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(Νέστος/ Néstos, Μέστος/ Méstos, Νέσσος/ Néssos). [German version] [1] River in Thrace River in Thrace which rises in the Rila mountain range, (according to mistaken classical belief from the Scomius mountains, the present-day Vitoša Mountains, : Aristot. Mete. 1,13,350b 16f.) and after 234 km flows through the swampy delta area near Abdera [1] and into the Aegean (Hdt. 7,109; Theophr. Hist. pl. 3,1,5; Ps.-Skyl. 67). N. is already known as a river god in Hes. Theog. 341. In Roman times, N. was the border between the provinces of Macedonia and Thracia. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Biss…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states | Crete | Apollo | Limes | Macedonia, Macedones | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Education / Culture [German version] I. Location One of the biggest and most important cities of Crete, in the Mesara plain on the river Lethaeus, between the villages of Agi Deka and Mitropolis, 16 km (Str. 10,4,7: 90 stadia) from the Libyan Sea, also transmitted as Gortyna and Gortyne. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) [German version] II. Historical development The earli…

(Φοῖνιξ/ Phoînix, Latin Phoenix). Persons P. [1-4], the mythical P. bird [5], the date palm P. [6], geographical locations P. [7-9]. [German version] [1] Mythical king of Sidon or Tyrus Mythical king of Sidon or Tyrus, son of Agenor [1] and Telephassa (Apollod. 3,2-4), brother of Europe [2],  Cadmus [1] and Cilix, according to others also their father (Hom. Il. 14, 321); other children: Phineus (Apoll. Rhod. 2, 178), Carne (Antoninus Liberalis 40). Eponym of the Phoenicians and the Poeni ( Poeni; cf. Phoenicians, Poeni). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Son of Amyntor Son of Amyn…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete | Apollo (Λύκτος/ Lýktos, Λύττος/ Lýttos, Latin Lyctus). Important Doric city in eastern Crete with a wide territory, in the interior of the country on a ridge of the Lassithi Massif. The older form of the name is Lyctus (in this form already around 1380 BC on an Egyptian list of place names), whilst the more recent and more common form is Lyttus. Pol. 4,54,6 describes L. as the oldest city in Crete. In Homer (Hom. Il. 2,647; 17,611) L. is a participant in the Trojan War; with a close connection to Sp…

[German version] (Ὤλερος; Ṓleros). Location in eastern Crete from which most of the population probably migrated to the newly founded Hierapytna in the 4th cent. BC. Afterwards O. was a cultic center for Athena Oleria [1]. It can be located at modern Meseleri. There are no ancient remains there. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 A. Chaniotis, Die Verträge zwischen kretischen Poleis in der hellenistischen Zeit, 1996, no. 74,8. C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland, vol. 2, 1868, 579  H. van Effenterre, Die von den Grenzen der ostkretischen Poleis eingeschlosse…

[German version] (also Egnatia, Ignatia). Peucetic port town in Apulia between Barium and Brundisium (Str. 6,3,7; Ptol. 3,1,15; in Sallentino oppido G., Plin. HN 2,240) on the via Minucia (Tab. Peut. 6,5). Station on Horace's journey to Brundisium, who mocks alleged incense miracles in Sat. 1,5,97-100 (cf. Plin. loc. cit.). Ruins near modern Torre d'Egnazia (land wall, necropoleis, basilicas). Remains of Oriental cults (ILS 4178: Sacerdos Matris Magnae et Suriae deae et sacrorum Isidis). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen, 860.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Ἐλευθέρνα; Eleuthérna). City in central Crete on the northern slopes of the Ida range, settled from the late Minoan period. Some vestiges have survived near the mod. village of Prinès (cisterns, town walls, bridge, Byzantine tower). In around 260 BC, E. joined the isopoliteia of Miletus with Cnossus, Gortyn, Phaestus and their allies [2. 482]. In c. 225 BC, the city entered into an alliance with the Macedonian king Antigonus [2] Gonatas [1. 20; 2. 501]. In 220 BC, as a consequence of disputes…

[German version] (Χάλκη; Chálkē). Island off the north coast of Rhodes (29 km2). The polis of C. (remains of acropolis, temple to Apollo, necropolis) belonged to Rhodian Camirus. During the 5th cent. BC a member of the Delian League. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography P. M. Fraser, G. E. Bean, The Rhodian Peraea and Islands, 1954, 144f.

[German version] According to Str. 5,2,9 a settlement on the   via Flaminia between Oriculi (modern Otricoli) and Rome, possibly identical with  Falerii (Str. loc. cit.). On the Tab. Peut. 5,4 ( Aequo Falsico) east of the Tiberis [1. 320]. Uncertain connection with the Aequi Falisci (Verg. Aen. 7,695; Sil. 8,490). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 Miller 2 Nissen, 2, 364.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Linear B | Aegean Koine Minoan palace on Crete, on the northern coast c. 40 km east of Heraklion, with two harbour bays. The relatively low level of ancient building on top of the site and of later reconstruction makes genuine insight into Minoan palace architecture possible. Like the palaces of Knossos, Phaestus and Zakros, the buildings are grouped around a large central court. The history of the palace with its individual building phases also corresponds…

