Search

[German version] (τρόποι/ trópoi; singular τρόπος/ trópos, rhetorical term, literally 'turn', from τρέπεσθαι/ trépesthai, 'to turn'; the original technical term was metaphorá, which later acquired its more preicse meaning: Aristot. Poet. 21,7,1457b; Latin verbum translatum: Quint. Inst. 8,3,24, translatio or tropus [1. 205-208]). In rhetoric, tropes have their place in the category of elocutio / ornatus in verbis singulis: in contrast to figures, which have  their effect on the surface of the text, e.g. in the word order, tropes are phrases used in a …

[German version] [1] Military term Soldier of the Roman manipular army in the third line of the legion in battle formation (Pol. 6,21,7-10). The triarii were armed with gladius (Sword), scutum (Shield) and hasta [1] (Pol. 6,23,16). The integration of the triarii from the phalanx into manipular tactics had the purpose of stabilizing combat effectiveness. After that, the qualification was no longer based on the census but on age and battle experience instead (Liv. 8,8,3-13). The battalions were referred to as 'pillars' ( pili), the triarii as a whole as pilani (Varro Ling. 5,89). Their…

[German version] (Τερψιχόρη, 'she who delights in choral dances'). One of the Muses (Hes. Theog. 78), whose name indicates responsibility for  chorus and dance (Pind. I. 2,7; Korinna, fr. 935 Page; Pl. Phdr. 259b-d; Anth. Pal. 9,504) and is connected with paideía   (Diod. 4,7). She wears a wreath of laurel and ivy and her attributes are the lyre and the flute. Some accounts make her the mother of Linus (Suda s. v. Λίνος), Hymenaeus [1] (Alci. Epist. 1,13), Rhesus (Aristoph. Hypothesis zu Eur. Rhes.) and the Sirens (Apoll. Rhod. 4,895). Muses Walde, Christine (Basle)

(etymologically reconstructed from Lat. opi-ficium, 'doing work'; pl. officia). [German version] [1] Duty in general Generally a range of duties with a corresponding sense of duty or subordination (Sen. Ben. 3,18,1; Dig. 37,6,6; Cic. Tusc. 4,61); see Duty. Gizewski, Christian (Berlin) [German version] [2] Duties as identified in the philosophy of ethics Since Cicero, especially the duties as identified in the philosophy of ethics (as the 'Roman interpretation' of the Stoic concept of tò kathêkon, Cic. Off. 1,2,5-1,3,7); see Duty; Ethics. Gizewski, Christian (Berlin) …

Roman family, probably of Etruscan origin, that played an outstanding role, through the Verginii Tricosti branch (genealogy of the V. Tricosti in [1. 1519]), in Roman politics esp. in the 5th cent. BC. Characteristic of the V. Tricosti are the additional cognomina Caelimontanus, Esquilinus and Rutilus. The political importance of the family steadily declined from around the middle of the 5th cent., becoming altogether insignificant around the middle of the 4th cent. BC. If nothing else, however,…

[German version] (Ἴφιτος; Íphitos). Son of  Eurytus [1] of Oechalia and Antiope (or Antioche) who was killed by Hercules because his father and brothers (except for I.: Apollod. 1,128) did not give Hercules  Iole as his wife, as had been promised to him as a prize for his winning at archery. The legend is told in Hom. Od. 21,14ff. (where the bow of Odysseus is a gift from I.), in the lost epic Oichalías hálōsis, and also in Soph. Trach. 225ff., Diod. Sic. 4,31,2ff. and Apollod. 2,127ff. According to another version, I. arrived at the stronghold of Tiryns searching for…

(Greek Κένταυρος, pl. Κένταυροι; Ἱπποκένταυροι; Κενταυρίδες; Kéntauros, pl. Kéntauroi; Hippokéntauroi; Kentaurídes). I. Mythology [German version] A. Definition Centaurs are four-legged  monsters consisting of man and horse, their homeland was seen as the Greek mainland, generally speaking the forested mountains of Thessaly, especially the Pholoe Range and Cape Malea. They often appear as an aggressive group of evil-doers, who cause offence especially by raping women. They challenge not only heroes (such as Hera…

[German version] (Λαπίθαι/ Lapíthai, Latin Lapithae). Mythical Thessalian tribe (Hom. Il. 2,738ff.; Str. 9,439ff.), particularly known for their battle with the Centaurs. According to a late version, they were descendants of an eponymous ancestor Lapithes or Lapithas, who was himself descended either from Apollo and a daughter of the river god Peneius (Stilbe) or from Ixion and the slave Dia (Diod. Sic. 4,63,2; 5,58,5; Paus. 5,10,8; schol. Apoll. Rhod. 1,40). Descent from Ixion would make the L. en…

Name of probably the most important Roman plebeian family. The similarity to the Etruscan name lecne and the links between the gens and Etruria in historical times (L. [I 7]) suggest an origin in that region [1. 108, n. 3]; the name may, however, also be of Latin origin ( Licinus). The spelling with a double ‘n’ occurs not only in the Greek form Λικίννιος ( Likínnios), but also in Latin inscriptions [1. 108, n. 1]. In the annalistic historical records dealing with the early Republic, members of the family appear among the earliest people's tribunes, reaching their polit…

[German version] In the macchia shrubland of Mediterranean countries the genus Arbutus L. of the Ericaceae family is represented by two of its total of 20 evergreen species, namely a) the ST Arbutus unedo L. (κόμαρος; kómaros) with its strawberry-like sour-tasting drupes ( arbuta Verg.  G. 3,301 and 4,181), which ripen in a year, and b) the andrachle, Arbutus andrachle L. (ἀνδράχνη; andráchn ē), spread from Greece to the east as far as the coast of the Black Sea, with small orange-yellow inedible fruits. The fruits of the arbutus, which grows as far west as the Atlantic coast of Ir…

