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[German version] Spring (also ad caput Ferentinum, Liv. 2,38,1) in  Latium, probably on the southern slopes of   Mons Albanus , in the lucus Ferentinae (Liv. 1,50,1). Until the middle of the 4th cent. BC a place of assembly of the  Latini (Liv. 1,50,1; 2,38,1; 7,25,5; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,45; 51; 4,45; 5,61). According to Roman annalists (Liv. 1,51,9), Turnus Herdonius was drowned here at the instigation of Tarquinius Superbus. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 558 A. Alföldi, Das frühe Rom und die Latiner, 1977, 34-36.

[German version] Region around the town of  Capua that the Romans confiscated in the Second Punic War in 211 BC, because Capua had gone over to Hannibal (Liv. 23,7). Since then   ager publicus populi Romani (Liv. 26,16,8), covering a total area of about 500 km2 [1. 36-38]. Rome thus gained control over one of Italy's most fertile areas (Liv. 26,26,7). In 209 BC, it was leased out by the censors (Liv. 27,11,8). In order to refill the Roman public purse after the strains of war, parts of the AC were sold off in 205 and in 199 BC (from the fossa Graeca to  Cyme: Liv. 28,46,4, or rather the area at…

This item can be found on the following maps: Pergamum | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine (Λέσβος; Lésbos, Lat. Lesbus; Hittite Lazba). [German version] A. Geography Island in the north-eastern Aegean, with an area extent of 1,630 km2 the third-largest Greek island after Crete and Euboea. Characteristic topographical features are two bays that extend deep into the interior of the island: in the south the Gulf of Hiero (modern Yera), in the west the Gulf of Pyrrha (modern Kalloni). The highest elevations are Lepetymnos (838 m) in the nor…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Λισος; Lisos in inscriptions, Λισ(σ)ός; Lis(s)ós in literature; cf. Λίσσα; Líssa, Scyl. 47; Ptol. 3,15,3; Tab. Peut. 8,5). City on the south-western coast of Crete, to the west of modern Sougia, in a position protected by mountains and only open to the sea. From the late 4th cent. BC, L. with Elyrus, Hyrtacina and Tarrha formed the koinón of the oreíoi (‘mountain dwellers’). The city was occupied from the Classical to the Byzantine periods. Of supraregional importance was the Asclepium with the me…

[German version] Main settlement of the Illyrian Iapodes, now Cakovac near Ogulin (in modern Croatia). It was destroyed in 35 BC by the future Augustus (App. Ill. 19-21; Cass. Dio 49,35,2-4). In the Roman period, M. had the status of a municipium (CIL III 10060). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia, 1969.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (τὰ Φαλάσαρνα; tà Phalásarna). Port city in the NW of Crete (Str. 10,4,2; Plin. HN 4,59) with topographically striking, steep acropolis, present-day Koutri. Historical reports start with an alliance treaty concluded with the neighbouring polis Polyrrhenia as a result of mediation by Sparta at the beginning of the 3rd cent. BC [1. no. 1, pp. 179-181]. At the behest of the Romans, P. regained its previously lost autonomy from Cydonia (Pol. 22,1…

[German version] (from Arabic ṣaḥrā, 'desert'; cf. Hdt. 2,32: τὰ ἐρῆμα τῆς Λιβύης/ tà erêma tês Libýēs, 'the desert region of Libya'; Mela 1,50: deserta Africae). The indigenous people today call only individual parts of the S. by their own name. The largest desert on earth, situated in North Africa, with an expanse from the Atlantic in the west to the Red Sea in the east ( c. 6000 km; c. 8 million km2). The S. underwent several cyclical climatic changes (Climate) in prehistoric times that shaped the vegetation and the natural profile; the last of these changes in…

[German version] (Μόχλος). Small island  situated on the north-east coast of Crete and south-east of the Gulf of Mirabello. In Antiquity the island was probably connected to the mainland by an isthmus. Costly finds from the Minoan necropolis indicate considerable prosperity. Mochlos was also important in Roman (remains of walls and towers) and Byzantine times. Roman containers for holding fish lie beneath the surface of the water close to the mainland. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography H. Beister, s.v. M., in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 439  J.W. Myers et al., Aerial Atlas …

[German version] Region in  Latium between   mons Albanus and the coast of the mare Tyrrhenum. Its name is derived from the town of Pometia (Cic. Rep. 2,44; Liv. 2,16,8; 17,5 f.; 25,6; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,50; 6,29), which it has not been possible to localize. Probably towards the end of the 6th cent. BC, the ager Pomptinus (AP) came into the possession of the neighbouring  Volsci. Rome's reaction to this was -- supposedly as early as 492 BC -- the foundation of the colony of  Norba (Liv. 2,34,6; Dion. Hal. …

