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[German version] [1] Legendary founder of Rome The legendary founder of Rome. Perhaps literally 'the Roman'. A possible correspondence between the Etruscan nomen gentile Rumelna (Volsinii, 6th cent. BC: ET Vs 1,35) and the alleged Roman nomen gentile Romilius - the name is securely attested only in an old tribus Romilia/-ulia (Paul Fest. 331 L.) - and between R. and an Etruscan praenomen * Rumele [1. 31 f.] proves nothing about the historicity of the figure of R. Also problematic is the attempt [2. 491-520; 3. 95-150] to connect the finds from the Roman Mon…

(Λύκος; Lýkos). Mythology and religion: L. [1-9], historical persons: L. [10-13], rivers: L. [14-19]. [German version] [1] Son of Poseidon and the Pleiad Celaeno Son of Poseidon and the Pleiad Celaeno [1] (Ps.-Eratosth. Katasterismoi 23), only Apollod. 3,111 mentions his translation to the Islands of the Blessed, possibly to differentiate him from L. [6], with whom he is connected by Hyg. Fab. 31, 76 and 157 in spite of the descent from Poseidon. Scherf, Johannes (Tübingen) [German version] [2] Son of Prometheus and Celaeno Son of Prometheus and Celaeno [1], on whose tomb in th…

[German version] Mentioned in the Republican libri sacerdotum as an addressee of prayers (Gell. NA 13,23,2). In the Augustean period, the MM received a supplicatio every 12 May (Feriale Cumanum, InscrIt 13,2, p. 279). This supplication is connected with the natalis templi of the sanctuary of Mars Ultor in the Forum Augustum and with the ludi for Mars on the same day (Mars I.C.). The compound moles belli, ‘the dangers’ or ‘privations of war’, inspired by the mṓlos Árēos (since Hom. Il. 2,401), is present in Roman poets and historians from the 2nd cent. BC (Acc. fr. 610 TRF…

[German version] (Τριτοπάτορες/ Tritopátores, also Τριτοπατρεῖς/ Tritopatreîs). The cultically worshipped ancestors - usually as a collective, but also individually (Τριτοπάτωρ/ Tritopátōr: IDélos 1,66) - of a particular social group. Cults of the T. of a pólis , of demes ( dêmos [2]), phratríai or génē (Family, IV. A. 3.) are recorded in Attica and on Attic-influenced Delos, in Selinus [4], Troezen and Cyrene. Several local inscriptional texts, primarily including a lex sacra from Selinus, give information about their cultic status. Philochorus (FGrH 328 F 182) in…

[German version] In literature also rex sacrificulus (e.g. Liv. 2,2,1), 'king of the sacrifice', or simply rex (e.g. Varro Ling. 6,12 f.). The great age of this Roman priesthood is evident from the requirement that the rex sacrorum belong to a patrician gens (Cic. Dom. 38; Liv. 6,41,9; exception: MRR 1,284 n. 8), be born of a marriage concluded by confarreatio , and he himself be married by that ritual (Gai. Inst. 1,112). The rex sacrorum was nominated by the pontifical college, and, after being elected, inaugurated into the comitia calata (Antistius Labeo fr. 22 Huschke in Gell. NA …

[German version] ( Saxsanus, also Saxsetanus). Epithet, primarily of Hercules. The name derives from Latin saxum, 'rock, stone'; Hercules S. was worshipped in the context of individual Italic or provincial Roman quarrying regions. The beginning of the worship of Hercules S. dates back to before the second half of the 1st century AD in central Italy (Tibur: CIL XIV 3543, the restoration of an older sanctuary in the Flavian period as a terminus ante quem), less likely in upper Italy (CIL V 5013). From Italy, the cult presumably came to Germany with some of the soldiers…

[German version] The patrii di (Greek θεοὶ πάτριοι/ theoì pátrioi or θεοὶ πατρῷοι/ theoì patrôioi, theoí pátrioi ) were not a fixed category of Roman religious law, but represented an indigenous attempt to classify religious plurality in terms of the traditionalistic scheme typical of ancient religion: that of in-group/out-group. The 'gods of the fathers' gained some of their legitimacy from the fact that the ancestors were already worshipping them in accordance with the traditional value system (Latin patrii mores ritusque; Greek pátrioi nómoi). Therefore, patrii di can refer t…

