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[German version] A small island at the mouth of the Wādī Tafna (Latin Siga) in western Algeria, R. is the site of the extensive necropolis of the Mauretanian Punic city of Siga and, on the southern side, of a small Punic merchant settlement dating to the 7th-5th century BC; according to the finds, there were particularly close links with Phoenician factories on the southern coast of Spain. Syphax Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography S. Lancel, É. Lipiński, s. v. R., DCPP, 369  G. Vuillemot, Reconnaissances aux échelles puniques d'Oranie, 1965.

[German version] Phoenician settlement of the early 8th cent. BC, founded on the site of a Copper Age settlement on a height overlooking the mouth of the Río Algarrobo, 6 km east of Vélez-Málaga (southern Spain). Its associated necropolises were probably partly on the opposite (western) bank of the river, where a 7th-cent. BC chamber tomb, significant from an architectural point of view, is preserved, along with evidence of others (Trayamar). Necropolis Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography H.G. Niemeyer, H. Schubart, Trayamar. Die phönizischen Kammergräber und die N…

[German version] Syrian (western Semitic) god, attested in the area between Ebla, Mari, Byblus and Ugarit from the 3rd millennium BC. In the Phoenician world of the Mediterranean, R. merged syncretistically with Melqart (cf. the votive inscription KAI II 88 f. of Ibiza, 5th/4th cent. [1]). As Smiting God adopted from Egypt in the well known pattern of 'the king striking dead his enemies', he inspired the iconography of fighting deities in the Mediterranean high and 'fringe' cultures [2], and was imitated in regions influenced by the Phoenicia…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sardinia et Corsica | | Etrusci, Etruria | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Θάρρος/ Thárros; Latin Tharrus). Phoenician settlement (founded shortly before or c. 700 BC) on the western coast of Sardinia on the Sinis peninsula, which encloses to the west the Gulf of Oristano, between two indigenous nuraghic settlements; There are records of contacts with the Orient from the 2nd millennium BC onwards. Rich finds in the necropoleis (gold jewellery) and the topheth (vot…

[German version] The peninsula, which bounds the gulf of Tunis to the east, extensively covered with fertile horticultural land (Diod. Sic. 10,8,3-4; Pol. 1,29,7), was probably as early as the 5th cent. BC part of the Carthaginian chora and protected by coastal fortifications (Aspis/ Clupea, modern Kélibia, Ras ed-Drek [Hermaia? Str. 17,3,16], Ras el-Fortass). The almost completely excavated small Punic town of Kerkouane on the eastern coast is exemplary for the prosperity of Cape Bon under Carthaginian rule. Also of significance in this were the quarries near El Haouaria in the n…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars (Dar es-Safi/Tamzerat). Carthaginian ‘provincial’ city on the east coast of Cap Bon, founded in the late 6th cent. BC, about 8 ha in size, surrounded by a (once reinforced) wall, presumably destroyed in the 3rd cent. BC during the invasion of Regulus. The find documents the lower middle class culture of the 4th cent.; in tomb chambers eschatological paintings are extant. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography M. Fantar, K., vol. 1-3, 1984-1986 H. Gallet de Santerre, L. Slim, Recherches su…

[German version] The anchor as a device for tying up a ship in shallow water is an essential prerequisite for the development of advanced seafaring. In the Bronze Age, simple, roughly hewn stone anchors with pointed ends are known; they have one to three holes through their flat part for fixing the anchor rope ( ancorale) and an anchor stock (?). Perhaps invented by the Phoenicians, a wooden anchor becomes common in the early 1st millennium BC, which has the shape of a so-called admiralty anchor with wings/paddles and, at the other end, an anchor st…

[German version] (Ἔβουσος; Ébousos). According to archaeological finds, the larger one of the two  Pityussae (‘Spruce islands’), Ibiza and Formentera, was settled around the middle of the 7th cent. BC, initially under the name of ybšm by Phoenician colonists from the Straits of Gibraltar. The founding of a settlement by Carthage reported in Diod. Sic. 5,16,1-3, evidently refers to an expansion carried out by the north African metropolis some 100 years later. Thanks to its prominent position, the town of E. became an important Pu…

