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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Myscelus

(82 words)

Author(s): Käppel, Lutz (Kiel)
[German version] (Μύσκελ[λ]ος/ Mýskel(l)os). Mythical founder of Croton. Son of Alemon of Rhypes in Achaea. According to Ov. Met. 15, 12-59, his foundation of Croton was connected with Heracles [1] (according to others, with the Delphic Apollo): after his home town indicted Myscelus because of his illegal plan to found a city, Heracles turned the black voting stones white at the ballot, thus enabling the foundation (variants in [1. 254f.]). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) Bibliography 1 F. Bömer, P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphosen, vols. 14-15, 1986.

Myscon

(43 words)

Author(s): Beck, Hans (Cologne)
[German version] (Μύσκων/ Mýskōn). Syracusan, son of Menecrates; after the banishment of Hermocrates [1] in 410 BC, he took over command of the Syracusan fleet off Miletus along with two other strategoi (Thuc. 8,85,3; Xen. Hell. 1,1,29; Peloponnesian War). Beck, Hans (Cologne)

Mysia

(1,154 words)

Author(s): Schwertheim, Elmar (Münster)
(Μυσία/ Mýsía). [German version] A. Geography and ethnography Region in the northwest of Asia Minor, named after the Thracian tribe of the Mysi, which had probably migrated there by the 12th cent. BC. Their precise origin is unknown, but like the Phryges they may have migrated from the area of the lower Danube. If we may equate the Thracian Mysi with the later Moesi, then the site of their original settlement can be located south of the Danube in the area of northern Thrace (only in Hdt. 1,171,6 do we read that the C…

Mysius

(64 words)

Author(s): Käppel, Lutz (Kiel)
[German version] (Μύσιος/ Mýsios). Mythical Argive who received the goddess Demeter as a guest and was said to have erected a temple in her honour on the road from Argos to Mycene (Paus. 2,35,4). A festival held in Demeter's grove near Pellene, the Mysaeum, was also founded by him: the so-called Mysia (Paus. 7,27,9, cf. 2,18,3) [1]. Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) Bibliography 1 Nilsson, Feste, 327.

Mystagogos

(211 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)
[German version] (μυσταγωγός/ mustagōgós). An Athenian cult functionary in the Eleusinian mysteries ( Mystḗria ) who accompanied the mystae in the annual procession to Eleusis [1] , kept order and probably helped the mystae during the rites (inscriptions from the 1st cent. BC: LSCG, Suppl 15; Plut. Alcibiades 34,6). There is also evidence for this function outside Athens (Andania: IG V 1, 1390 l. 149; 92 BC); the verb derived from it, μυσταγωγεῖν/ mystagōgeín), denotes an initiation (e.g. of a priest in Panamara, Caria, Syll.3 900; 4th cent. AD). Figuratively, a mystagogos is a person…

Mysteria

(1,961 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)
(Μυστήρια/ Mystḗria). [German version] A. Terminology Mysteria is the Attic name of the main cult festival of Demeter and Kore (Persephone) in Eleusis [1]. The name is formed in the same way as most Attic festival names, but the etymology is unclear (Mysteries [1. 15]). Eleusis was also the place for the polis festival of the Eleusinia, a festival which included games and contests, probably held in late spring, in modern times often confused with the Mysteria. Beginning with Hdt. 2,51,2, the festival…

Mysteries

(5,198 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)
[German version] A. General Points, Definition Mysteries or rather mystery cults (in order to avoid the misleading term ‘mystery religions’) are cults of the Greek and Roman world which, for classical and modern observers alike, constitute a circumscribed category of cults within Greek and Roman religion.  Their name derives from the Attic celebration of the Mysteria, the festival of Demeter and Kore/Persephone, celebrated annually over a period of days at the shrine of Eleusis, and known since the Ho…

Mysteries

(5 words)

see Occultism

Mysterion, Mysterium

(5 words)

see Sacramentum

Myth

(8,403 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) | Zgoll, Annette (Leipzig) | Quack, Joachim (Berlin) | Hazenbos, Joost (Leipzig) | Niehr, Herbert (Tübingen)
I. Theory of myth [German version] A. Definition Despite many attempts, it has proven impossible to arrive at a definition of myth (Gr. μῦθος/ mýthos; Lat. mythos) that would satisfy all disciplines. The most satisfactory one refers to G.S. Kirk and W. Burkert who described myth as a ‘traditional narrative of collective significance’ [1; 2]. Still, this definition fails to fully represent the function of myth in the time after Classical Antiquity, when we find myths in entertaining narratives such as Ovidius's ‘Metamorphoses or Nonnus's Dionysiaká. The term ‘traditional’ implies…

Myth

(5,440 words)