[German version] With around 30 different species, oaks are by far the most common deciduous trees in the natural vegetation of the countries around the Mediterranean. As such, the Greeks gave them the collective Indogermanic name for a tree δρῦς ( drŷs) which was already documented in linear B, as well as special names to distinguish between them. Thus the name for the sacred oak oracle of Zeus in Dodona varies between δρῦς and φηγός ( phēgós), whilst in Latin it is consistently called quercus. This refers to the ‘Trojan oak’, Q uercus troiana [1. 385-391]. The most detailed and reliab…

(Κένταυρος; Kéntauros). [German version] [1] Father of the centaurs According to Pind. Pyth. 2,21ff. son of  Ixion and  Nephele (the supposed Hera). C. fathers the  centaurs with the mares of Pelion (Diod. Sic. 4,70). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Ship According to Virgil (Aen. 5,122; 10,195), name of a ship with the figure of a centaur. Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [3] Constellation The constellation C., usually identified with  Chiron or  Pholus. Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (πάθος/ páthos, i.a. 'passion', Latin. i.a. perturbatio animi, affectus), provoking emotion for the purpose of persuasion, occupies a central position in all major ancient and aesthetic literary works (catharsis). The first reference text is Aristotle's Rhetoric [6], which posits that the audience is convinced in three ways: through ethos (ethical self-presentation of the speaker), pathos (the presentation of the subject matter in a way calculated to produce an emotional response from the listener) and logos (logic…

(lit. 'standing', 'condition', 'position'). [German version] [1] In rhetoric (Rhetoric). The Latin rhetorical term status (Quint. Inst. 3,6,1; Cic. Top. 25,93) or constitutio (Quint. Inst. 3,6,2: 'ascertainment' i.e. of the point in dispute) equates to the Greek στάσις/ stásis (Quint. Inst. 3,6,3; Cic. Top. 25,93; Isid. Orig. 2,5,1). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] A. Definition In the rhetorical system (Rhetoric), status ('standing of the matter of dispute') was the determination, arrived at by a series of questions ( summa quaestio, 'crucial question': Quint. I…

[German version] A. Memoria as part of the rhetorical system In Graeco-Roman antiquity, a speech was supposed to be delivered from memory, i.e. without written aids (exception: Cicero's speech to the Senate on his return from exile; he merely prefaced it with some improvised words of thanks, Cic. Planc. 74). Recall of phrases, thoughts, and arguments of the rhetorical system were also indispensable for the orator: memoria, the ‘treasure-house of recollection’, is the foundation of every form of rhetoric (Cic. Inv. 1,9; Rhet. Her. 3,28). On that basis, memory is one of the five  partes or…

[German version] (Κέρκωπες, Kérkōpes; regarding κέρκος, ‘tail’: ‘those with tails’; used also as a swear word, cf. Diog. Laert. 9, 114). The number and names of these sons of  Theia and  Oceanus (Suda s.v. Κέρκωπες) vary; they usually appear as a pair (e.g. Olus and Eurybatus; Acmon/Aclemon and Passalus; Sillus and Tribalus). In Asia Minor their home is given as Ephesus, or on the Greek mainland as Thermopylae. The C. are elf-like proverbial scoundrels and good-for-nothings, who are very closely as…

[German version] (Κίλιξ; Kílix). Son of Telephassa and  Agenor [1], who sent him, with his brothers on the (futile) search for the kidnapped  Europa [2]. C. becomes the founder and eponym of Cilicia (Hyg. Fab. 178). C. also gains a part of Lycia, by helping Sarpedon in time of war (Apollod. 3,2ff.; Hdt. 7,91). In a later version Sarpedon, searching for his sister, is killed by his uncle C. who does not recognize him (vita Theclae PG 85, 478ff.; cf. the Song of Hildebrand). Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2,178, citing various sources, calls C. the son of Phoenix and uncle of Agenor. Walde, Christine (Basl…

[German version] (Μνήμη/ Mnḗmē, lat. Memoria). In literary sources, starting with the Hellenistic period, personified memory, with Lethe as its counterpart (Anth. Pal. 10,67). M. is largely identical to Mnemosyne (Phil. De plantatione 129 Wendland), but is rarely more than an abstraction (cf. relief of Homer  by Archelaus [9] of Priene, where she is portrayed next to Physis, Arete, Pistis and Sophia [1]). In Ascra, the cult association of the Aloads worshipped her, together with Melete (‘diligence’)…

[German version] (Νυκτοφύλαξ/ Nyktophýlax, ‘night guard’). A nyktophýlax was a Greek daemon that appeared in the night. Altars and statues were erected to him because of his ability to cure diseases. According to Lucian's De morte Peregrini 27ff., Peregrinus (Proteus) sought to become a nyktophýlax through self-immolation. Walde, Christine (Basle)

(Λέρνος; Lérnos). [German version] [1] Aetolian Aetolian, father of Palaemonius the Argonaut, whose real father was considered to be Hephaestus (Apoll. Rhod. 1,202ff.). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Argive Argive, son of Proetus, father of Naubolus, Argonaut (Apoll. Rhod. 1,135). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [3] King in the region of Lerna In a euhemeristic interpretation of Heracles' Hydra adventure king in the region of Lerna, whose castle ‘Hydra’ was set on fire by the hero (Palaephatus 38). Walde, Christine (Basle)