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[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…

[German version] (Πύθιοι/ Pýthioi). In the political organization of Sparta - according to tradition established by Lycurgus [4] - each of the two Spartan kings chose two ambassadors which were dispatched to obtain the oracles of Apollo Pythios in Delphi. In the Greek poleis, these ambassadors were usually called theoprópoi or theōroí; the name Pýthioi at Sparta thus reflects a special relationship between this polis and the Delphic oracle. The Pýthioi were allowed to dine in the skēnḕ dēmosía - at the expense of the dḗmos - as fellows in the kings' tent ( sýskēnoi) and at their table ( sýssit…

[German version] is the original form of the name of the Roman god (CIL I2 453; Vetter No. 200B 6b; Volchanus: CIL I2 1218; Volganus: CIL I2 364; Volkanus: CIL IX 6349), the form Vulcanus is more recent. Attempts to trace this name back through the Etruscan Velch(ans) [1. 289-409] to a Cretan ελχάνος ( Welchános, or Zeus Velchanos) [1. 155-287] and thus to identify its origin in the eastern Mediterranean region are based primarily on linguistic similarities; the conclusion that Volcanus was therefore originally a god of vegetation is hypothetical …

[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] (Νόμιοι Θεοί; Nómioi Theoí). As an adjunct to νομεύς/ nomeús, ‘shepherd’, νόμιος/ nómios is a poetic apostrophe or actual cult invocation for the identification of groups of gods (anon. NT in Rome: IG XIV 1013) and individual gods in their function as pastoral deities. The following are addressed as Νόμιος/ Nómios: Hermes (Aristoph. Thesm. 977f.); Pan (Hom. H. 19,5; Paus. 8,38,11: cult of Lycosura in Arcadia); the Nymphs (Orph. H. 51,11f.); Aristaeus [1] in Cyrene (Pind. Pyth. 9,65); Dionysus (Anth. Pal. 9,524); Zeus (Stob. 53,13…

(Πάνθεος/ Pántheos, Πάνθειος/ Pántheios, Lat. Pantheus). In antiquity, P. ('all-god' or 'universal deity') referred (Auson. Epigrammata 32 Green; CGL V 318,38) to a deity which, within a differentiated polytheistic system, combined in itself the attributes, traits and identities of several or all gods (syncretism). [German version] I. Ancient concepts of a universal god In Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, gods were structured into a hierarchic pantheon [1. 107-113; 177-181] analogous to hierarchic human social structures (cf. ruler). This structure e…

[German version] Deity of Sabine origin whose name in Antiquity was translated as virtus or ἀνδρία/ andría, ‘manliness’, and fortitudo, ‘strength’, ‘bravery’ (Gell. NA 13,23,7; Lydus, Mens. 4,60). Nerio is derived from Indoeuropean * ner-, ‘man-’, which is preserved in many Italian dialects, but was replaced in Latin by uir-, except in the personal names Nerio and Nero [1. 438f.]. It is an attractive hypothesis that M. Claudius [I 11] Marcellus was thinking of the Sabine Nerio when dedicating anew the santuary of Honos outside the Porta Capena…

[German version] According to Calpurnius Piso fr. 42 Peter = 10 Forsythe the wife of Volcanus, no other references. Assumed Oscian origin [1] contributes little to clarification. It is possible that Piso, against a contemporary identification of Maia as the wife of Volcanus and eponym of the month of May (conceivable with Gell. NA 13,23; Cincius fr. 8 GRF in Macrob. Sat. 1,12,18; Ov. Fast. 5,81-106), derives the name of the month from a goddess M., with M. for her part probably coming from Latin maiestas (Ov. Fast. 5,11-53 mentions the latter as a possible eponym of the name of …

[German version] A subterranean pit, presumably expanded into a chamber, associated in Rome and other Italic cities with religious cult. A possible architectonic parallel is the subterranean sanctuary of Dionysus in Volsinii (Bolsena) from the 3rd cent. BC [1 Fig. 1]. There is agreement neither on the etymology of the Latin word mundus [2], nor on the origins or the function of the religious mundus. It has been associated with a pre-deistic form of worship of the spirits of the dead, but also with primitive agrarian and fertility rituals (critica…

[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] A. Concept In the 1960s, criticism of the work-immanent interpretation of literary texts as closed systems was voiced in the aesthetics of reception of H. R. Jauss and in intertextuality as shaped by the semiotician Julia Kristeva. Kristeva was influenced by Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of the literary text as an open system: no text originates in a socio-historical vacuum; even at the very moment of its production it represents a dialogue with other literary and non-literary texts and…

[German version] (φυλακτήριον/ phylaktḗrion, literally 'means of protection') refers to a religious formula used to ask for protection (PGM VII 317f.) as well as to an amulet believed to offer safety, Latin amuletum (Char. 1,15; [1]). Since amulets were worn around the neck, head, arms and legs or attached to clothing, they were also called in Greek περιάμματα/ peri(h) ámmata or περίαπτα/ perí(h)apta (Plat. Resp. 426b; cf. Pind. Pyth. 3,52f.: peri(h)áptōn phármaka); in Latin, ligamenta or ligaturae (Aug. Serm. 4,36; cf. Cato Agr. 160: adligare), 'tied-on objects'. Here ancient …