Author(s): Erdbeer, Robert Matthias | Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)
Erdbeer, Robert Matthias I. Concept (CT) A. Concept and Process (CT) [German version] 1. Myth and Mythology (CT) Different from ‘myth’, the term 'mythology' - an 'account' ( logos) of the deeds of gods and heroes - can either refer to the total store of traditional narratives ('myths') of an ethnic group; or, alternatively, it can refer to the 'reasoned knowledge' ( logos) of these mythical narratives and take the form of a scientific, critical examination and presentation, i.e. a 'theory of myth'. In reception history, however, the term 'mythos' (or 'myt…

Mythical creatures

(5 words)

see Monsters

Mythographi Vaticani

(385 words)

Author(s): Heinze, Theodor (Geneva)
[German version] is the name under which three collections of myths, which have their origins in the teaching of literature in the Middle Ages, are subsumed ever since their publication from Vatican manuscripts by A. Mai in 1831. MV I (anon., no title, now dated between around 875 and 1075, [3]): 233 short fabulae  are compiled simply in three volumes without any discernible overall theme (Main sources: Serv. in Verg.; [Lactantius Placidus] scholia in Stat. Theb.; Ps.-Lactantius Placidus, Narrationes fabularum Ovidianarum; additionally i.a. Remigius of Auxerre). MV II (anon., no…

Mythographus Homericus

(325 words)

Author(s): Heinze, Theodor (Geneva)
[German version] Since [7], Mythographus Homericus has been the name given to the unknown author of a Greek mythological commentary on Homer from the early Imperial period. It has been possible to deduce its existence from the mythological tales ( historíai) of the Byzantine scholia and it has now been attested by finds of papyri and an ostrakon from the period of the 1st/2nd to the 5th cent. AD ( historíai not appearing in the scholia are in POxy. 61,4096 = [1. No. 53]). The enarratio historiarum on mythical figures (genealogies, deeds), the founding of localities ( ktíseis) and the origin…

Mythography

(3,249 words)

Author(s): Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) | Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari)
(μυθογραφία; mythographía). [German version] I. Introduction Mythography is a commonly used term for ancient and post-antique literature that presents, collects and also interprets myths (and is therefore applied also to indigenous recording of comparable narrative traditions in other cultures or to ethnographic transcriptions of them). The term mythography, however, has to remain imprecise, if only because of the implicit problem in finding a definition for myth, especially in relation to its differe…

Mythology

(11,788 words)

Author(s): Guthmüller, Bodo (Marburg/Lahn RWG) | Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich)
Guthmüller, Bodo (Marburg/Lahn RWG) I. Literature (CT) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) In the Encyclopédie of the French Enlightenment (1751-1780) we read in the entry 'mythology' ( mythologie, fable): "The study of mythology is indispensable for painters, sculptors and particularly for poets. Mythology is the foundation of their works and from it they draw their principal ornaments (...). Our theatre plays and operas, all genres of literature constantly make allusions to mythology; the engravings, paintings and stat…

Mytilene

(1,215 words)

Author(s): Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart)
This item can be found on the following maps: Byzantium | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Μυτιλήνη; Mytilḗnē). [German version] A. Geography City in the southeast of the island of Lesbos, of great political, economic and cultural signficance throughout antiquity. M. owed its prominent position not least to its favourable topographical situation. The earliest settlement, founded by Aeolians in about 1200 BC, was on the modern Kastro Hill and was separated by an a…

Myttones

(109 words)

Author(s): Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich)
[German version] (Μυττόνης/ Myttónēs, Pol.; Μοττόνης/ Mottónēs, Syll.3 585,87; Muttines, Liv.). Senior Carthaginian officer of Libyo-Phoenician origin from Hippo [5], whom Hannibal [4] sent to Sicily in 212 BC to support Epicydes [2] and Hanno [9]. He fought with success there against the Romans, but in 210, after being slighted by Hanno, he betrayed Acragas to M. Valerius Laevinus (Pol. 9,22,4; Liv. 25,40,5-13; 26,21,14f.; 40,3-8; [1. 369f., 378; 2. 317f., 335]). In reward, M. won Roman citizenship as M. Valerius Mottones (Syll.3 585,86f.; Liv. 27,5,6f.) and he commanded …

Myus

(264 words)

Author(s): Lohmann, Hans (Bochum)
[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Achaemenids | Persian Wars | Delian League (Μυοῦς; Myoûs). Small port in Ionia on the former Gulf of Latmia, now 18km from the sea at Avşar Kale. As a member of the Pan-Ionic amphiktyonía (Hdt. 1,142), it provided three ships for the naval battle of Lade in 494 BC (Hdt. 6,8). During the 5th cent. BC it was ruled by Themistocles (Thuc. 1,138), before joining the Delian League (ATL 4, Index s.v. M.); in the 3rd cent., M. lost its political independence to Mile…
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