[German version] Prehistoric Tartessian, fortified proto-urban settlement with a harbour at the ancient junction of the Río Guadalete and the Bahía de Cádiz, now a hill in the alluvial land east of the port of Puerto de S. Maria, since the 8th cent. BC obviously with a large proportion of Phoenician settlers and a cultural strongly Oriental profile to match. From the necropolis ( de las Cumbres) are tomb inventories typically influenced by the Orient. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography D. Ruiz Mata, in: Madrider Mitteil. 27, 1986, 87ff. Id., C. J. Pérez, El poblado fenicio d…

[German version] Small Mauretanian rural town (3rd to 1st cents. BC) at Tétouan (in Morocco) near the coast (of the Mare Ibericum), with strong Carthaginian influences (forms of burial, coin minting). Earliest archaeological evidence from the 6th cent. BC; in the Roman Imperial period the site of a military camp. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography M. Ponsich, s. v. T., DCPP, 436.

[German version] The c. 550 m high massif over the eastern shore of the bay of Tunis holds between its two distinctive peaks (Verg. Aen. 1,162f. vastae rupes geminique minantur [1]) an important sanctuary of Saturnus Balcaranensis (Punic Baal Qarnēm, ‘Baal of the two horns’), from the Roman imperial period but based on Punic tradition. Picture-steles ( c. 600 preserved) of dedication basically belong to two different groups: either popular-‘neo-Punic’ with symbolic pictures or conventional Roman sacrificial scenes. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography 1 H. G. Niemeye…

[German version] King of Tyre ( Tyrus) ( c. 962-929 BC). The name is shortened from the Phoenician Aḥīram (‘my brother is exalted’); known primarily for the trading expeditions sent as ‘joint ventures’ with King Solomon of Jerusalem to Ophir (India? East Africa? 1 Kg 9:26-28) and Tarsish (in the west of the Iberian peninsula,  Tartessus; 1 Kg 10:22, cf. Ez 27:12) [1. 251]. According to reliable surviving reports, including Josephus (Ap. 1,109-121), he was an active urban builder in Tyre and erected new temples f…

[German version] Usual name (Lat., Greek bursa, ‘cow hide’) for the acropolis of  Carthage, supposedly as a reminder of Dido's legendary purchase of land (‘as much as a cow hide can cover’) for the foundation of the town, or oldest place name (Serv. Aen. 1,70: Carthago ante Byrsa, post Tyros dicta est), as a result of misunderstanding the Phoenician toponym bir-ša (‘Sheep's well’). Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Lipiński, B., in: Actes du IVe colloque international sur l'histoire et archéologie de l'Afrique du Nord. Strassbourg 1988, 1990, 123-130. Id., in: DCPP, s…

[German version] Largest island (40 ha) of one of the small archipelagos of the Atlantic coast of southern Morocco opposite the port of Essaouira (originally also an island), which is presumably identical with the  insulae purpurariae (Plin. HN 6,201; 203), on which Iuba [2] II established dyeing workshops. In the 7th cent., as evidenced by ceramics found (some with Phoenician graffiti!), Phoenicians founded a trading post there, which existed until the end of the 6th cent. BC. Africa (with map) Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Lipiński, s.v. M., DCPP, 296  M.G. Amada…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Colonization (Μαινάκη/ Mainákē?; Lat. M(a)enaca, Maenoba?). Modern name of a Phoenician settlement to the west of Torre del Mar (province of Málaga in Spain) at the mouth of the Río de Vélez, with a protected harbour; a pass leads into the highlands and the mining regions around Jaén. Excavations (1964-1986) discovered a trading post founded c. 730 BC by the Phoenicians. The settlement, which flourished in the 7th cent., extended to the Cerro del Peñón (94 m) to the west, where at a moderate elevat…

[German version] Large rural sanctuary to Juno/Astarte on the Gulf of Marsaxlokk in the southeast of Malta (Melite [7]), originally dedicated to the mother goddess of the indigenous megalith culture of the Copper Age (3rd millennium BC), from no later than the 8th/7th cent. the site of a Phoenician cult of štrt/ Astarte, who is named in inscriptions on votive gifts. Plundered by Verres during his period in office as propraetor of Sicily (Cic. Verr. 2,4,103 f.: fanum Iunonis), it was extended in the Roman period, then abandoned in the 2nd cent. AD. An early mediaeval m…

