[German version]

(ἱεροὶ πόλεμοι/hieroì pólemoi). As a concept hieròs pólemos is first encountered in the late 5th cent. BC and according to Aristophanes (Av. 554ff., particularly 556 with schol. = Philochorus FGrH 328 F 34 b) means 'war against divinity', whereas Thucydides (1,112,5; with the addition of καλούμενος/kaloúmenos, 'so-called') uses it to describe the Spartans' intervention in Delphi in 448 on the pretext of protecting the sanctuary of Apollo [1. 1-14]. Accordingly there was no idea of a religious campaign for a deity [2. 67-87].…