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Ital. Personenname, vielleicht vom Praenomen Gnaivos ( Gnaeus, Cn.) abgeleitet, volksetym. von naevus, “Muttermal” hergeführt (Arnob. 3,14). Für das hohe Alter des Namens in Rom, der auch inschr. weit verbreitet ist, spricht die Bezeichnung porta Naevia in der servianischen Stadtmauer (Varro ling. 5,163; vgl. Liv. 2,11,8). Die Familie selbst trat polit. erst im 2. Jh. v.Chr. hervor. Bedeutendster Namensträger ist der Dichter N. [I 1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republikanische Zeit [English version] [I 1] N., Cn. Dramatiker und Epiker, 3. Jh. v. Chr. Röm. Dramatiker und…

Name of a Roman patrician family, probably originally from Cameria (hence the cognomen Camerinus); documented in the fasti from c. 500 BC. The otherwise rare praenomen Servius appears comparatively frequently and at times is even used in place of the nomen gentile (Tac. Hist. 2,48; Plut. Galba 3,1). The number of cognomina within the gens is high, but it has been impossible to identify clear branches. The link between the S. from the 3rd to the 2nd and 1st cent. BC is unclear. In the 2nd cent. BC, the most important branch of the family was that of…

Roman nomen gentile of Sabine origin. Its members begin to appear in the sources late in the 3rd cent. BC. Politically the most important branch was that of the Terentii Varrones which attained the ranks of the nobility with T. [I 14] Varro, consul in 216 BC. From the mid-2nd cent., several families of this branch were in simultaneous and unconnected existence. Cognomina showing geographical origins are widespread among the Terentii (Afer, Lucanus, Massaliota). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] As people's tribune in 54 BC, T. prevented…

Roman plebeian nomen gentile, often confused with Siccius; members of the family frequently appear as people's tribunes in the 5th cent. BC, but the family is otherwise insignificant. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] S., C. Tradition links S. with the origins and early development of the people's tribunate ( tribunus plebis ): S. was firstly the initiator of the secessio plebis of 494 BC and then one of the people's tribunes, subsequently elected for the first time (Liv. 2,32,2; 2,33,2; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 6,45,2; 6,8…

Roman gens name, probably of Latin origin with Etruscan parallels (the patrician gens in Dion Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,29,7 is invented), historically attested no earlier than the 3rd century BC. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Between 220-219 BC Creator of a lex Metilia In 220-219 BC, at the instigation of the censors C. Flaminius [1] and L. Aemilius [I 27] Papus, a l ex Metilia was passed on the professional status of fullers ( fullones) (Plin. HN. 35,197; MRR 1, 236). Its exact purpose, its creator and his office remain…

Widely occurring Roman nomen gentile derived from the numeral praenomen Octavus ('one born in the eighth month', which disappeared later, still surviving in Octavus Mamilius [2]). Of political importance in Rome from the 2nd cent. BC is only the older line which consecutively produced five consuls (O. [I 4-8]; preferred praenomen: Cn.; regarding the family relationships [1. 405-407]); the members of the related younger line (resident in Velitrae), on the other hand, from which the later princeps Augustus originated, did not rise above equestri…

Roman patrician gentilic name (from the praenomen Postumus ), found in the highest offices from the 5th cent. BC on and politically significant until the 2nd cent. BC. As dictator in 499 or 496 BC, an A. P. is supposed to have decided the battle at Lacus Regillus (Liv. 2,19-20). The Albi or Albini (Regillenses), who withdrew from politics with P. [I 9]'s military failure in the Jugurthine War at the end of the 2nd cent. BC, are his descendants. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., C. Etruscan haruspex, even consulted by Sulla Etruscan haruspex ( haruspices …

Three bearers  of the Italic gens name S. are known from the late Republic. [German version] [1] S., L. Held a pro-consular imperium over Hispania Ulterior By popular vote a pro-consular imperium over Hispania Ulterior was transferred to him for 199 BC (Liv. 31,50,10-11 and [1]), and he returned in 196 with such great booty that he was able to have three arches built in Rome (Liv. 33,27,3-4); In 196 he was a member of a commission to re-organize Greece (Pol. 18,48,2 and [2]). Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] S., C. Praetor of Sardinia in 188 BC Praetor of Sardinia in 188 BC …

[German version] [1] Comedy writer, end of the 3rd / beginning of the 2nd cent. BC Roman comedy writer, in the general opinion of scholars a contemporary of Plautus (second half of the 3rd/beginning of the 2nd cent. BC), according to [7], however, from the late 2nd cent. BC. In the latter case, it is not T. but Afranius [4] who would have been the archegetes of the Roman national comedy ( fabula togata ); T. would have been responsible for its flourishing. In 15 plays proved to be his he distinguished himself, according to Varro [2] (in Char. 315…

[German version] (οἰκουμένη/ oikoumén ē, Lat. oecumene) is a participle originally referring to gê (γῆ, 'earth') and designating 'the inhabited part of the earth' in contrast to the uninhabited portion. The oldest preserved evidence (Xenophan. fr. 41 DK) already links the word to the collective subject 'we' ( sc. human beings) and thus relates oikoumene to a 'humankind' that is not further specified. Accordingly, the oikoumene is not only a geographic entity, but first of all a social realm established by its inhabitants' ability, at least in principle, to fo…