[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 …

[English version] Göttin sabin. Ursprungs, deren Name in der Ant. mit virtus bzw. ἀνδρία/ andría, “Mannhaftigkeit”, und fortitudo, “Stärke”, “Tapferkeit”, übersetzt wurde (Gell. 13,23,7; Lyd. mens. 4,60). Herleiten läßt sich N. von indeur. * ner-, “Mann-”, das in zahlreichen ital. Dialekten bewahrt, im Lat. jedoch mit Ausnahme der Eigennamen N. und Nero durch uir- ersetzt ist [1. 438f.]. Daß M. Claudius [I 11] Marcellus bei der Neudedizierung des röm. Honos-Heiligtums außerhalb der Porta Capena als Tempel von Honos und Virtus (Liv. 27,25,7-9) an d…

(Πάνθεος, Πάνθειος, lat. Pantheus). Als P. (“Allgott”) bezeichnete man in der Ant. (Auson. epigrammata 32 Green; CGL V 318,38) eine Gottheit, die innerhalb eines ausdifferenzierten polytheistischen Systems die Attribute, Eigenschaften und Identitäten mehrerer oder aller Götter auf sich vereint (Synkretismus). [English version] I. Antike Allgott-Vorstellungen Die in Mesopotamien, Griechenland und Rom übliche Strukturierung der Götterwelt in einem hierarchisierten Pantheon [1. 107-113; 177-181] analog zu hierarchischen menschlichen Sozialstr…

[English version] Beiname der Iuno. Ihr röm. Tempel auf der Arx (Capitolium) wurde nach der Überl. von L. Furius ([I 11], wohl kaum [I 12]) Camillus 345 v.Chr. gelobt (Liv. 7,28,4) und am 1. Juni 344 dediziert (Liv. 7,28,5f.; Ov. fast. 6,183f.; Fasti Venusini, InscrIt 13,2, p. 58). Die Trad., nach der das Heiligtum an der Stelle des Hauses des M. Manlius [I 8] Capitolinus errichtet wurde (Liv. 6,20,13; 7,28,5; Ov. fast. 6,185f. u.a.), beruht auf dessen fälschlicher Lokalisierung auf der Arx. Urspr…

[English version] Nach Calpurnius Piso fr. 42 Peter = 10 Forsythe die Gattin des Volcanus, sonst nicht belegt. Angenommener osk. Ursprung [1] trägt zur Klärung wenig bei. Möglich ist, daß Piso gegen eine zeitgenössische Identifizierung von Maia als Gattin des Volcanus und Namensgeberin des Monats Mai (faßbar bei Gell. 13,23; Cincius fr. 8 GRF bei Macr. Sat. 1,12,18; Ov. fast. 5,81-106) den Monatsnamen von einer Göttin M. herleitet, wobei M. ihrerseits wohl aus lat. maiestas (letzteres nennt Ov. fast. 5,11-53 als mögliches Eponym des Monatsnamens) gebildet ist. Weiterg…

[English version] In den republikanischen libri sacerdotum genannt als Adressaten von Gebeten in der röm. Rel. (Gell. 13,23,2). In augusteischer Zeit erhielten die M.M. jeweils am 12. Mai eine supplicatio (Feriale Cumanum, InscrIt 13,2, p. 279), die sicherlich mit dem natalis templi des Heiligtums des Mars Ultor im Forum Augustum und den ludi für Mars am selben Tag in Verbindung stand (Mars I.C.). Die Junktur moles belli, “die Gefahren” bzw. “Entbehrungen des Krieges”, vom mṓlos Árēos (seit Hom. Il. 2,401) inspiriert, ist bei den röm. Dichtern und Historikern seit dem …

[English version] (Πύθιοι). Im Rahmen der nach der Trad. von Lykurgos [4] eingerichteten polit. Ordnung Spartas wählte jeder der beiden spartanischen Könige zwei Gesandte, die in ihrem Auftrag die Orakelsprüche des Apollon Pythios in Delphoi einholten. In den griech. Poleis hießen diese Gesandten für gewöhnlich theoprópoi bzw. theōroí, der Name P. in Sparta reflektiert die bes. Beziehung zw. dieser Polis und dem delphischen Orakel. Die P. waren berechtigt, in der skēnḗ dēmosía auf Kosten des dḗmos als Zelt- ( sýskēnoi) und Mahlgenossen ( sýssitoi) der Könige zu speisen (Hdt. 6…

[English version] Sagmina (Pl.) hießen die in Rom auf der Arx für die fetiales mitsamt der Erde aus dem Boden gerissenen Kräuter (Plin. nat. 22,5; 25,105; Fest. 424-426 L.), die bei der rituellen Einsetzung des pater patratus Verwendung fanden (Liv. 1,24,4-6) und von den fetiales auch auf ihren Missionen mitgeführt wurden (Liv. 30,43,9). Bendlin, Andreas (Erfurt) Bibliography J. Rüpke, Domi militiae, 1990, 100-103.