[German version] A cult cave on the north-eastern slope of Monte Gallo near Palermo ( c. 180 m above sea-level) used since prehistoric times. According to Punic inscriptions and paintings (5th-1st cents. BC, among these Tinnit symbols) on the walls, underworld and fertility gods were worshipped here.  Tinnit Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography G. Coacci Polselli, M. G. Guzzo Amadasi, V. Tusa, Grotta Regina ─ II, 1979.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni Sanctuary of a local god (Babay or Babai?) in south-west Sardinia, called Sid Addir in Punic inscriptions and Sardus Pater in Roman ones. The cult image is a rock memorial in an initially open courtyard, in a temenos. A temple is erected in the 3rd cent. BC and again under Caracalla. Many votive offerings. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Acquaro et al., Ricerche puniche ad Antas, 1996 G. Tore, s. v. A., in: DCPP, 33-34.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni Finding-place of two high archaic Phoenician inscriptions (8th cent. BC) at the mouth of the Temo on the western coast of Sardinia. Apparently mentioned in Ptol. 3,3,7 and in It. Ant. 83,8. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography DCPP, s.v. B., 77.

[German version] A settlement which was founded in the 8th cent. BC on an indigenous Nuragic Age site situated on a hilltop at the natural entrance to the ore-rich Iglesiente in the south-west of Sardinia, north-east of the Phoenician settlement of Sulcis; Sardinia). It was taken over by Carthage at the end of the 6th cent. and the partly preserved walls were built in the 4th cent. The civil settlement (five insulae with narrow buildings) initially flourishing after the conquest by Rome was suddenly abandoned around the close of the 2nd century BC. Sardinia Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bib…

[German version] Composite creature with the head of a bird of prey and the body of a lion, usually winged, presumed to have been conceived of in the early  Elam period and to have reached predynastic Egypt, where it developed independently. In the 1st quarter of the 2nd millennium the ancient Syrian G. (characterized by a curl on the nape of its neck), which emerged under Egyptian influence, spread to Anatolia and the Aegean; established in Crete since the MM II/III era, it was adapted to the Min…

[German version] Modern country estate ( finca) to the west of the mouth of the River Algarrobo, about 4 km to the east of Torre del Mar (province of Málaga in Spain), site of several Phoenician chamber graves ( tombeaux batîs). The necropolis belongs to the settlement on the Morro de Mezquitilla (on the opposite side of the river). Characteristics of the graves are their construction from hewn blocks, carefully smoothed on the inside, their eastward orientation (towards the settlement) and their access over a ramp-shaped dromos. The chambers of graves 1 ( c. 1.9 m × 2.6 m) and 4 (2.9 …

[German version] Phoenician settlement founded in the 7th cent. BC on the southern coast of Sardinia, with an acropolis and harbour; mentioned by Ptol. 3,3,3 under the name of Biqia. Remains of a sanctuary with a temple, perhaps of Ešmun, near the necropolis located on the seaside with its cremation burials from the 7th/6th cents. and body burials from the 6th -2nd cents. BC. Many terracottas of a style known from Ibiza and Carthage derive from a votive depository. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography DCPP, s.v. B., 73f. M. L. Uberti, Le figurine fittili di Bithia, 1973.

[German version] Phoenician-Punic settlement, c. 10 km east of Palermo, known from the chance finds of two anthropoid sarcophagi (in 1695 and 1725), and from surface finds. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography DCPP, s.v. C., 88.

[German version] Common technical term in the archaeological study of construction techniques describing a masonry technique, in which pillars made of ashlar or orthostatic blocks alternate with spaces infilled with mud brick or rubble, similar in principle to timber framing. It was common especially in Punic North Africa, Sardinia and the parts of Sicily ruled by Carthage or under its influence (e.g. Motya, Soluntum, Selinuntum, Heraclea [9] Minoa) and also spread as far as Etruria (Tarquinia) an…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Μοτύα, Μοτύη; Motýa, Motýē). Phoenician-Carthaginian settlement on an island ( c. 45 ha) in the lagoon 8 km to the north of Marsala, modern Mozia on San Pantaleo. With Solus and Panormus, M. was the last fortress held by the Phoenicians in their retreat from the Greeks in western Sicily (Thuc. 6,2,6; own coins inscribed in Greek and Phoenician in the 5th and 4th cents. BC: HN 157f.) and was conquered and destroyed by Dionys…

