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[German version] (Ἀθίγγανοι; Athínganoi). The A. (‘Untouchables’, from θιγγάνω) are mentioned as heretics who are counted as Paulicians, first by Patriarch  Germanus (De haeres. et synodis, PG 98, 85) in the 8th cent. They are called ‘Phrygians’ because of their origins or ‘Manichaeans’ because of their magical and astrological practices. Flourishing in the 9th cent.; found followers even in palace circles ( Michael II). They supported  iconoclasm. Several attempts to integrate them remained unsuccessful.  Astrology;  Magic;  Mani;  Phrygia Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibli…

(συναξάριον; synaxárion). [German version] [1] Short life Short life or encomiastic note in the menaea of the Orthodox Church's órthros (ὄρθρος, 'morning service') between the 6th and 7th odes of the canon [2], which together with the synaxarion characterize services on saints' days and feasts. Structure: month, epigram in iambic verse, naming of the saint and the feast, hexameter on the date and name, historical note, mention of the church commemorating the saint, life of the saint. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) [German version] [2] Book with short lives Book containing the synaxária …

[German version] Armenian collection of important theological letters, documenting the history of the Armenian church and its relations with neighbouring churches (Syria, Georgia, Byzantium), such as the separation of the Georgian church from the Armenian in c. 600. The Book of Letters is divided into three chronological phases: 5th-7th, 8th-11th and 11th-13th cents.  Byzantium;  Georgia;  Syria Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography Girk T̀`ġtoc`, 1901 E. Ter-Minassiantz, Die armen. Kirche in ihren Beziehungen zu den syr. Kirchen. Bis zum Ende des 13.Jh.…

[German version] (λαύρα/ Laúra, ‘lane’). Originally a Christian monastic settlement of hermits under the leadership of a common superior. Around AD 330, Chariton (Χαρίτων) founded near Pharan, Douka and Souka in Palestine the first laúrai with cells (κελλία; kellía) and caves that were connected by a lane. In the centre of the facilities were the church, the bakery, storerooms as well as the home of the superior. The hermits only gathered for the service with the Eucharist. This type of monastery became definitive for Byzantine Chri…

[German version] (Σινᾶ/ Sinâ, Σινά/ Siná, Σεινά/ Seiná, later also Σιναΐ/ Sinaḯ, Latin Sina; Hebrew sīnay). Mountain in the wilderness of the same name, where the Covenant between Yahweh and Israel was made. S. is primarily attested in the Old Testament; in the New Testament Σινᾶ occurs only in Acts 7,30 and 38 and Gal 4,2; the etymology is debatable. Presumably S. is derived from the Hebrew root sny, 'shine' [1. 52033]. S. often occurs with the later additions 'Mount', 'Desert'. Euseb. On. 172,9 f. distinguished S. from Mount Horeb (Χωρήβ/ Chōrḗb), for Jerome (ibid. 173,15 f.) the …

[German version] (Kołp). Pupil of  Mesrop. His student colleague Koriwn gives some details about E.'s biography in the Vita of Mesrop. According to him, in around AD 406 E. goes to  Edessa [2] (= Urfa) on behalf of his teacher and Katholikos  Sahak in order to learn Syriac and to translate works by the Syrian church fathers into Armenian. Together with Koriwn he brought around 435 Greek biblical manuscripts, manuscripts by the church fathers, and the Acts of the Synods of  Nicaea and  Ephesus from…

[German version] (Ποταμιαίνα/ Potamiaína). Martyr (died c. AD 360; feast 7 or 28 June). Pupil of Origenes [1] in Alexandria. According to an account by Eusebius [7] (Eus. HE 6,4) she suffered martyrdom under Septimius Severus (193-211). She converted the soldier Basileides who escorted her to her execution. Together with her mother Marcella she was executed by having hot pitch poured over her. After three days she is supposed to have appeared to Basileides, who was arrested for his conversion and then also martyred. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography J. Bollandus, G. Henscheniu…