[German version] According to Varro, Antiquitates rerum divinarum fragments 95 and 273 Cardauns (in Aug. Civ. 7,2-3; cf. ibid. 4,11), a daughter of Jupiter; se was the Roman goddess of menstruation. M., recorded nowhere else, seems to be patterned on the Greek μήνη/ mḗnē, ‘Moon (personified as Mḗnē/ Sēlēnē ), or the linguistically and connotatively related Greek μήν/ mēn, Latin mēnsis, ‘(lunar) month’, and continues the customary association of menstruation with the monthly cycle and the influence of the moon. M.'s sphere of action overlaps those of othe…

I. Einleitung [English version] A. Bestimmung des Begriffs Als substantivistischer Terminus der rel. Selbstbeschreibung bezeichnet “R.” ein System von gemeinsamen Praktiken, individuellen Glaubensvorstellungen, kodifizierten Normen und theologischen Erklärungsmustern, dessen Gültigkeit zumeist auf ein autoritatives Prinzip oder Wesen zurückgeführt wird. Für die R.-Wissenschaft ist der R.-Begriff dagegen eine rein heuristische Kategorie, mit der jene Praktiken, Vorstellungen, Normen und theologischen Kon…

(Λύκος). Mythologie und Religion: L. [1-9], Historische Personen: L. [10-13], Flüsse: L. [14-19]. [English version] [1] Sohn des Poseidon und der Pleiade Kelaino Sohn des Poseidon und der Pleiade Kelaino [1] (Ps.-Eratosth. katasterismoi 23), nur Apollod. 3,111 erwähnt seine Entrückung auf die Inseln der Seligen, vielleicht, um ihn von L. [6], mit dem er von Hyg. fab. 31, 76 und 157 trotz der Abstammung von Poseidon zusammengebracht wird, zu differenzieren. Scherf, Johannes (Tübingen) [English version] [2] Sohn des Prometheus und der Kelaino Sohn des Prometheus und der Kelaino…

[English version] [1] Bezeichnung für die Vielzahl der Götterwelt Als Begriff der mod. religionsgesch. Systematisierung der Vielzahl der ant. Götterwelt (Polytheimus) bezeichnet P. im folgenden die Gesamtheit einer in einem bestimmten geogr. Raum und sozio-histor. Kontext verehrten Mehrzahl von Gottheiten. Richter, Thomas (Frankfurt/Main) [English version] I. Mesopotamien Im Sumerischen findet sich kein eigener Terminus für eine Göttergesamtheit, der dem des P. entspräche. Der dafür in Anspruch genommene, vorwiegend in lit. Kontext begegnend…

[English version] Laut Varro, Antiquitates rerum divinarum fr. 95 und 273 Cardauns (bei Aug. civ. 7,2-3; vgl. ebd. 4,11) eine Tochter des Iuppiter und röm. Göttin der Menstruation. Die sonst nicht nachweisbare M. scheint griech. μήνη, Mond (personifiziert als Mḗnē/ Sēlēnē ), oder sprachlich wie inhaltlich verwandtem griech. μήν, lat. mēnsis, “(lunarer) Monat”, nachgebildet und greift die gebräuchliche Verbindung der Menstruation mit Monatszyklus und Mondeinfluß auf. M.s Wirkungsbereich überschneidet sich mit dem anderer Göttinnen (Iuno Lucina o…

(Νίκανδρος). [English version] [1] Spartanischer König, ca. 715 v.Chr. Spartanischer König, Eurypontide, Vater des Theopompos (Hdt. 8,131). N. leitete einen Einfall von Spartanern und Asinaiern in die Argolis, woraufhin die Argiver Asine [1] zerstörten (ca. 715 v.Chr.). Der Ort wurde einige Jahre später mit spartanischer Unterstützung am messenischen Golf neu gegründet (Asine [2]; Paus. 2,36,4f.; 3,7,4; 4,14,3f.). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Bibliography M. Meier, Aristokraten und Damoden, 1998, 74f., 93, 96. [English version] [2] Stratege im Aitolerbund, 190/189, 184…