(Μαυρουσία/ Maurousía). [German version] I. Name In the second century BC, M. comprised approximately the area of Morocco and western Algeria and was probably called by its Greek name of Maurusia (cf. Coelius Antipater, HRR 1,175 fr. 55). The formation of names in M. (Ἑρπεδιτανοί/ Herpeditanoí), which follows the same pattern as those found in Iberia (e.g. Turdetani, Cassetani), and the existence of the Nektíbēres (Νεκτίβηρες) in M. speak for the fact that Libyans and Iberians are related. Huß, Werner (Bamberg) [German version] II. Geography In geological terms, M. is characteri…

This item can be found on the following maps: Africa | | Coloniae | Africa | Colonization | Limes | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars (Neo-Punic Ṣbrt[]n). [German version] I. History One of the three Phoenician cities of African Tripolis, 65 km west of Tripoli, Libya (Ps.-Scyl. 110 and Str. 17,3,18: Ἀβρότονον/ Abrótonon (?); Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀβρότονον (?); Plin. HN 5,25; 35: Sabrata; 27: Habrotonum; Sil. Pun. 3,256: S.; Ptol. 4,3,12: Σάβραθα/ Sábratha; Stadiasmus maris magni 99 f.: Σαράθρα/ Saráthra or Ἀλάθρα/ Aláthra; It. Ant. 61,3: Sabrata colonia; Solin. 27,8 and Tab. Peut. 7,2: Sabrat…

[German version] I. General Cisterns as storage for rain water or as reservoirs for spring and well water were customary and necessary for a regulated and sufficient  water supply in the climatically unfavourable regions of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, both as small systems for individual houses and farms and as communal systems for settlements. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) [German version] II. Ancient Orient s.  Water supply I. D. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] III. Phoenician-Punic region Systems for securing the water supply by collecting …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | | Commerce | Hispania, Iberia | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars | Pyrenean peninsula (Μαλάκη; Malákē). City on the Spanish east coast, modern Málaga (name probably Semitic, not from Hebrew malkah, ‘queen but from Phoenician mlkt, ‘place of work [1. 5742]; in [2. 574; 4. 76] the possibility of a semantic reference to fish processing is mentioned); probably a settlement that was not established until the early 6th cent. BC as a substitute for the 200 years older Ph…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Africa | Wine | | Coloniae | Africa | Commerce | Colonization | Limes | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome (Λέπτις μεγάλη, Léptis megálē, Punic Lpqj) ([1. 39-48]). [German version] A. History Originally settled by Phoenicians, the modern Lebda in Libya ([2. 36f., 74]; Sall. Iug. 78,1; 4; Sil. Pun. 3,256; Plin. HN 5,76?). Frequently given the epithet Megálē/ Magna (‘great’), to differentiate it from Leptis Minor (Plin. HN 5,27; Ptol. 4,3,13; Stadiasmus maris magni 93; Sol. 27,8; Tab. Pe…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Africa | Wine | | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Commerce | Colonization | Crete | Limes | Rome | Rome (Κυρήνη; Kyrḗnē, Lat. Cyrene). [German version] I. History C. was founded by the Dorian island city of Thera in the mod. Cyrenaica, mod. Shahhat. Documentary evidence: Hdt. 4,150-158; SEG IX 3 (with a true core); Str. 17,3,21 [1. 9-67]. Overpopulation and famine ─ not internal political struggles ─ forced the inhabitants of Thera into the foundation of this   apoikía (differently in Menecl…

[German version] [1] City in Mauretanian Tingitana This item can be found on the following maps: Coloniae | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Phoenician Lkš; Líxos). Huß, Werner (Bamberg) [German version] A. General Founded by the Phoenicians in what was later Mauretania Tingitana, about 120 km south-west of Ceuta, near modern Larache [1. 31f.]. Evidence: Ps.-Scyl. 112 (Λίγξ); Str. 17,3,2 (Λύγξ, Λίξος), 17,3,3 and 3,6 (Λύγξ); 17,3,8 (Λίξος, Λύγξ); Ptol. 4,1,13; 8,13,5 (Λίξ); It. Ant. 7,4 ( Lix colonia); Solin. 24,3 ( Lix colonia); Iulius Honorius, Cosmographia A 47 ( Lix oppidum); S…