[German version] Known as Maštoc in the older MSS and in the vita written by his student Koriwn. His date of birth ( c. AD 360/364) and his descent from the influential family of the Mamikonians are uncertain. Born in Katzikk in the Armenian province of Tarawn, M. received a Hellenic education. After military service under the Armenian king - either Chosrov III ( Chosroes [4]) or his lieutenant Arawan - in Vagharshapat, he became a secretary at the Armenian royal court between 385 and 389. Between 390 and 395, the Armenian Patriarch Sahak [Isaac] the Great ( c. 457-438) made him a monk. Af…

[German version] (Ἴβηροι/ Íbēroi, Ἴβηρες/ Íbēres). I. and Iberia (Ἰβηρία/ Ibēría), as terms for the inhabitants and country of East Georgia, occur only in Graeco-Roman and Byzantine sources; possibly etymologically related to virkʿ (Armenian) or Sáspeires (Σάσπειρες, Hdt. 4,37; 40) [1. 146]. Iberia was bordered in the north by  Sarmatia, in the west by  Colchis, in the south by Greater Armenia ( Armenia) and in the east by  Albania [1] (Ptol. 5,10,1f.). Armenia;  Georgia, Georgians;  Georgian Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography 1 O. Lordkipanidse, Archäologie in Geor…

[German version] (κοντάκιον, κονδάκιον; kontákion, kondákion; from κοντός, ‘parchment roll’). Name given in later times to a genre of Byzantine hymns documented first in the 6th cent. AD. The kontakion consists of 18 to 24 metrically equal stanzas (so-called oíkoi, οἶκοι), preceded by the metrically differing prooemium ( koukoúlion, κουκούλιον). The individual stanzas are connected by acrostichs ( Acrostich) and have a common refrain (the ephýmnion or akroteleútion, ἐφύμνιον, ἀκροτελεύτιον). Kontakia are related to the Syrian madraša ( Ephrem Syrus), …

[German version] (Ełišē). Author of a history of the Vardanids and the Armenian wars in the Armenian language, describing the uprising of the Armenian people under the leadership of Vardan Mamikonyan against the Sassanid occupation forces in AD 450/1. However, E. did not himself witness the historical events which he describes, but is likely to have lived in the 6th cent. AD. It was his aim to provide a martyrological anchor for the foundation of the Armenian church.  Armenia;  Armenians, Armenian literature;  Sassanids Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography E. Ter-Minassjan, Va…

[German version] (σύντομον; sýntomon). As a specimen of Byzantine liturgical poetry the s. lies between the kontákion and the kanṓn [2], but without having achieved their popularity. In the liturgy of the Orthodox Church its four to nine strophes are inserted between the verses of psalms, and for this reason a s. is also called a stichērón (στιχηρόν). Presumably it can be traced to the poet and hymnographer Kyprianos (1st half of the 8th cent.). Hymn IV. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography J. Szövérffy, A Guide to Byzantine Hymnography ..., 1979.

[German version] (Εὐθύμιος; Euthýmidos) I of Constantinople (b. c. AD 834 in  Seleucia, d. 917). After a period as monk on the Bithynian  Olympus, he transferred to the monastery of St. Theodorus outside Constantinople. As the father confessor of Emperor  Leo VI, he became abbot of the monastery of Psamathias, which the emperor had built for him specifically. After the deposition of the patriarch of Constantinople,  Nicolaus I Mysticus, he assumed that office; in agreement with the other patriarchs and …

[German version] A legend from  Edessa tells of a young Byzantine man (5th cent.) who left his wife on their wedding night to live an ascetic life [1. 36-44]. The figure of A., who became the archetype of the ascetic, was also known in Constantinople in the 9th cent., where Melodus († 833) composed a hymn in honour of A. The discovery of a Greek version that had escaped notice for a long period and which agrees in its main traits with a Syriac version of the 6th cent., but without being its translation [2. 56c], again raises the question of the original's language. Other Greek versions of the A.- vita…