[German version] [1] T., M. As a curule aedile in 192 BC he conducted many cases against profiteers and used the fines to lavishly decorate public buildings (Liv. 35,41,9-10). As praetor in 190 he was allotted Apulia et Bruttii as his area of responsibility and this office was twice extended (Liv. 37,2,1; 37,50,13; 38,36,1). In 186 he was one of the tresviri at the renewal of the colonies of Sipontum and Buxentum (Liv. 39,23,3-4). Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] T. Cerialis See M. Tullius [II 1] Cerialis. Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld)

Name of a Roman patrician family (epigraphically also Serveilius), said to have migrated to Rome from Alba Longa under king Tullus Hostilius [4] (Liv. 1,30,2; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,29,7). The oldest branches are the Ahalae and Fidenates in the 5th and 4th cents. BC; the Caepiones and Gemini, from whom the Vatiae (Isaurici) descended, appear in the 3rd cent. The last prominent member of the Servilii Caepiones was the murderer of Caesar, M. Iunius [I 10] Brutus, son of Servilia [1], and himself adopted into the family. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] A fleet commander in the B…

Name of a patrician Roman family, derived from the praenomen Quintus (comparable to Sextus/ Sextius, etc.), often also Quintius in inscriptions and MSS. The origin of the family is unknown; its great age is suggested by its connection with the festival of the Lupercalia (Ov. Fast. 2,378 has Quintilii) and the unusual praenomen of the family, Kaeso, encountered in this context ( v. Q. [I 1]). Livy counts them among the families that migrated to Rome from Alba with King Tullius Hostilius (1,32,2; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,29,7 mentions the Quinctilii). The Quinctii are mentioned many tim…

Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) [German version] A. The Fundamental Argument of the Querelle (CT) In the European history of ideas, several ages have tried to explain what is specifically different about them by means of a direct confrontation with the Antiquity (i.e. as they conceive it). It was even more common in certain areas for what was considered 'modern' in a period to be directly set against and apart from what was considered 'ancient' . A particular focus in historical research has been on the  Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes (QAM). In a poem dedicated to the 'Siècle de…

Roman nomen gentile (in the MSS very frequently Tremellius), attested from the 2nd. cent. BC onwards. The six generations of praetorian ancestors on whom T. [3] prided himself (Varro, Rust. 2,4,2) are quite believable. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] T., Cn. As tribune of the people, he successfully interceded in 168 BC against an extension of the term served by the censors (Liv. 45,15,9) who had passed him over in the lectio senatus . As praetor in 159 BC, he insulted the pontifex maximus who gave him a penalty ( multa ). A people's court confir…

(Ὠκεανός/ Ōkeanós, Latin Oceanus). [German version] I. Myth Divine representative of the world river, later world sea, that flows in a ring around the earth. In Homer's Iliad O. lives with his wife Tethys on the boundaries of the earth (Hom. Il. 14,200ff.) and is the only god who does not take part in the meeting on Olympus (ibid. 20,7). He is the origin of the gods and of absolutely everything (ibid. 14,201 = 302; 246); from him flow the seas, the rivers, the springs and the wells (ibid. 21,195ff.). Nevertheless he is subordinate to the power of Zeus (ibid. 14,244-248; 21,198f.). Hera's tale of…

Name of a Roman plebeian family (also Petilius), known at Rome from the 2nd cent. BC. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] P., Q. Two people's tribunes of 187 BC was the name of two related (cousins?) people's tribunes of the year 187 BC. They accused (at the instigation of Cato [1]?) L. Cornelius [I 72] Scipio before the Senate of the misappropriation of state funds ( peculatus) during the war against Antiochus [5] III and demanded an explanation. L.'s brother P. Cornelius [I 71] Scipio declared the accusations to be absurd, an…

Italic nomen gentile. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] A young friend of M. Porcius [I 7] Cato; in 46 BC he wanted to follow Cato into death, but allowed himself to be dissuaded by philosophical arguments (Plut. Cato Minor 65,10 f.; 66,6-8; 73,7). He then joined cause with M. Iunius [I 10] Brutus, who, because of S.' attitude towards tyrannicide, did not dare let him in on the plot against Caesar. S. was killed in 42 as a scout at Philippi (Plut. Brutus 51,6). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] S., L. Roman equestrian and leading follower of Catilina (Cic. Cat. 3,6…

Name of a Roman plebeian family, probably from Caudium (CIL I2 1744 f.) and attested from the time of the 2nd Punic War. The branch of the Libones (S. [I 5-7; II 4-7]) attained the consulship with S. [I 7] and was part of the Roman high nobility in the early Imperial period. The Curiones (S. [I 1-4]), prominent in the 2nd and 1st cents. BC, disappeared with the Republic. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] S. Curio, C. As aedile in 196 BC, he built the Temple of Faunus on the Tiber Island. Praetor urbanus in 183 and the second plebeian to be elected curio [2] maximus …

[German version] (νότος/ nótos, Latin auster, and βορέας/ boréas, Latin aquilo). Whereas the Nile's north-south-axis provided Egypt with a main compass direction, north and south were considered by the Greeks and Romans ‘as edges and border regions in an oikoumene thought of as an east-west ellipse and organised into climate zones’ ([1. 311]). The north and south winds, in contrast, were even regarded by some authors as chief winds (Strab. 1,2,21). Although there were old trade relationships far into the …