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[German version] (δυναστεία; dynasteía, cf. also δυνάστης; dynástēs, ‘Ruler’). Derived from δύνασθαι; dýnasthai, ‘to be capable’, ‘to be able’; ‘to have influence’, ‘to be wealthy’ [1. 116]. Dynasteia was primarily the rule ( rulership) of a small, influential group, within which high offices were inherited. Two basic levels of meaning are to be distinguished for dynasteia: in the first of them, its character as the term for a group of rulers or an individual ruler expresses more the original sense of the word; in the second the inheritance of lea…

[German version] A Canninefate, who deserted from Roman service and together with the Chauci laid waste to Lower Germania and the Gallic bank of the Rhine after the death of  Sanquinius Maximus, the governor of Lower Germania, in AD 47. The new governor  Domitius [II 11] Corbulo drove G. away and restored order. When he had G. murdered by a ruse, unrest again broke out among the Chauci, causing Claudius to pull the advance troops back to the west bank of the Rhine (Tac. Ann. 11,18f.). PIR2 G 73. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum)

[German version] (Dintzic, Greek Δεγγιζίχ, Δινζίριχος; Dengizích, Dinzírichos). Son of Attila, king of the Huns; after the latter's death D. assembled an army from the elements of the Hun empire that were still under his control, to fight the Goths. He was, however, defeated at Bassianae (Pannonia) by the Goths (probably after AD 456/57, Iord. Get. 272f.). He later conducted several wars against the Romans but was killed in 469 by the mag. mil. per Thracias Anagestes (Prisc. fr. 36 [FHG 4,107f.]; Chron. pasch. 323d Dindorf). PLRE 354f. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Boch…

[German version] (ἐπαρχία; eparchía). Territorial administrative unit in Hellenistic states. In the Seleucid kingdom, Antiochus [5] III especially supported the setting up of smaller provinces in order to prevent power concentrations in the areas of individual satraps, as for example  Molon (222 BC). Polybius describes their head, who evidently had military and civil power, as éparchos or stratēgós (Pol. 5,46,7; 48,14); however his terminology is misleading since from the middle of the 2nd cent. BC on, eparchia started taking on the meaning of Lat . provincia (cf. SIG3 683,55 and …

[German version] (Fravitus). Tervingian army commander in the service of Rome, married to a Roman woman. In support of maintaining the Roman alliance with the Goths of AD 382, he killed Eriulf in 391 at the court of Theodosius I (Zos. 4,56,1-3; Eunapius fr. 60 FHG 4,41). In about 400 as the magister militum on behalf of Arcadius he prevented Gaenas from crossing the Hellespont (Zos. 5,20-21; Sozom. Hist. eccl. 8,4,19-21) and was rewarded for it in 401 with the consulate (Eunapius fr. 82 FHG 4,50). Around 403/4, however, he was accused of allowing …

[German version] Epigraphy, from Greek ἐπιγράφειν ( epigráphein, ‘to write on something’). The term refers to ancient texts that were documented on various, mostly permanent materials (stone, bronze, etc.), as well as to the respective sub-discipline of archaeology.  Inscriptions; Epigraphy Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum)

(Χειρίσοφος; Cheirísophos). [German version] [1] Spartan commander under Cyrus Spartiate; on the instructions of his polis, at Issus in 401 BC he joined the army of the younger  Cyrus with 700 hoplites (Xen. An. 1,4,3; Diod. Sic. 14,19,4f.); after Cyrus' death at Cunaxa C. was sent by  Clearchus to Ariaeus, to offer him the Persian throne (Xen. An. 2,1,4f.). After Clearchus had been imprisoned and put to death, C. received supreme command of the entire remaining army (Diod. Sic. 14,27,1), and led the ret…

[German version] (Γάννυς; Gánnys). G. was raised in the house of  Iulia Maesa and had a relationship with her daughter  Iulia Soaemias, who made him the tutor of her son  Elagabalus [2] (Cass. Dio 79,6,1f. Boissevain). G. and  Valerius Comazon had the troops elevate Elagabalus to emperor in Emesa in May AD 218 (Cass. Dio 78,31,2-4). Despite a lack of military experience, G. defeated  Macrinus in June, but was eliminated in the winter of 218-219 by Elagabalus, who had toyed with the idea of marrying…

[German version] (H)ermanaricus (also Ermenrichus, Hermenerig). King of the East Goths who, as the first historically documented  Amal, already belongs to the 10th generation of the Amal family tree (Iord. Get. 79 from Cassiodorus). He was the youngest son of Achiulf, brother of Ansila, Ediulf and Vultuulf, and was regarded as the founder of the ‘younger’ family line which, in AD 515, rejoined the 'older' line, founded by Vultuulf, as a result of the marriage of  Eutharicus with  Amalasuntha (Iord…

[German version] (Ἐπικτήτα; Epiktḗta). Widow of the aristocrat Phoenix from Thera. Under the instruction of her son Andragoras, who died two years after his father, she completed the construction of a shrine to the Muses (mouseion) that Phoenix had started, as a memorial to their son Cratesilochus, but had not been able to finish. In her will (early 2nd cent. BC, preserved epigraphically: IG XII 3,330, l. 1-108), E. entrusted the mouseion to her ‘heiress’ (  epikleros ) daughter Epiteleia. In the will she provided for the setting up of an association o…

[German version] (Godigisel, Godegisel). Burgundian king, son of  Gundiok, lived from c. AD 474 in Geneva, always in the shadow of his older brother  Gundobad (Ennod. Vita Epiphanii 174). In 500, together with the king of the Franks, Chlodovechus ( Clovis I), he defeated Gundobad at Dijon, but in 501 he was killed by the latter when Chlodovechus had to turn against the Visigoths (Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,32f; Chron. min. 2,234 Mommsen). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) Bibliography PLRE 2, 516 (Godigisel 2) Stein, Spätröm. R., 2, 144 with n. 2.

