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(Φώτιος/ Phṓtios). [German version] [1] Byzantine high-ranking military officer Stepson of Belisarius, son of his wife Antonina from an earlier marriage, …

[German version] [1] Guarantor in Roman procedural law A vindex, (probably with the same etymology as vindicta ) was a guarantor in Roman procedural law. He played a role in two parts of the trial--in the summoning and in the execution, each time in the context of the manus iniectio (the physical bringing forward of the defendant). According to the Twelve Tables (tab. 1,1; tabulae duodecim ), the latter was permitted when the defendant did not voluntarily follow the order of the plaintiff to appear in front of the court magistrate ( …

[German version] [1] The term dux, which had already appeared in the Republican period with the general meaning of ‘a leader in a military action or of a troop of soldiers’ (cf. e.g. Cic. Dom. 12: seditionis duces), was in the 2nd cent. AD occasionally used in a semi-official way as the title for the commander of a military unit established for a particular purpose and not necessarily subordinate to the governor of a province. Thus Ti. Claudius Candidus was dux exercitus Illyrici in the war wa…

(Ῥωμανός; Rhōmanós). [German version] [1] R. Melodod, the Melodist Byzantine hymnographer, 5th/6th cent. AD (Ῥωμανὸς Μελωδός; Rhōmanòs Melōdós). Byzantine hymnographer of Syrian origin, b. before AD 493 at Emesa (present-day Ḥims in Syria), d. between AD 551 and 565 at Constantinople. Initially deacon at Berytus (Beirut), he took up his post at the Church of the Virgin at Constantinople under the emperor Anastasius [1] I. According to legend, he is said to have decided to become a composer of hymns after receiving a vision of the Theotokos. The form of his Greek liturgical hymns came later to be called …

(Δήμαρχος; Dḗmarchos). Holder of office with political and/or religious duties in Greek communities. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] I. Greece until late antiquity (1) In Athens the demarchos was the highest office-holder in each of the 139 demes ( Demos [2]), into which Cleisthenes had divided the polis ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 54,8). By no later than the 4th cent. BC the demarchos was elected by lot in each   dḗmos for one year; the demarchos for Piraeus on the other hand was appointed by the polis (Ath. Pol. 54,8). He convened and chaired the assembly of th…

[1] M., Theodosius Writer of the Saturnalia, c. 400 [German version] A. Identification There are three Latin works extant under the name Ambrosius Theodosius M., vir clarissimus and illustris (sometimes listed in reverse order): 7 bks. of Saturnalia( Sat.), 2 bks. of Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis ( Somn.) and excerpts from De differentiis et societatibus Graeci Latinique verbi. Otherwise the author is unknown. However, the persons that appear in Sat. (Vettius Agorius Prae…

(Middle Persian Narseh, Armenian Nersēh, Greek Ναρσῆς/ Narsȇs, also Ναρσαῖος/ Narsaȋos). [German version] [1] Brother of Sapor I, died in AD 302 Brother of Sapor I, when he was prince-governor of (Persian) Armenia in AD 293 he overthrew his great-nephew Wahram III from the Persian throne and documented his success in the Paikuli inscription (cf. [1]). In about 296, N. renewed the conflict with Rome by invading (Roman) Armenia. The emperor Galerius [5] suffered a defeat at Carrhae (Ḥarran) i…

(πρόεδρος/ pró(h)edros, pl. πρόεδροι/ pró(h)edroi) denotes that person who (in a leading position) 'sits in front' ('chairman' or 'president'). [German version] I. Greece in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods In early 4th cent. BC Athens, the duty of the chairman of the council ( boulḗ ) and the people's assembly ( ekklēsía ) was passed from the p…

(Νικηφόρος; Nikēphóros). [German version] [1] Patriarch of Constantinople, died 828 Patriarch. N. was born around AD 750 or 758 in Constantinople; he embarked on a magistrate's career at the imperial court which he represented in 787 at the Council of Nicaea. Around 797 he became a monk and ran a poorhouse in Constantinople. In 806 he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople and failed to end the so-called ‘Moechian controversy’ between Theodoros Studites and the government. In 815 he had to resign at the outset of the second iconoclasm (Syrian Dynasty) and retired to a monastery, where he died in 828. N. wrote a number of theological treatises in defens…

[German version] [1] M. Valerius M. The poet Martial, epigrammatist in the 1st cent. the Roman poet Martial. Lausberg, Marion (Augsburg) [German version] A. Biography The epigrammatist M. was born between AD 38 and 41 (cf. Mart. 10,24: 57th birthday) in Bilbilis in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. Around 64, he came to Rome (10,103), where he was probably at first promoted in the circle of Seneca. His poetic production does not become tangible for us until much later, when he celebrated the inauguration of the amphitheatrum Flavianum ( Colosseum) in 80 with a book of epigrams ( De spe…

[German version] A. Roman Republic and Imperial period Comes (from com- and ire, ‘to go with’) in its wider sense is a companion, trusted friend, or one entrusted with duties of aid and protection towards another (Dig. 47,10,1; 47,11,1,2). In public life, already in the Republican period comes means a member of the retinue of a travelling official, especially a provincial magistrate (Gr. ε̃πόμενος; hepómenos); the comes himself may be an official, a personal friend, slave, freedmen, client or even a high dignitary (Suet. Iul. 42; Dig. 1,18,16).…