[German version] A. General The modern B. were named Gymnḗsiai by the Greeks, because their inhabitants went naked during the summer. The two main islands were referred to respectively as insula maior and insula minor; the names of Maiorica and Menorica (modern Mallorca and Minorca) are only found from the 3rd cent. AD (Georgius Cyprianus, p. 108, 673 Gelzer). Apart from those two islands, Plin. HN 3,78 also lists Capraria, Triquada and parva (sc. insula) Hannibalis, also Menariae. They can undoubtedly be identified with the islands of Cabrera, Porrasa, Sech and the Las …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Africa | | Coloniae | Africa | Commerce | Limes | Limes | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome (Cirta Regia, Punic Krtn). Numidian foundation on the other side of the Ampsaga river [1. 72 n. 141], modern Constantine. C. came under Punic influence no later than the 3rd cent. BC [2; 3]. It was first the chief city of Gaia, then of  Syphax and finally of  Massinissa and his successors (Liv. 29,32,14; 30,12,3-22; Str. 17,3,7; 13; Mela 1,30; App. Lib. 27,111f.; Oros. 4,18,21; Zon. 9,13). After the fall of  Carthage, C. appa…

(βαιτύλια; βαίτυλοι; baitýlia, baítyloi). [German version] I. Religious Studies Large upright stones which are included in the cult activity in sanctuaries are to be found throughout the entire Mediterranean region [1]. It was the Phoenicians in particular who contributed to the spread of these. The baitylia in Tyrus and in Emesa were famous [2]. In Israel polemics and the inclusion of baitylia in the cult (Maṣṣebah) with the predication of God, exist side by side (God as a rock: Ps 28,1 [3]). Minoan iconography portrays ecstatic theophany (?) [4]. In Gre…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni | Pyrenean peninsula Today Vera near Villaricos (province of Almeria), city of the  Bastetani with strong Punic influences, at the mouth of the Almanzora. Possibly allied with the Carthaginians. Since the 6th cent. BC Punic main centre for the development of the important mining area (silver, copper, lead) of the Sierra Almagrera. More than 2,000 graves have been uncovered from the time between the 6th and 1st cent. BC, the typology and grave contents of which are stamped by Carthaginian-Punic influence. Sc…

[German version] Interior or exterior painting of funerary architecture built from stone or carved into rock existed in antiquity and throughout the entire Mediterranean region, also images on wood and stone steles; sarcophagi rarely bore paintings. Each region and period had its own particular programmes of pictures, which are interpreted as realistic or symbolic, and referring to this or the next world depending on the state of research. Due to the perishable nature of the genre, much has been lost. However, significant new finds have also been made in recent years. Grave paintings …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient see  Seals Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] II. Phoenician Phoenician and Punic gem cutting (GC) (= glyptography) is known almost exclusively through stamp seals in the form of scarabees ( Scarabee) or scaraboids that were very widespread in the ancient world; the body of the beetle is graphically linear in the Phoenician east, whilst in the Punic west ─ under the Ionian-Etruscan influence ─ it is structured much more three-dimensionally. Here Greek motifs (He…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Wine | | Commerce | Hispania, Iberia | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars | Punic Wars | Pyrenean peninsula (oldest Phoenician form of the name Gdr, ‘wall’, ‘citadel’, ‘fortress’, cf. Avien. 85, 267, 269, and [1. I 119; 3. 101f.], Greek Γάδειρα ( Gádeira), Latin Gades, modern Cádiz). The date of its foundation is linked to the foundations of Utica and Carthage; according to literary sources, it is estimated for c. 1100 BC (Vell. Pat. 1,2; Iust. 44,5,2; Mela 3,46; Plin. HN 16,216; cf. [3. 5-12;…