[German version] (Ταβώρ/ Tabṓr). Conically tapering mountain with a broad plateau at the peak (about 1,200 m × 400 m) in the Plain of Jezreel in Israel. According to Jos 19:22, the territories of the tribes of Zebulun, Issachar and Naphtali bordered on Mount T. In the Biblical texts, no indications are given of any cultic function of the mountain. Neither is there any connection with the cult of the Rhodian god Zeus Atabyrios ([1]; Rhodes). It has been possible to demonstrate Iron Age settlement [2…

[German version] (Ταράσιος; Tarásios). Patriarch of Constantinople ( c. AD 730-806), of noble descent, secretary to the empress Irene, who had him elected patriarch in 784 in connexion with her efforts to restore iconolatry. The Synod (Synodos II.D.) at Nicaea in 787, convened by him to solve the iconoclasm controversy (Syrian dynasty), was able at the second attempt to resolve to restore the worship of icons. It is to him that resolutions made at the synod are due; he had already written them in 754. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography Editions: PG 98, 1424-1428 (Apologeticus)  PG …

[German version] (τροπάριον/ tropárion, from τρόπος/ trópos in the sense of 'mode, note'). Originally a short strophe in free-rhythm Byzantine prose with the character of a prayer and a melody resembling psalmody. The troparion was present at the beginning of  Byzantine hymnography (Hymnos IV.) and was initially sung in antiphony to every verse of a psalm. From the 5th cent. it was expanded and integrated into the ending of psalms (between the 3-6 last verses). It also found entry into the kontákion and the kanṓn [2]. For the most part transmitted anonymously, the troparion experienced…

[German version] (Isaac). S. I (the Great), born between AD 340 and 350, died AD 438/9. Patriarch of Armenia, son of the patriarch Nerses the Great; last representative of the Gregorians (descendants of Gregory the Illuminator, Armenia [B]). S. grew up in Constantinople and studied there. Named patriarch of the Armenian Church in 387 in a time of internal conflict after Armenia was divided between Byzantium and Persia, his election was intended to reinforce Armenia's ties to Byzantium to counter t…

[German version] (Παυλικιανοί/ Paulikianoí; Armenian Pawlikeank'). Heretical Christian group of Armenian origin in the Byzantine Empire, whose teachings survive only in secondary sources of Orthodox polemic. The accounts of the Armenian katholikós John of Odzun (8th cent. AD) and of Petros Sikeliotes (9th cent. AD) are particularly important. According to these the Paulicians were described as an offshoot from the Manichaeans (Mani), whose dualistic doctrine postulated only an individualistic approach to faith and rejected the OT (Bible), the sacraments ( sacramentum …

[German version] Christian religious community going back to the Syrian hermit Maro(n) (Μάρω(ν)/ Márō(n), Syriac Morun; 4th/5th cent. AD), the patron saint of a monastery on the Orontes near Apamea [3] in Syria, which became the centre of the resistance against the Monophysitism. After the death of the patriarch Anastasius II (died 609), the Antiochene ( Antioch [1]) patriarchal see remained vacant (Persian invasions); in 636, the region came under Arab rule. Its isolation in terms of geography and Church poli…

[German version] (Ἐπιτομὴ χρόνων; Epitomè chrónōn). The chronicon paschale (also chronicon Alexandrinum, chronicon Constantinopolitanum, Fasti Siculi, according to where the particular codex was discovered) was written by a cleric between 631 and 641 at the instigation of the patriarch  Sergius. In its introduction, the ‘Easter Chronicle contains explanations of the Easter cycle. The chronology originally went from Adam to the year 629, but the record breaks off after 628. The chronicler is an eyewitness to ev…