[German version] [1] Byz. general under Justin I Son of a sister of Justin I, cousin of Justinian I, Byzantine general, as magister militum per Thracias under Justin I he conquered the people of the Anti who had invaded the Empire from the lower Danube. As patricius and primus magister militum praesentalis, he successfully combated the military revolt of Stotzas in North Africa in 536-537, on the orders of Justinian I. In a deployment in 540 against the first assault by Chosroes [5] I after the ‘eternal peace’ of 532, a shortage of troops preven…

(Φαρασμάνης; Pharasmánēs). [German version] [1] Ph. I. King in the Caucasus (1st cent. AD) Son of Mithridates [19] and king of Iberia [1] (Caucasus). From AD 35, as an ally of Rome, P. had been supporting the Armenian kingdom of his brother Mithridates [20] (Tac. Ann. 6,32-35; 11,8-9) and, after AD 51, that of his own son Radamistus (Tac. Ann. 12,44-47). His relatives’ failure as client kings to Rome (cf. Tac. Ann. 13,37) and the acceptance of the Arsacid Tiridates I. as king of Armenia must have affected him…

[German version] [1] Roman pope 352-377 Roman pope 352-366. L.'s pontificate was burdened by the difficult dispute over Arianism. Emperor Constantius II banished L. to Beroea in 355, because he would not recant in Milan his support for the condemned bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, who was hostile to Arianism, whereupon Felix had himself appointed and ordained counter-bishop ( Felix [5] II.). The anguish of exile, reflected by the four letters of the spring of 357 recorded by Hilarius of Poitiers led…

(Αὐτοκράτωρ; Autokrátōr). [German version] A. Greek The meaning ‘exercising control over oneself’ expresses the opposite of subjugation to the will of another. The Thebans used this argument to claim that their support of the Persians in 480 was attributable to a ruling   dynasteia , not to the whole city, which acted as its own autocrator (Thuc. 3,62,3-4). Envoys and officials are often described as autokratores when entitled to more power than is usual in these positions. This background is evident, for example, when the Athenians declare the leaders of th…

(ἑταιρία/ hetairía, also ἑταιρεία/ hetaireía). [German version] [1] In Crete a sub-category of citizenry In Crete a sub-category of citizenry, with communal meals ( andreia or syssitia: Aristot. Pol. 1272a 12ff.; Ath. 4,143a-b = Dosiadas FGrH 458 F 2) and a common cult of Zeus Hetaireîos (Hsch. s.v. ἑταιρεῖος/ hetaireîos), but neither an association of family members nor part of a phyle, as was the hetairia in Thera or Cyrene (ML 5, l. 16). Acceptance into the hetairia took place after those fit for military service had left the   agélai and it was a prerequisit…

(σχολαστικός/ scholastikós). [German version] [1] Advocate in Late Antiquity In Roman procedural law of Late Antiquity a scholasticus (literally: someone 'schooled') is the advocate of a party, a late successor to the causidicus , with a certain amount of knowledge of formal rhetoric and law. Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) Bibliography M. Kaser, K. Hackl, Das römische Zivilprozeßrecht, 21996, 563. [German version] [2] Palace official in Constantinople, from 422 (in Latin sources Scholasticus or Scholasticius), a palace official in Constantinople, first recorded i…

(Ἐπίνικος; Epínikos). [German version] [1] Writer of comedies Comic poet; two titles of his plays and two fragments are extant. The dating of his life (late 3rd/early 2nd cent. BC) is based on the title of his play, Mnēsiptólemos: it refers to the court historiographer (FGrH 164) of Antiochus III (223-187 BC), a remarkably late example for the mockery of a named character (ὀνομαστὶ κωμῳδεῖν; onomastì kōmōideîn). Fr. 1 sees Mnesiptolemus speaking for himself, parodying the ornate, almost dithyrambic style, in which he describes the banalest of acts performed by his sovereign. Nesselrath…

(δῆμος; dêmos). [German version] [1] The entire citizenry Demos, meaning ‘people’, could refer to either the entire citizenry of a community or only the ‘common people’ as distinct from its more privileged members. As an extension of the first meaning it also served to designate the popular assembly, so that political decisions in many states were seen as being ‘issued by the council and the people’ (ἔδοξεν τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ). Adjectives such as dēmotikós and the description of a democratic leader as προστάτης τοῦ δήμου (‘champion of the people’; e.g. in Thuc. 3,82,…

(Θεοδώρα; Theodṓra). [German version] [1] Roman empress, about AD 300 Roman empress; stepdaughter (Aur. Vict. Caes. 39,25; Eutr. 9,22,1) or daughter (Anon. Vales. 1,1; Philostorgius 2,16) of Maximianus [1]. Contrary to the assertions of later sources, she was already married to Constantius [1] even before he was elevated to the rank of Caesar in AD 293  ( tetrárchēs IV.), and probably when he was praefectus praetorio to Maximianus (unclear Paneg. 2,11,4). The six children of their marriage represent the younger branch of the Constantinian imperial fam…