle)

Mycenae

(810 words)

Author(s): Hiesel, Gerhard (Freiburg) | Lafond, Yves (Bochum)
This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Doric Migration | Dark Ages | Linear B | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Persian Wars | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture | Mineral Resources (Μυκῆναι/ M ukênai, Μυκήνη/ Mykḗnē; Lat. Mycena; Mycenae). [German version] I. Mycenaean period Settlement on a steep spur in the northern foothills of the Argolid. The oldest traces of settlement date from the early Bronze Age (2900-2500 BC). M. is the most important centre of Mycenaean culture. Excavations were carried out by H. S…

Mycenae

(2,277 words)

Author(s): Schiering, Wolfgang (Heidelberg RWG)
Schiering, Wolfgang (Heidelberg RWG) [German version] A. Antiquity (CT) Pausanias begins his brief report on Mycenae (M.) with the city's destruction at the hands of the Argives in 466 BC. The latter had felt penalized by the Mycenaeans, who had sent eighty warriors to fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BC while Argos had held back. The Argives had also refrained from taking part in the Battle of Plataea. The first discoverers and users of ancient M. were the Greeks, who settled the walled fortress…

Mycenaean

(838 words)

Author(s): Plath, Robert (Erlangen)
[German version] Mycenaean is the term for the form of Greek occurring in Late Bronze Age ( c. 1420-1180 BC) texts written in Linear B. This syllabic script (Greece, systems of writing) is suited only to a limited extent to recording the forms of spoken words: thus the male name e-u-po-ro can be read as / Ehupōlos/Εὔπωλος, / Ehuporos/Εὔπορος, / Ehuphoros/ Εὔφορος or / Ehuphrōn/Εὔφρων. Hence the phonematic translation of Mycenaean syllabic sign sequences is based on often combinatorial consideration of later linguistic material from the 1st millennium BC and …

Mycenaean culture and archaeology

(4,491 words)

Author(s): Hiesel, Gerhard (Freiburg)
A. Definition [German version] 1. History of research The culture of the Late Bronze Age (16th-11th cents. BC) on the Greek mainland is called Mycenaean culture (MC);  it is also the continuation of Minoan palace culture (Minoan culture and archaeology) in the whole area of the Aegean. It was first called thus by H. Schliemann, who rediscovered the lost material culture of early Greece in his excavations at Mycenae in 1876 and at Tiryns. The tripartite chronological system, which was developed by A. Eva…

Mycerinus

(111 words)

Author(s): Seidlmayer, Stephan Johannes (Berlin)
[German version] (Egyptian Mn-kw-R; Hdt. 2,129: Μυκερῖνος/ Mykerînos; Diod. Sic. 1,64 as a variant: Μεγχερῖνος/ Mencherînos; Manetho: Μενχέρης/ Menchérēs). Sixth king of the Egyptian 4th dynasty. Son and second successor of Chefren; ruled for 18 years (between 2500 and 2450 BC). M. built the third and smallest pyramid in Giza. Evidence from the Saitic and Persian periods (7th-5th cents. BC) indicates the restoration of his tomb and the resumption of his cult. Herodotus' extensive account (Hdt. 2,129-134), which…

Mychus

(57 words)

Author(s): Daverio Rocchi, Giovanna (Milan)
[German version] (Μυχός; Mychós). Easternmost harbour of Phocis (Str. 9,2,25; 3,13; the place name refers to the remoteness of the location) below the Helicon on the Gulf of Corinth, probably nearby modern Boulis in the Bay of Zálitzan (neolithic finds). Daverio Rocchi, Giovanna (Milan) Bibliography J.M. Fossey, The Ancient Topography of Eastern Phokis, 1986, 11, 91f.

Myci

(121 words)

Author(s): Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel)
[German version] (Μύκοι; Mýkoi). Ethnic group in the Persian empire (Hdt. 3,93; 7,68; Hecat. FGrH 1 F 289) who, together with the Sagartii, Sarangae, Thamanaei, Utii and the island inhabitants of the Persian Gulf, were classed as belonging to the 14th nomos by Herodotus. It is probably correct to assume that they were  the inhabitants of the regions on both sides of the strait of Hormūz, corresponding to the Maciyā, i.e. the inhabitants of Maka, known from Achaemenid inscriptions and reliefs as well as the fortification and treasury ta…

Myecphorites

(60 words)

Author(s): Jansen-Winkeln, Karl (Berlin)
[German version] (Μυεκφορίτης; Myekphorítēs). Egyptian district, mentioned only in Hdt. 2,166, located on an ‘island’ (surrounded by arms of the Nile or canals) across from Bubastis and inhabited by Calasirieis. The etymology of the name is unclear, it may mean the 20th district of lower Egypt. Jansen-Winkeln, Karl (Berlin) Bibliography A.B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II, Comm. 99-182, 1988, 195.