[German version] The A. refer to themselves as hayk', while the term A. is used by the Persians (Behistun inscription) and the Greeks (Herodotus and Xenophon). In the 6th cent. BC, the A. immigrated and intermixed with the autochthonous Urartians. After enduring Median, Persian, Macedonian and Seleucid domination, the A. King Artashes won the fight for independence in AD 189. Following the Christianization of the country, Armenian literature (AL) emerged in the early 5th cent., with Maštoc's ( Mesrop in…

Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) [German version] [1] Persian martyr, died in 599 (Σιρή; Sirḗ). Persian martyr, died 559 AD. S. was the daughter of a respected Persian magus, who after her conversion to Christianity was publicly executed by hanging under the Persian king Chosroes [5] I. Bibliography P. Devos, Saint Šīrīn Martyr Khosrau Ier Avrošarvan, in: Analecta Bollandiana 64, 1946, 87-131. [German version] [2] see Schirin See Shirin.

[German version] (Παφνούτιος; Paphnoútios), died around AD 360. According to Socrates [9] (Hist. eccl. 1,11), P. attended the first Council of Nicaea [5] (AD 325) as bishop of Upper Thebias. During the persecution of Christians, perhaps under Maximinus [1] Daia, he lost an eye. He was held in high regard by emperor Constantinus [1] and considered an ecclesiastical authority because of his strict monastic lifestyle. It is uncertain whether remarks attributed to him by Socrates ( loc. cit.) regarding the celibacy of priests (retention of clerical marriages entered into pri…

[German version] A collection of apocryphal acts of the Apostles in Latin ( Historia Certaminis Apostolici or Historiae Apostolicae) frequently used in the MA, is attributed to A., supposedly the first bishop of  Babylon and a contemporary of  Origenes. It consists of 10 books purportedly compiled in Hebrew by A. and then translated by  Eutropius into Greek and by Julius, who was known to write in Greek, into Latin. However, the collection presupposes  Rufinus' History and must have been created in the 6th-7th cents.  Apocrypha Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography W. Smith and H. …

[German version] (Ἀποφθέγματα πατρῶν; Apophthégmata patrôn). Anonymous collection of ‘Patristic sayings’ belonging to the most copied works of early monasticism. It contains short anecdotes of early monastic life and the   anachoresis in the Egyptian desert. They are teachings, prophetic predictions and miraculous acts that describe the daily routine of the monks. Particularly characteristic of the apophthegmata patrum are those sayings that are formulaically introduced by the plea of a believer who petitioned the anchorite in search of advice: ‘Tell …

[German version] (τὸ διὰ τεσσάρων [εὐαγγέλιον]; tò dià tessárōn [euangélion]). The Diatessaron is the earliest extant harmonization of the gospels, dating back to Tatian, who in the latter third of the 2nd cent. combined the four canonical gospels into one homogenous presentation by embedding the synoptic tradition within the chronological framework of the gospel of John. He also used some apocryphal material and furthermore showed his encratitic, anti-Jewish, and docetic ( Docetics) leanings. Whether the Diatessaron was originally written in Greek or Syriac, in Rom…

[German version] The C. (Turkish, roughly ‘vagabonds’) belong to the group of Turkish-Altaic peoples and are attested from the 3rd/4th cents. AD. Originally nomadic, in the 7th cent. they founded an autonomous empire reaching from the Black Sea to the Don. Their king (Qağan) was political and religious leader. Although they did not develop their own written language they left behind loan words in Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew and Persian i.a. Their campaigns of conquest reached as far …

[German version] (Σωφρόνιος/ Sōphrónios). Patriarch of Jerusalem (634-638), Greek-Byzantine saint, poet and author. S. was probably from Damascus and taught rhetoric. He became a monk in Palestine and with his friend Iohannes [29] Moschus travelled to the monastic settlements there. As a staunch opponent of Monotheletism in 633 he tried but failed to persuade Cyrus of Phasis, patriarch of Alexandria [1], to abandon it. S. was able to agree a compromise with the patriarch of Constantinople (Sergios …