[German version] Grandson of Berimund of the Amal dynasty, called to Italy by Theoderic the Great in AD 515 and married to  Amalasuntha in order to secure the succession (Iord. Get. 298). He was later adopted by Justin as his son-at-arms, received Roman citizenship; at the assumption of his consulate in 519 ─ on the occasion of which Cassiodorus had written a speech (MGH AA 12,465ff.) and probably also compiled his chronicle ─, he was called Flavius E. Cillica (CIL VI 32003). When he responded rig…

[German version] (Genzon). Son of  Geisericus, brother of Hunericus, father of Gunthamundus, Gelaridus, and Thrasamund (Procop. Vand. 1,5,11; 8,6-8; 9,6). In AD 468, he participated in the naval battle against  Basiliscus (Procop. Vand. 1,6,24), only to die in 477, preceding his father in death. PLRE 2,502-503 (Genton 1). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum)

[German version] A unified notion of peace, comparable to the modern concept, was unknown in Antiquity. Eirene; Koine Eirene; Pax. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum)

(Ἀγασίας; Agasías) [German version] [1] Lochagos in the mercenary army of the younger Cyrus From Stymphalus. Lochagos in the mercenary army of the younger Cyrus, friend of Xenophon, who praises A. for his courageous demeanour, bravery in battle and resolute advocacy for his own soldiers (cf. especially Xen. An. 6,6,7 ff.). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Sculptor from Ephesus, 1st cent. BC Son of Menophilus, sculptor from Ephesus. In the early 1st cent. BC, created portrait statues for Romans in Delos and in Tenos, according to base inscript…

[German version] (Gesalech; also Gesalecus, Gisaleicus). Illegitimate son of  Alaricus [3] II; after the latter's death at Vouillé in AD 507 he was elected king of the Visigoths, as his legitimate half-brother  Amalaricus, grandson of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic, was still a minor (Procop. Goth. 5,12,43). G. was soon forced to retreat to Spain by the Burgundians and Franks (Chron. min. 1,665f. Mommsen). When Theoderic contested his leadership on behalf of Amalaricus (Procop. Goth. 5,12,46), G. …

[German version] Dux ( reiks) of the  Tervingi; in AD 376, with the permission of  Valens and under threat from the Huns, he led his tribe as dediticii (  deditio ) across the Danube to Thrace (Amm. Marc. 31,4,8; Iord. Get. 134), where the Arian won over parts of the indigenous population. After conflicts with the Romans the Goths defeated the Romans on 9 Sept. 378 in the battle of Hadrianople (Amm. Marc. 31,6,3-5; 11,5; 12,8 [1. 133-139]). F., who was not able to take advantage of the victory because his …

Name of a plebeian gens, attested from the 5th cent. BC (variant Canoleius; Greek Κανουλήϊος; Kanoulḗïos); from the 1st cent. AD, the name becomes rare (ThlL, Onom. 2,148f.). [German version] [1] C., C. Tribunus plebis 445 BC tribunus plebis of 445 BC, who is said to have introduced a plebiscitum Canuleium de conubio, repealing the bar to marriage between patricians and plebeians (Cic. Rep. 2,63; Liv. 4,1,1-6). As it is hard to imagine that a people's tribune of the 5th cent. BC could so decisively intervene in the legislative process, the reliab…

[German version] An inscription in archaic Latin on the so-called ‘Vasculum Dresselianum’, a ceramic vessel discovered in Rome, south-east of the Quirinal, in 1880 by H. Dressel. The triangular object with rounded tips and concave sides (length of sides: 10,3-10,5 cm; max. height: 4,5 cm; cf. [1. 55]) has a round opening at each tip. The inscription is on the outer side, written in three lines to be read from right to left (see fig.; other fig. in [1; 2. 134f., 140]; a version of transcription in [3. 70]). The dating of the text ranges from the 7th to the late 3rd cent. BC; ar…

[German version] Son of Hunimund the Elder, first Gothic king under Hunnish rule. In AD 376 he helped the Hunnish king Balamber to victory over the Amalian Vinitharius (Iord. Get. 248). Perhaps identical to Gensimund, who, although the kingship was offered to him as Amalian magister militum, declined in favour of the legitimate successors (Cassiod. Var. 8,9). PLRE 2,510 and [1. 26f.] consider the two to be identical; contrary [2. 254f.]. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) Bibliography 1 P. Heather, Goths and Romans 332-489, 1991 2 H. Wolfram, Die Goten, 31990.