[German version] Island off the coast of Campania in the southern part of the Gulf of Naples (today Capri). Verg. Aen. 7,735 provides a legendary link of an early Greek settlement with  Telon and the  Teleboae: Serv. Aen. 7,735; Tac. Ann. 4,67. The Greeks linked both settlement centres (modern Capri, Anacapri) by a flight of steps which, in parts, are still usable today (Scala Fenicia). In 29 BC, Augustus acquired C. from Neapolis in exchange for Aenaria ( Pithecussae; Suet. Aug. 92; Cass. Dio 52,…

[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…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Ionic | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Persian Wars | Phoenicians, Poeni | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (ἡ Σάμος/ hē Sámos, Lat. also Samus). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) [German version] I. Geography Island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, only c. 2 km from the mainland of Asia Minor (at Mycale); connected in prehistoric times; total area 476 km2. The island is crossed by a chain of mountains (Ampelus according to …

[German version] Roman castellum in Dalmatia on the Salona - Narona road (Plin. HN 3,142: N.; Nerate: other MS traditions; Geogr. Rav. 4,16: Netrate; 5,14: Nerente), modern Jesenice east of Split/Croatia. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography A. Mayer, Die Sprache der alten Illyrier, 1957, 240f.

[German version] (ἡ ἔρημος/ érēmos, ἡ ἐρημία/ erēmía, τὰ ἔρημα/ érēma; Lat. deserta, regio deserta). In geographical terms the arid desert zones were part of the marginal areas of the Ancient World (North Africa, the Middle East with Syria, Palestine, Arabia). Politically and to a greater extent economically they, had close relationships to the Graeco-Roman cultural sphere. A large part of the east-west trade devolved over long-distance routes across the Arabian deserts. Desert towns such as Ḥatra [1], Palmyr…

[German version] (Χάλκη; Chálkē). Island off the north coast of Rhodes (29 km2). The polis of C. (remains of acropolis, temple to Apollo, necropolis) belonged to Rhodian Camirus. During the 5th cent. BC a member of the Delian League. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography P. M. Fraser, G. E. Bean, The Rhodian Peraea and Islands, 1954, 144f.

[German version] From a historio-geographical perspective, the term landscape carries several basic implications and connotations. Generally speaking, it can designate a space where historically relevant events have taken place. It is then attributed the quality of a historical source, to be interpreted in a variety of ways. Of further interest is the reciprocal relationship between man and landscape in terms such as: how did man perceive, design, and change the landscape? And how, on the other ha…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete | Apollo (Λύκτος/ Lýktos, Λύττος/ Lýttos, Latin Lyctus). Important Doric city in eastern Crete with a wide territory, in the interior of the country on a ridge of the Lassithi Massif. The older form of the name is Lyctus (in this form already around 1380 BC on an Egyptian list of place names), whilst the more recent and more common form is Lyttus. Pol. 4,54,6 describes L. as the oldest city in Crete. In Homer (Hom. Il. 2,647; 17,611) L. is a participant in the Trojan War; with a close connection to Sp…

[German version] City in  Latium on the   mons Albanus near modern Castel Gandolfo. According to legendary documents making every effort to ensure the connection of Rome with Troy, founded by  Aeneas' [1] son  Ascanius (in the Roman version also Iulus, Verg. Aen. 1,267, or Iullus, Cato HRR fr. 9). An early position of supremacy in Latium is probable. Most likely already in the 7th cent. BC, Alba Longa (AL) was incorporated by Etruscan-dominated Rome. Tradition has ascribed this to King Tullus Hostilius (Liv. 1,29; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,31,3-6). The population was relocated to Rome, the mon…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete | Macedonia, Macedones | Pompeius (Λάππα; Láppa). Town in western Crete (Str. 10,4,3) near the modern village of Argyropolis. Involved in the internal Cretan conflicts of the Lyttian War in 220 BC (Pol. 4,53-55). L. concluded an alliance with Gortyn around 200 BC, acknowledging the supremacy of its eastern neighbour [1. no. 31, p. 265-267]. In 183 BC, L. was one of the 30 Cretan towns to unite in a coalition with Eumenes II [2. 179]. In 67 BC, L. was destroyed by the Romans. Under Augustus, L. received the privileged status of a ci…

[German version] (Μετεών; Meteṓn). Town of the Illyrian Labeates in the territory of Labeatis (Pol. 29,3; Liv. 44,23,3; 32,3), near modern Podgorica (Montenegro). M. achieved political significance in 168 BC as the meeting place of Pantauchus, an emissary of the Macedonian king Perseus, and the Illyrian prince Genthius (Pol. loc.cit.; Liv. loc.cit.). Towers of the 3rd-cent. BC town walls are preserved; no systematic excavations. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia, 1969, 26f., 166.