[German version] A group of deities whose worship is reflected in the inscriptions of Marruvium (Vetter no. 225 = [1. 43-47 no. 36]: esos nouesede, 3rd cent. BC) and Pisaurum (CIL XI 6297 = ILLRP 20: deiu no[ u] esede, 3rd/2nd cents. BC). Calpurnius Piso (fr. 45 HRR = 35 Forsythe) claims the origin and cult of the Di Novensides lie in the Sabine town of Trebula Mutuesca. Together with the Di Indigetes (see below) and other divinities the Di Novensides (as divi Novensiles; the ending in -ilis is probably secondary) are invoked in the devotional formula of P. Decius [I 1] Mus in 34…

[German version] The patera was a flat, round dish without a handle, decorated from time to time, with a bulge ( omphalós) in the middle (like the Greek phiálē : [1. 42-44]) that was used as a drinking vessel (Plaut. Amph. 260; Prop. 4,6,85) and as a sacrificial bowl in the Roman cultural area (Varro, Ling. 5,122; fig. see Sacrifice IV.): from the patera, the person offering up the sacrifice poured the libatio, the drink offering, especially the sacrifice of wine (libation and wine consumption: Verg. Aen. 1,728-740); it was also used to sprinkle the head of the sac…

[German version] [1] Name to describe the plurality of gods In modern scholarship on religious history, the term 'pantheon' is used in systematizing the plurality of ancient gods (Polytheism). In the following, it will be used accordingly to denote all the many deities worshipped in a particular geographical area and socio-historical context. Richter, Thomas (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] I. Mesopotamia Sumerian does not have its own expression for a collective of gods corresponding to the term 'pantheon'. The Sumerian term A-nun-na, 'seed of the prince' (i.e. of Enki, …

Old Roman nomen gentile, derived from the prename Marcus. Tradition knows of a patrician branch with the (mythical) king Ancus M. [I 3] and Cn. M. Coriolanus as its most important members. The younger members of the family (from the 3rd cent.) were plebeian without a link to the patrician Marcii being evident. Important families included the Rutili, later also the Censorini, Tremuli, Reges and Rallae. In the Late Republic the family claimed descent from the kings Ancus M. and Numa Pompilius (therefore the cognomen Rex, see M. [I 5]; RRC 346; 425; Suet. Iul. 6,1; [4. 154]) as wel…

[German version] Sagmina (pl.) were the herbs which were pulled out of the ground with their soil in Rome on the Arx on behalf of the fetiales (Plin. HN 22,5; 25,105; Fest. 424-426 L.). These herbs were used during the appointment ritual of the pater patratus (Liv. 1,24,4-6); the fetiales also took them along on their missions (Liv. 30,43,9). Bendlin, Andreas (Erfurt) Bibliography J. Rüpke, Domi militiae, 1990, 100-103.

I. In general and in classical antiquity [German version] 1. History of the term The adjective πολύθεος/ polýtheos refers in poetic Greek to that which pertains to many deities: the altar as the seat ( hédra) of many gods (Aesch. Suppl. 424) or the divine assembly attended by many gods (Lucian. Iuppiter Tragoedus 14). It is only in Jewish and Christian literature (Apologists) that this concept is used to justify the rule ( monarchía) of a single deity. Philo [12] of Alexandria coined the terms δόξα πολύθεος/ dóxa polýtheos (Phil. De decalogo 65) and πολυθεΐα/ polytheḯa (Phil. De mutatione…

[German version] The object and function were already obsolete in the 1st cent. BC, and therefore required explanation. Paul Fest. 115 l. knows of two explanations: (1) the manalis lapis (ML) was an entrance to the underworld through which the souls of the subterraneans, alias Di Manes, ‘streamed ( manāre) into the upper world; (2) the ML was a stone (or a water jug: Varro in Non. 547 with dubious rationalization) located at the temple of Mars outside the Porta Capena in Rome which the pontifices ( Pontifex) pulled into the city in times of drought (cf. Paul Fest. 2 l., associating ML with aquaeli…