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[English version] (Ὄμανα, Ὄμμανα, Ptol. 6,8,7; Periplus maris Erythraei 27,36). Meeresbucht an der Südküste Arabiens. Die Identifizierung ist ungewiß, es könnte sich um Chāh Bahār oder Tiz handeln, die sich beide in einer kleinen Bucht befinden. Vorgeschlagen wurde auch Ṣuḥār zw. Masqaṭ und Musandam. Der ostarab. Stamm der Omani (᾿Ομανῖται, Plin. nat. 6,149; Ptol. 6,7,24) soll an dieser Bucht den Weihrauchhafen Omanon (Ὄμανον ἐμπόριον, Ptol. 6,7,36; 8,22,12) gegr. haben, der sich am Ende der Handelsstraße aus Sabbatha befand. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography L. C…

[English version] (Ναβαταῖοι, inschr. NBṬW), arab. Volk in NW-Arabien mit der Hauptstadt Petra, urspr. wahrscheinlich aus dem Ḥiǧāẓ. Umstritten ist die Beziehung zum keilschriftlich belegten aram. Stamm der Nabaiati (7. Jh.v.Chr. [1]) und den Neḇāyôṯ der Bibel (Gn 25,13; 28,9; 39,3; Jes 20,7). Laut Diodoros (2,48f.; 19,94-100) unternahm Antigonos [1] I. 312 v.Chr. zwei erfolglose Expeditionen ins ‘Land der Araber, die N. genannt werden’. Zu dieser Zeit erscheinen diese als staatlich organisierte, handeltreibende Nomaden. Bis in…

[English version] (Μαρανῖται). Nach Agatharchides (de mari Erythraeo 88 GGM 1,177) arab. Stamm, der am Küstenstrich des Roten Meeres siedelte. Überl. ist ihr Konflikt mit den Garindaneís (Γαρινδανεῖς), die eine Abwesenheit der M. nutzten, um Besitz und Ländereien der M. hinterhältig an sich zu reißen. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)

[English version] Nach Ptol. (6,7,38; 8,22,13, Μενάμβις βασίλειον) Hauptstadt in Arabia Felix, nach der Ptol.-Karte nordwestl. vom Κλῖμαξ ὄρος/ Klímax óros gelegen und eine Tagesreise von Magulaba. Es könnte sich um eine königliche Grenzfestung der Ḥaḍramiten (Ḥaḍramaut) gegen die Ḥimyār (Homeritai) und Sabäer (Saba) gehandelt haben. Möglicherweise hängt der Name mit den dort laut arab. Quellen (Hamdāni, Ǧazı̄ra 167 Müller) in islam. Zeit siedelnden Banū Munabbih zusammen. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H.v. Wissmann, M. Höfner, Beitr. zur histor. Geogr…

(Μάκαι; Mákai). [German version] [1] People in eastern Arabia According to Ptol. 6,7,14, a people in eastern Arabia in the hinterland of the bays around modern Rāʾs Musandam on the road from Hormuz. Also mentioned in Str. 13,765f., Plin. HN 6,98.152 and Mela 3,79; according to them, the M. settled opposite the Carmanian foothills. According to Arr. Ind., Μακέτα/ Makéta (Rāʾs Musandam) was an important trading centre for the spice trade ( Spices) on the Persian Gulf. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) [German version] [2] Nomadic tribe or tribal league ( Macae). A large nomadic tribe o…

[German version] I. General Since the 16th cent. the Latin term missio (‘sending’) has designated the efforts by Christians to spread their religion, by divine command. The term mission, unknown in antiquity, corresponds in essence to the instruction of the risen Christ to his disciples to make all peoples disciples (Mt 28:19). It is this commission that distinguishes Christian mission from similar manifestations of expansion (diffusion) in most other religions and cults. Only Manichaeism (Mani) and Islam (divine ‘summons’, dawa, to spread the religion) are acquainted wit…

(Τύνης/ Týnēs). [German version] I. Location, Punic to Roman period Libyan city in Africa proconsularis (Africa 3.; Str. 17,3,16; Tab. Peut. 5,5), 15 km south-west of Carthage, the modern Tunis. First mentioned in conjunction with the uprising of allied troops against Carthage in 396 BC (Diod. Sic. 14,77,3). In 310 BC, the city served Agathocles[2] as a base for his attack on Carthage [1. 190-193], and similarly in 256 BC during the First Punic War the Roman consul Atilius [I 21] Regulus [1. 235-237]. In …

[German version] [1] City in southern Arabia (Νάγαρα μητρόπολις/ Nágara mētrópolis, Ptol.6,7,37; Nagara, Amm. Marc. 23,47; πόλις Νεγράνων/ pólis Negránōn, Str. 16,4,24). Urban centre in ancient southern Arabia, modern Naǧrān, located in the wadi of the same name. N.'s importance was due to its geographical location at the crossing of two caravan routes from the Hadramaut to the Mediterranean over the Ḥiǧāẓ and into Iraq over the Yamama. It was conquered by Aelius Gallus in 24 BC (Plin. HN 6,160), but retained its …