[German version] A. ( 340/345 in  Cappadocia, † after 394) was a student of  Libanius and rhetorician in Constantinople. In 370 he returned to Cappadocia and at the instigation of  Basilius the Great became bishop of  Iconium in the newly created province of  Lycaonia in 373. He created an ecclesiastical administration in his episcopacy and defended it against the  Messalians and other heretics. Through his cousin  Gregorius of Nazianze, who converted him, a close friendship developed with the Cappadocians and later with circles in the capital.  Gregorius of Nyssa Savvidis, Kyriak…

[German version] (Συνοδικόν; Synodikón). Liturgical formula of the Orthodox Church. The synodìkon originated in the period of iconoclasm in AD 843, on the initiative of Methodius, patriarch of Constantinople, as a document of the victory of the patriarchate over the iconoclasts (Syrian dynasty). It continued the tradition of the diptycha . At the beginning of the 11th cent., the synodìkon was granted the more general function of a liturgical formula, which contained a commemoration list of emperors and patriarchs (in the prov…

(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 receivi…

(Βοιωτία, Βοιωτοί; Boiōtía, Boiōtoi). [German version] A. Topography Region and people in south-eastern Central Greece; with c. 2,500 km2 almost as large as  Attica. Bounded in the south-west by the Corinthian Gulf and in the north-east and east by the Euboean Gulf, B. is the only land bridge between northern and southern Greece and was thus a battleground over and over again ( Chaeronea,  Coronea,  Plataeae). In the south the  Parnes and the  Cithaeron formed a natural border with Attica and Megaris, while in t…

(Εὐθήριος; Euthḗrios). [German version] [1] Slave at the court of Constantine I An Armenian pagan eunuch, who had come to the court of Constantine I as a slave, later served under Constans, and under Julian rose to praepositus sacri cubiculi (AD 356-360). In Milan in 356/7, E. appeared before Constantius II to defend Julian against Marcellus' accusations (Amm. Marc. 16,7,2f.); after Julian had been made Augustus in 360, he became his envoy with Constantius (Amm. Marc. 20,8,19; 9,1-4; Zos. 3,9,3f.); In 361, Julian recalled him once ag…

(Θεοδοσιόπολις/ Theodosiópolis, Θεοδοσιούπολις/ Theodosioúpolis). [German version] [1] Modern Ras al-Ain, Syria T. in Osroene (in northern Mesopotamia), according to Procop. BP 2,19,29 (cf. Aed. 2,2,16) on the Ḫabur about 40 miles (= 60 km) from Dara, the village of Resaeina (= Ras al-Ain at the source of the Ḫabur) elevated c. AD 383 by Theodosius [2] I to a city (Malalas 13,40 p. 345 Dindorf). Iustinianus [1] I further increased the fortification of T., which was situated at the end of the Byzantine Limes (VI. C.), with forts (Procop. A…

[German version] [1] Patriarch of Constantinople 5th cent. AD (Γεννάδιος, Gennádios) Patriarch of  Constantinople AD 458-471. As an advocate at the Council of  Calchedon (451), he opposed acceptance of the Christology of  Cyrillus of Alexandria. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography F. Diekamp, Analecta Patristica, 1938, 54-72 (73-108). [German version] [2] Priest in Marseilles, 5th cent. AD Priest in Marseilles associated with the Semipelagians, who died between 492 and 505. Complementary to  Hieronymus' De viris illustribus, he compiled under the same title a c…

This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Pontos Euxeinos | Syria | Byzantium | Urarṭu | Christianity | Xenophon | | Commerce | Hellenistic states | Colonization | Limes | Pompeius | Patricius (Τραπεζοῦς/ Trapezoûs; Lat. Trapezus; the modern Trabzon, Turkey). [German version] I. Geographical Situation A Greek city in the region of Colchis (Xen. An. 4,8,22; 5,3,2) on the southeast coast of the Black Sea (Pontos Euxeinos), situated in a favourable setting with a secure acropolis. T. may have been first founded as early as 756 BC (…