[German version] I. Introduction Although only a small part of the pavimenta (floor coverings) in ancient buildings was decorated, scholars have paid a great deal of attention to them, esp. to those decorated with mosaics (other floor coverings generally only appear in scholarly literature in relation to the identification of their ancient terminology). In Pompeii only 2.5% of floors were decorated with mosaics, a further 7% were decorated with cement floors and the rest of the buildings are floored with undecorated stone or cement pavimenta or even stamped earth. Pavimenta were alw…

[German version] I. Phoenician-Punic A fundamental technical innovation in the creation of floors first occurred in the 5th cent. BC in the region of Carthage (Kerkouane) [1]: the surface was designed with the help of small, rectangular or almost square cubes ( tessellae) made of terracotta ( opus figlinum, see below II.B.), limestone or marble, which were set into a bed of mortar with the tightest possible fit and were then polished for walking upon. It appears to have developed in this important metropolis of the central Mediterranean (Pavi…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Africa | Wine | | Coloniae | Africa | Etrusci, Etruria | Commerce | Colonization | Limes | Limes | Pertinax | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pilgrimage | Punic Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome (Phoenician Qrt-ḥdšt, ‘new town’; Greek Καρχηδών/ Karchēdṓn, Lat. Carthago). I. History [German version] A. From Phoenician foundation to Roman colony According to Timaeus' report (FGrH 566 F 60), C. was founded in 814/13 or 813/2 BC -- on the site of Tunis' modern suburb of the same name. The colonist were …

[German version] I. Phoenicia Facial masks and head protomes (also shortened human representations including the neck and shoulder part) are a common type of monument since the 9th/8th cent. BC in the Phoenician-Punic world. They spread from the Levant (here going back to the 2nd millennium, e.g. in Tell Qāṣila, also from Tyrus, Amrīt, Akhzib, Hazor, Sarepta etc.) via Cyprus, Carthage, Sicily (Motya), Sardinia and Ibiza into the far west (Cadiz). The masks (with openings for eyes and mouth) mostly …

[German version] [1] Town on the Capo di Pula on the south coast of Sardinia This item can be found on the following maps: Sardinia et Corsica | Theatre | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Νώρα; Nṓra). Town on the Capo di Pula on the south coast of Sardinia, approx. 20 km south of Cagliari. N. is regarded as the oldest town on the island (Paus. 10,17,5; Solin. 4,1; on its location cf. Itin. Anton. 85,2f.; Tab. Peut. 4,1). After a pre-colonial phase (cf. Phoenician inscriptions CIS I 144 c. 800 BC; [1. 1]), N. was founded by the Phoenicians in the mid 7th cent. BC. The Phoenician …

Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] I. Archaeological Excavations (CT) Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] A. From the beginnings to the settling of the White Fathers in 1875 (CT) Legends about the untold riches of the Punic metropolis have always fascinated treasure hunters, starting with Scipio's soldiers, who ransacked and razed the city in 146 BC, and with Pompey's legionnaires, who, two generations later, after the victory against the Numidian king Hiarbas near Utica (83 BC), scoured the nearby d…

[German version] [1] City on Cape Bouloustra This item can be found on the following maps: Thraci, Thracia | Colonization | Macedonia, Macedones | Moesi, Moesia | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Persian Wars | Pompeius | Punic Wars | Athenian League (Second) (Ἄβδηρα; Ábdēra). City on Cape Bouloustra, in the Aegean, 16 km north-east of the mouth of the Nestus; founded and fortified in 656 BC by Ionian  Clazomenae; destroyed by Thracians at the beginning of the 6th cent. BC. Archaeologically attested archaic graves. From 545 BC, a second fou…

[German version] I. Near East and Egypt Stelae are standing stone slabs with reliefs or inscriptions on one or more sides; in Egypt wooden stelae also survive. In early Mesopotamia their shape can be natural, elsewhere they usually have rounded tops, less often squared tops. From the end of the 4th millennium BC, funeral stelae were used in Egypt at or in tombs (or cenotaphs) as cult places. In the 1st millennium, funeral stelae (mostly wooden) were also placed in the burial chamber: they bear images (…

Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) I. General (CT) [German version] A. Terminology (CT) A peculiarity of the discipline is the absence of a generally accepted concept of Classical Archeology (CA), which in a good third of German-speaking universities is simply called Archaeology, either by way of obvious simplification or by way of conscious extension of the subject-matter, thereby sacrificing the aspect and claim of the ‘Classical’. One of its most prominent research bodies, the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut [20; 55; 89], was founded in Rome in 1829 as the Istituto di corrispond…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt In Egypt and southern Mesopotamia navigation played a major role, especially in inland traffic but also in communication across the sea. In both countries, rivers and canals were the major traffic arteries that were even used by the gods on their mutual visits and by rulers on their tours. Beyond their ordinary significance as a means of transportation for people and goods, ships also had a religious connotation. In Egypt the vocabulary of navigation entered daily life. In both countries, boats sailed or were towed, but in southern M…

(τορευτικὴ τέχνη/ toreutikḕ téchnē; Lat. caelatura; literally 'chiseling', from τορεύς/ toreús, Lat. caelum, 'chisel') denotes the chasing and repoussé work of thin plates of metal, or else works in which chasing is combined with repoussé work to design relief work; repoussé work may be replaced by casts. [German version] I. The Ancient Orient and Egypt Toreutics designates primarily the productive technique by which metals (gold/electrum, silver, copper/bronze, lead, iron) were shaped in a cold state. The objects (plaques), usually thin, were forme…

[German version] I. Definition Silver (ἀργύριον/ argýrion, ἄργυρος/ árgyros; Latin argentum) is a precious metal, which in Antiquity was extracted primarily by smelting silver-bearing ores of lead. Four different kinds occur naturally: 1. as pure silver; 2. as silver ore; 3. as a component of galena, the only economically interesting ore of lead; 4. in alloy with gold, i.e. as electrum (Elektron), in which the gold content can amount to less than 30 %. Pure silver is rare and its surface corrodes, so that…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East Mouldable, quickly hardening material of gypsum, lime, sand and water, occasionally with stone powder, which was used in many places (in Egypt from the Old Kingdom onwards, c. 2700-2190 BC) to smooth walls and as a base for painting. Figurines, vases and moulds for casting metal were also made from stucco. From the Parthian period onwards (1st cent. BC), figured or geometric stucco reliefs covering long walls are attested. They were modelled by hand or using templates; in the Sassanid and early Islamic periods they were also carved. Nissen, Hans Jörg…

Material and motifs indicate that jewellery in antiquity could be thought of as warding off evil or bringing luck. Not only men, women and children, but also idols wore jewellery. Jewellery was also often used as grave goods. [German version] I. Near East Beads made of shell and bone (later also wood) are again and again found in graves from the 7th/6th millennia BC. Gold and silver jewellery is known from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC from the Near East, sometimes with inlaid semiprecious stones, and in a great variety of forms (p…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Ceremonially decorated piece of furniture for gods and rulers to sit on, with a high back and often with arm-rests. The sides were often shaped as animals or animal protomae; the legs were often worked in the shape of animal legs. Apart from a few fragments in stone, most thrones were probably made of wood and hence in the area of the Near East have not been preserved, but are known from numerous depictions. Thrones were presumably usually provided with metal (gold) or ivory embellishments (cf. the numerous surviving examples from Egypt). Nissen, H…

(Μελίτη; Melítē). [German version] [1] Oceanid Oceanid, playmate of Persephone's (Hom. H. 2, 419). Stenger, Jan (Kiel) [German version] [2] Nereid Nereid (Hom. Il. 18,42; Hes. Theog. 247; Verg. Aen. 5,825). She is present on Attic vases at the struggle between Peleus and Thetis [1]. Stenger, Jan (Kiel) [German version] [3] Naiad Naiad ( Nymphs), daughter of the river-god Aegaeus. When Hercules comes to the land of the Phaeacians to atone for the murder of his children, he fathers a son, Hyllus [2], by M. (Apoll. Rhod. 4,537ff.). Stenger, Jan (Kiel) [German version] [4] Lover of Hercules Dau…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General comments In the Near East, idols which functioned as cult images (CI) could be found in central temples, peripheral sanctuaries, private houses, and sometimes on open-air sanctuaries and cult alcoves. Their material consistency, appearance, and size varied depending on their origin and the context of their use. Berlejung, Angelika (Heidelberg) [German version] B. Egypt CI of gods already existed in earliest times. They could be anthropomorphic (anthr.), theriomorphous, or of mixed shape, and were created as in…