Myesis

(354 words)

Author(s): Heinze, Theodor (Geneva)
[German version] (μύησις/ mýēsis, Lat. initiatio). Myesis is the initiation into a mystery (μυστήρια/ mystḗria, Lat. initia) whereby the candidate for initiation became a μύστης ( mýstēs, Lat. initiatus, initiated). As an additional rank the initiated could later attain the epopteía . As nomen actionis for the verb μυέω/ myéō (‘I initiate’; lat. initiare), which is considered a causativum to μύω/ mýō (‘I close [lips/eyes]’), myesis semantically presupposes the term mýstēs, which, like mystḗria, is not derived from myéō but rather from mýō [1; 7. 414f.]. This derivation, which…

Mygdon

(131 words)

Author(s): Frey, Alexandra (Basle)
(Μύγδων; Mýgdōn). [German version] [1] King of the Bebrycians King of the Bebrycians, brother of Amycus [1]; killed by Heracles when he attacked Heracles' host, Lycus [5]. After M.'s death, Heracles gives Lycus a large part of the land of the Bebrycians, which is renamed Herakleia (Apollod. 2,100). Frey, Alexandra (Basle) [German version] [2] Ruler of the Phrygians Along with Otreus, M. rules over the Phrygians at the Sangarius river. These Phrygians are also called Mygdonians, after M. (Paus. 10,27,1; schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2,786f.). Priamus aids them in…

Mygdones

(147 words)

Author(s): von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen)
[German version] (Μυγδόνες; Mugdónes). Thracian inhabitants of the Mygdonia [1] region (Μυγδονία/ Mygdonía; Macedonia) between the lower Axios, the Gulf of Thermae, the Bolbe and the Kruša and Bogdanska mountains in the east (Hdt. 7,123f.; 127; Strab. 7a,1,11; 36). At the time of Herodotus (5th cent. BC) it was home to groups of Paeones, Sitones and Crestones; according to Thucydides 2,99,4 the Edones were expelled from Mygdonia by the Macedonian kings (after 479 BC? [4. 15]), at the time of Strabo it was i…

Mygdonia

(367 words)

Author(s): Schwertheim, Elmar (Münster) | Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart)
(Μυγδονία; Mygdonía). [German version] [1] Region in northwestern Asia Minor Region in northwestern Asia Minor whose name is derived from the Thracian Mygdones who, like the Doliones and the Mysi (Mysia), migrated to the northwestern part of Asia Minor in the 12th cent. BC. The area in which they settled was bordered at the northwest by the Dascylitis (Δασκυλῖτις, now Kuş Gölü), at the northeast by Apameia [1]; in the southwest their settlements reached to the Mysian Olympus [13] (modern-day Uludağ), in t…

Myia

(115 words)

Author(s): Riedweg, Christoph (Zürich)
[German version] (Μυῖα; Myîa). Daughter of Pythagoras and Theano, according to Porph. Vita Pythagorica 4 (cf. Anon. Photii p. 237,16 Thesleff = Phot. Bibl. 249, VII p. 126,31 Henry; Suda s.v. M.), according to Iambl. VP 267 wife of Milon [2] of Croton. Perhaps she is the one referred to in Timaeus' report (FGrH 566 F 131 = Porph. ibid.) that Pythagoras' daughter, as a maiden, was the leader of the maidens in Croton, and as a woman she led the women. A pseudepigraphic letter to Phyllis regarding the proper choice of a nurse is found in [1]. Riedweg, Christoph (Zürich) Bibliography 1 A. Städele, D…

Myiager, Myiodes

(192 words)

Author(s): Auffarth, Christoph (Tübingen)
[German version] (Μυίαγρος/ Muíagros, Μυιώδης/ Muiṓdēs). Sacrifices attract flies. In order to drive them away, those offering a sacrifice would provide a preliminary sacrifice (with an additive?), the blood of which would satisfy the gnats (according to Ael. NA 5,17 for Leucas; 11,8). In the half-empty town of Alipheira the help of the ‘gnat-chaser’ Myiager was called upon (Paus. 8,26,7). In Olympia, on the malaria plain, similar protection was provided  by sacrifices to Zeus Apómyios, the ‘fly repeller’ (Paus. 5,14,1; Plin. HN 10,75; 29,106), or Myiakórēs/ Myiṓdēs (‘fly catche…

Mykonos

(344 words)

Author(s): Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart)
[German version] (Μύκονος; Mýkonos). Island in the  Cyclades (Plin. HN 4,66) with an area of 88 km2, barren, rocky, poor in water, hilly, but without very high mountains (the highest elevation amounts to just 390 m). The earliest settlement was in the late Neolithic (beginning of the 3rd millennium BC; Bay of Panormos in the north). An early Cycladic settlement (after 2600 BC) was on the peninsula of Anavolousa in the southwest. There were two urban centres on M. (Skyl. 58; cf. Syll.3 1024): near Palaiokastro to the southeast of the Bay of Panormos (from the middle of the B…

Mylae

(512 words)

Author(s): Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) | Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) | Falco, Giulia (Athens)
[German version] [1] Town in southern Perrhaebia (Μύλαι; Mýlai). Town in southern Perrhaebia ( Perrhaebi) between Chyretiae und Phalanna, mentioned in literature only about the year 171 BC, when it was captured and plundered by Perseus after a long resistance (Liv. 42,54,1ff.). Starting from the evidence in Livy, M. has been located in a citadel's ruins - the walls had been restored during the Byzantine period - on a steep hill above the Xerias (= Titaresius) near present Damasion, where also inscriptions attributed to M. have been discovered (IG IX 2, 332-337; [1]). Kramolisch, Herwig …

Mylas

(53 words)

Author(s): Antoni, Silke (Kiel)
[German version] (Μύλας; Mýlas). One of the Telchines. Inventor of the mill (according to Paus. 3,20,2 the Laconian King Myles), founder of the cult of the Mylánteioi theoí in Cameirus on Rhodes, and eponym of the promontory of Mylantia near Cameirus (Hesych. s.v. Μ.; Steph. Byz. s.v. Μυλαντία). Antoni, Silke (Kiel)
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