(Νάπη/ Nápē, ‘wooded gorge, valley’). [German version] [1] Settlement on Lesbos Settlement on Lesbos, in the territory of Methymna, with a temple of Apollo Napaios (Str. 9,4,5; Steph. Byz. s.v. N.). N. cannot be precisely located. The temple, however, may have been the cultic site to the west of the modern village of Napi in the district of Klopedi. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography H.-G. Buchholz, Methymna: Archäologische Beiträge zur Geschichte und Topographie von Nordlesbos, 1966, 206f.  W. Günther, s.v. N., in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 454f. [German version] [2] In Att…

[German version] (Μύκονος; Mýkonos). Island in the  Cyclades (Plin. HN 4,66) with an area of 88 km2, barren, rocky, poor in water, hilly, but without very high mountains (the highest elevation amounts to just 390 m). The earliest settlement was in the late Neolithic (beginning of the 3rd millennium BC; Bay of Panormos in the north). An early Cycladic settlement (after 2600 BC) was on the peninsula of Anavolousa in the southwest. There were two urban centres on M. (Skyl. 58; cf. Syll.3 1024): near Palaiokastro to the southeast of the Bay of Panormos (from the middle of the B…

(Ἀρέθουσα; Aréthousa). Frequent name for springs. [German version] [1] Spring on Homer's Ithaca Spring on Homer's  Ithaca, where the swine of  Eumaeus graze (Hom. Od. 13,408; Plut. Mor. 776 E; Steph. Byz. s. v. A.). To identify A. with the spring of Perapigadi on the modern Ithaka, 5 km south-east of Vathy, is speculative. Strauch, Daniel (Berlin) Bibliography A. Heubeck, A commentary on Homer's Odyssey, 1992, 189 f. A. J. Wace, F. H. Stubbings, A companion to Homer, 1963, 414-416. [German version] [2] Name for the main spring of Chalkis on Euboia The name handed down by numerou…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Ῥαῦκος; Rhaûkos). Town in central Crete, c. 15 km southwest of Heracleum [1], present-day Agios Myron (named after a 3rd cent. bishop of R.), with Minoan remains in the surrounding area. The acropolis had been inhabited since the Late Mycenaean Period. At the beginning of the 2nd cent. BC, R. formed an alliance with Gortyn (Pol. 22,15,1) and in 166 BC it was the object of a combined military operation by Gortyn and Knossos (Pol. 31,1) [1. no. 4…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Crete | Apollo (Δρῆρος; Drêros). Town in north-east Crete in a mountainous position, with a double acropolis, from which there is a view of the Gulf of Mirabello, modern Hagios Antonios near Neapolis. Already populated in the Minoan period, D. reached its peak between the 8th and 6th cents. BC. The Temple of Apollo Delphinios from the mid 8th cent. BC, combining Minoan and Doric elements (with cult images of Apollo, Leto and Artemis) [1], …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Byzantium | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) (Μήθυμνα; Mḗthymna). City on the north coast of the island of Lesbos, formerly Molivos, today again officially M., on a hill jutting into the sea. M. was one of the five póleis of Lesbos (Hdt. 1,151; Strab. 13,2,2) with a considerable amount of territory after the subjugation of Arisbe ( c. 600 BC). The ancient history of M. was dominated by continual rivalry with Mytilene. M. was involved in the founding of Assus in Asia Minor (Strab.…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Forcible deportations of combatants and civilians during wars were common practice (though on varying scales) in many periods of the history of the Ancient Orient and Egypt. Deportations had a dual purpose: they made possible the creation of an unfree and, therefore, easily exploited labour force, and they were a convenient means of lastingly weakening the military and economic potential of defeated tribes, cities and states. In Mesopotamia deportations appear to have been a source of unfree labour as early as the late 4th…

[German version] [1] Island and city in the Cyclades This item can be found on the following maps: Ionic | Marble | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine (Νάξος, Náxos, Latin Naxus). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) [German version] A. Geography City and island of the same name, the latter, with an area of just 420 km2, the largest of the Cyclades. A significant topographical  characteristic is a chain of mountains dividing the island from north to south (highest peak the Zia at 1004 m, also the highest poi…

(Εὐνοστίδαι; Eunostídai). [German version] [1] Attic deme (?) of the phyle Ptolemais Attic deme (?) of the phyle Ptolemais, first attested to in 201/0 BC (IG II2 2362), cf. the inscriptions of 108/7 BC (IG II2 1036 l. 37; [1. 159; 2]). In AD 154/5 (IG II2 2067) and AD 173/4 (IG II 2 2103) ephebes of the phyle Ptolemais from Εὐν and Εὐ, respectively, are mentioned. Position unknown. Lohmann, Hans (Bochum) Bibliography 1 C. A. Hutton, The Greek Inscriptions at Petworth House, in: ABSA 21, 1914/16, 155-165 2 Traill, Attica 90, 114 No. 12. [German version] [2] Phratry in Naples Phratry in Naple…

[German version] (Πεδιῆς; Pediês). Deme of Lindos on Rhodes, possibly on the coastal plain to the north of Lindos [1. 747]. It had its own tribute payment in the Delian League (between 2000 drachmas and 1 talent: ATL 1, 370f.). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 F.Hiller von Gärtringen, s.v. Rhodos, RE Suppl. 5, 731-840. Id., Die Demen der rhodischen Städte, in: MDAI(A) 42, 1917, 171-184.