(σαρκοφάγος/ sarkophágos, stone coffin, literally 'flesh-eater'; Lat. arca, capsula and sarcofagus, Juv. 10,171). I. Graeco-Roman [German version] A. Material, typology, research Since the 18th cent., scholars have been referring to containers for corpses decorated with reliefs as sarcophagi. These were made of marble, less frequently of limestone, tuff, sandstone, granite, basalt or porphyry. Pliny describes a lapis ... sarcophagus from Assus (Plin. HN 2,210; 36,131) as 'corpse-consuming'. Terracotta and lead were used in certain regions. Wooden sarco…

[German version] I. Middle East and Phoenicia Ivory, i.e. tusks of the boar, the hippopotamus and particularly the (African as well as Asian)  elephant, was extremely popular from the Neolithic period onwards as a material in ‘craftwork’. In the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, the important workshops of the Syrian-Phoenician coastal towns and also of Egypt developed styles that were recognizably their own. Ivory carvings (IC) were widespread through intensive trade and almost always formed part of t…

[German version] I. Definition 'Town' and 'city' in modern parlance have become general terms to describe settlements of a particular size, with a particular complement of buildings and administrative and legal structure. Owing, however, to the manifold forms assumed by towns and cities, we lack a specific, all-embracing definition: criteria such as a closed built environment, a highly evolved division of labour, and central administrative and economic functions for the surrounding territory, have p…

[German version] I. Names and concept, sources The name and concept of the Phoínikes (Φοίνικες)/Phoenicians (= P.) were formed in the Greek world [1]. Those designated by it understood themselves primarily as citizens or members of a union of cities, e.g. as Tyrians, Sidonians or - after the shared cultural region - as Canaanites [2]. In this they were referring to a political or ethnic identity derived from the Ancient Near Eastern Bronze Age. The various designations can only be reconciled from case to cas…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East and Egypt Weapons were among the earliest artefacts fashioned by humans and their ancestors. Stone arrowheads and blades were the first recognizable weapons in the ancient Near East into the Neolithic Period ( c. 10000 BC). From the 4th millennium BC, weapons were depicted on roll seals and stelae in scenes of warfare or hunting. Of maces suitable for close combat, generally only the heads (of stone or metal) survive. One exception is the deposit at the Chalcolithic find site of Naḥal Mišmār in P…

[German version] I. Introduction The Greek word νεκρόπολις/ nekrópolis, ‘city of the dead’, is attested in Antiquity only in Strabo (17,1,10,14) as the name of a suburb of Alexandria [1] (Necropolis). Modern scholarship transfers the term necropolis to cemeteries of various cultures and time periods. General definitions as to shape and size do not exist. In this article, necropolis refers only to sites of a certain size and usually lying outside the settlements themselves. The size of a necropolis, the …

[German version] I. Mesopotamia The Sumerian term é and the Akkadian term bītu, meaning 'temple' or 'house (of the deity)', were not restricted to 'dwellings' of deities of a particular size or importance. They applied to sanctuaries from small neighbourhood shrines in residential areas to large, freestanding, tall buildings, from one-room cult sites to temple complexes with extensive auxiliary buildings, and they could be used for temples where one or many deities were worshipped. Prehistoric structures are often classified as temples only because apparently they nei…

[German version] I. General Pins and needles (βελόνη/ belónē, περόνη/ perónē, ῥαφίς/ rhaphís, Latin acus) were put to a variety of uses in the ancient household: they were used for hair, garments and sewing. They were also a utensil, for example, in the work of doctors (Surgical instruments), sailmakers etc. Tattoos were also done using special needles. The shape of the pin, long and thin with one sharp end, has not changed since prehistoric times. In sewing needles, the head is generally unadorned and flat; …

[German version] I. Definition Funerary architecture (FA) refers to architectonically designed structures built above the contemporary ground level for the purpose of  burial, as opposed to underground hypogea, which have rooms for the cult of the dead and hero cult. Columbaria can combine both types. Hypogea with a ground level cult room influenced the early Christian martyria above the graves. Regarding further aspects of FA, cf.  Hypogaeum;  Maussolleum;  Necropoleis. Kammerer-Grothaus, Helke (Bremen) II. Egypt and the Near East [German version] A. Egypt The Egyptian buria…