(Τύχων/ Týchōn). [German version] [1] Ithyphallic god Ithyphallic god (Str. 13,1,12), associated with Priapus (Diod. Sic. 4,6,4), but primarily with Hermes (Clem. Al. Protreptikos 102,1; Theognostus, Anecdota Oxoniensia 2, p. 33,31 Cramer), as in the only inscriptional record, from Magnesia [2] on the Maeander [2] [2. 136 no. 203]; also with Aphrodite (Herodian. 1,37,15 Lentz; Hesych. s. v. T.; cf. Apollophanes PCG 2 fr. 6). His efficacy was considered limited (Anth. Pal. 9,334,1), but Alexander [II 15…

(Ἀνδρέας; Andréas). [German version] [1] Personal physician of Ptolemaeus Philopator Originally from Carystus. Personal physician of Ptolemaeus Philopator, was murdered before the battle of Raphia in the year 215 BC (Pol. 5,81). The son of Chrysareus, he was a Herophilean ( Herophilus), who wrote about medicaments (this was especially so in his writing Narthex), midwifery, poisons, doxography and the history of medicine. He commented on Hippocrates, even if he did not write any actual commentaries. Eratosthenes (EM s. v. Bibliaegisthus) accused h…

[German version] I. Greek Biblical poetry (BP) started with the early church poetry of hymns and psalms that were part of devotional service. Extensive biblical quotations or poetic paraphrases mark the origin of BP. Then as later, it is impossible to separate literary from liturgical poetry. Thus the heirmós (εἱρμός) Χριστὸς γεννᾶται, for example, is taken from the beginning of a  homily of  Gregorius of Nyssa (PG 36, 312ff.). The  kontakion, developed in Constantinople around 500, marks the high point of BP. One of the leading figures for t…

(Φιλάρετος; Philáretos). [German version] [1] Greek writer on medicine Greek writer on medicine. A text which bears P.’s name and ultimately goes back to Galen’s theories about the pulse, is a Byzantine revision (from the 9th cent.?) of the text De pulsibus ad Antonium (= Gal. 19,629-642 K.) which was influenced by pneumat (Pneumatists). Whether or not P. was the author of the original text or the revised version, is a matter of controversy. A connection with Philagrius cannot be ruled out as his name is occasionally misrepresented in P.…

(Ἀνθίμος; Anthímos). [German version] [1] Greek doctor Greek doctor who soon after AD 511 wrote a brief Latin treatise in letter form about dietetics, De observatione ciborum ad Theodoricum regem Francorum epistula. As a medical treatise and book of remedies, the work offered a description of the dietary customs of a Germanic tribe. It is written in a language associated with one of the colloquial languages of the people of his time, and his region (vulgar Latin). Schmitt-Pantel, Pauline (Paris) Bibliography Ed.: E. Liechtenhan, 1963 (CML VIII 1). [German version] [2] Bishop of Trap…

[German version] A. Hellenism and Roman era The highlands south and south-west of the Caucasus. Main river is the  Araxes (today Aras). Northern border river Cyrus (today Kura), also upper reaches and tributaries of Tigris and Euphrates. Lakes: Lichnitis (today Sevan), Thospitis (today Van) and Matianus (Urmia). Holy mountain  Baris (5165 m, today Ararat), preserves the pre-classical name of Urartu of a state with Hurrite population, who under Persian rule became part of the Haikh (= Armenians). The Indo-European language was similar to Phry…

(Φιλόπονος/ Philóponos, 'the industrious'; also called Γραμματικός/ Grammatikós, 'the teacher'). [German version] I. Life P. was a Christian polymath who lived in Alexandria [1] around AD 490-575 and was a disciple of Ammonius [12]. His cognomen may have been inspired by his enthusiasm for his work or by his membership in the brotherhood of the philóponoi (φιλόπονοι). He was sharply criticized for his Christian faith by the Neoplatonist scholar Simplicius, a member of the Academy in Athens, after Emperor Justinian [1] had closed that institution in …

(Θεοφύλακτος; Theophýlaktos). [German version] [1] T. Simocatta Byzantine historian, 7th cent. (Θ. Σιμοκάτης; Th. Simokátēs). Byzantine historian, born in Egypt, jurist and high official in Constantinople under the emperor Heraclius [7] (610-641). The family name Simokates is not recorded prior to the Suda, the spelling with -tt- is modern. Author of a 'General History' (οἰκουμενικὴ ἱστορία/ oikoumenikḕ historía, 8 bks), designed as a continuation of Menander [13] Protector, on the reign of the emperor Mauricius (582-602) with a look back to the time …

[German version] [1] Village on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem (Βηθανία; Bēthanía; Anānyā, Neh 11,32, or Bēt Aniyyā, ‘house of the poor’). Village on the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, 15 stades (John 11,18) or two miles (Eus. On. 58) from Jerusalem (ruins of settlement 5th cent. BC -- 14th cent. AD). Place where Jesus was anointed by the sinner (Mark 14,3; Matt. 26,6; John 12,1), home of Mary and Martha, and place where Lazarus was raised from the dead (John 11,1), hence in late antiquity Lazarion, today al-āzarı̄ya, ‘Lazarus(village)’. A chamber tomb in a cliff s…

[German version] [1] Gem cutter, 1st cent. BC Gem cutter (1st cent. BC), signed the famous ‘Agathangelus cameo’ with the portrait of a man (carnelian, Berlin, SM) -- it has been debated since the 18th cent. as to whether this is Sextus Pompeius. Michel, Simone (Hamburg) Bibliography Zazoff, AG, 12, 281-283, pl. 79,1. [German version] [2] Secretary to the king of the Arsacides,  Tiridates IV Secretary to the king of the Arsacides,  Tiridates IV (AD 239-281). In the ‘History’ attributed to A., he is described as a ‘reliable witness’. The text deals with the Ch…

(Ἄθως; Áthōs). [German version] I. Classical and Hellenistic era Highest elevation on the largely forested peninsula of the same name, which in antiquity was mostly called Acte; it is almost 50 km long and averages 6-8 km wide. On its south-east tip a Persian fleet was wrecked in 492 BC and then in 411 BC a Spartan one; its isthmus was penetrated before the advance of Xerxes. The inhabitants of the peninsula (origins largely unknown) were rumoured to be especially long-lived (Makrobioi). The mostly small…

[German version] [1] Forms of the name The following are attested: Apollinaris or Ἀπολινάριος ( Apolinários) or Ἀπολεινάριος ( Apoleinários), but not  Ἀπολλινάριος ( Apollinários). Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) Bibliography Th. Zahn, Apollinaris, Apollinarius, Apolinarius, in: id., Paralipomena, Forsch. zur Gesch. des nt. Kanons 5/1, 1893, 99-109. [German version] [2] of Laodicea Priest and teacher of grammar Priest and teacher of grammar. According to Sozom. Hist. eccl. (2,46; 3,15-16; 5,18; 6,25) the father of  A. [3]. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography J. Dräseke…

(Κολχίς; Kolchís, Lat. Colchis). [German version] I. Historical overview from early times Area of the east coast of the Black Sea ( Pontos Euxeinos) stretching as far as western Transcaucasia, bordered to the north by the Great Caucasus and by Meskheti to the south. The favourable climatic and soil conditions (fertile river valleys, forests and a proliferation of natural resources) meant that advanced civilizations emerged in C. as early as the 3rd millennium BC. Kulcha is mentioned in Urartian documents together with the capital city Ildamuša (which flourished in the 8th cent.…