[English version] [1] Stadt in Südarabien (Νάγαρα μητρόπολις, Ptol.6,7,37; Nagara, Amm. 23,47; πόλις Νεγράνων, Strab. 16,4,24). Städtisches Zentrum im alten Südarabien, h. Naǧrān, im Wādī gleichen Namens befindlich. N. verdankte seine Bed. v.a. der geogr. Lage am Kreuzpunkt der beiden Karawanenstraßen aus dem Hadramaut in das Mittelmeer über den Ḥiǧāẓ und in den Irak über die Yamama. Von Aelius Gallus 24 v.Chr. (Plin. nat. 6,160) erobert, behielt es seine Bed. (Inschr. an-Namara 328 n.Chr.) und erlangte …

(Μάκαι). [English version] [1] Volk im östl. Arabien Nach Ptol. 6,7,14 ein Volk im östl. Arabien im Hinterland der Buchten um das h. Ras Musandam an der Straße von Hormuz. Ebenfalls erwähnt bei Strab. 13,765f., Plin. nat. 6,98.152 und Mela 3,79; demnach siedelten die M. gegenüber dem Karmanischem Vorgebirge. Nach Arr. Ind. war Μακέτα/ Makéta (Rās Musandam) wichtiger Umschlagplatz für den Gewürzhandel (Gewürze) am Pers. Golf. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) [English version] [2] nomadischer Stamm oder Stammesverband ( Macae). Ein großer nomadischer Stamm oder Stammesve…

[English version] I. Allgemein Seit dem 16. Jh. bezeichnet der lat. Begriff missio (“Sendung”) die Bemühung von Christen, in göttlichem Auftrag ihre Rel. zu verbreiten. Der Begriff M., der Ant. fremd, entspricht sachlich dem Auftrag des auferstandenen Christus an die Jünger, alle Völker zu Jüngern zu machen (Mt 28,19). Durch diesen Sendungsauftrag unterscheidet sich die christl. M. von ähnlichen Erscheinungsformen der Ausbreitung (Diffusion) in den meisten anderen Rel. und Kulten. Einzig der Manichäismus (Mani) und der Islam (göttl. “Aufruf”, dawa) zur Ausbreitung der Re…

Strohmaier, Gotthard (Berlin RWG) I. The Near East (CT) [German version] A. Origin and Development of the Arabic-Islamic Cultural Sphere (CT) In a power vacuum between Byzantium and Persia, the prophet Mohammed founded a new theocratic and militant state on the Arabian peninsula in 622. Within less than a century, it extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus. These conquests were facilitated by mild taxation laws and tolerant religious policies: Jews and Christians, who for the most part belonged to national chu…

(Τάρας/ Táras). [German version] [1] Son of Poseidon and a South-Italian nymph Son of Poseidon and a South-Italian nymph (Paus. 10,10,8), or son of Heracles [1] (Serv. Aen. 3,551); hero and eponym of the town of Taranto ( cf. T. [2]) and of its river. He is considered to be the founder (Paus. l.c.), or at least the patron (Serv. l.c.) of Taranto. On a coin from Taranto, he is represented as a boy reaching out for Poseidon; the image of a dolphin rider appearing on other coins from Taranto, represents rather Phalantus [1], in spite o…

[German version] I. Concept The Greek word parádeisos (παράδεισος/ parádeisos, Latin paradisus) or Hebrew pardēs comes from the ancient Iranian pairidaeza, meaning “surrounding walls, round enclosure, something that is enclosed,” and originally referred to an enclosed park. In the ancient Orient, gardens, particularly in conjunction with palace and temple grounds, “epitomized a wholesome living space” as well as representing a “visible domestication of "chaotic" powers” [4. 705] (especially when wild animals were k…

(Συράκουσαι/ Syrákousai, Lat. Syracusae). Syracuse, town on Sicily's southeast coast, modern Siracusa. [German version] I. Topography Colony of Corinth (Colonization), founded in 734/3 BC. The place name is said to have derived from the swamp area of Lysimeleia, also called Συράκω/ Syrákō (cf. Scymn. 280-282), which existed until the 20th cent. and was located west of the slim promontory, which, together with the island Ortygia facing it, constituted the original bridgehead settlement (inhabited from the early Paleolithic). The factor …

[English version] I. Begriff Das griech. Wort parádeisos (παράδεισος, lat. paradisus) bzw. hebr. pardēs geht auf das altiran. pairidaeza in der Bed. von “Umwallung, runde Umzäunung, das Umzäunte” zurück und meint urspr. einen umfriedeten Park. Im Alten Orient sind Gärten, v.a. in Verbindung mit Palast- und Tempelanlagen, ‘verdichtete Darstellungen des heilvollen Lebensraumes schlechthin’ sowie (v.a. wenn dort Wildtiere gehalten werden) die ‘sichtbare Domestikation “chaotischer” Mächte’ [4. 705], so daß Gärten ein…

(Σικελία/ Sikelía, Sicily). The largest island in the Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum; cf. Str. 2,5,19; differently Hdt. 1,170 and Timaeus FGrH 566 F 65): 25,460 km2, including the offshore islands such as the Insulae Aegates, Ustica, the Aeoli Insulae, Cossura, Lopadusa (present-day Lampedusa), Aethusa (present-day Linosa) and Melite [7] 25,953 km2. [German version] I. Name The island was originally called Trinacria (Τρινακρία/ Trinakría, Hellanicus FGrH 51 F 79b), later Sicania (Σικανίη/ Sikaníē, Hdt. 7,170; Σικανία/ Sikanía, Thuc. 6,2,2) and only then Sicelia (Σικελία)…

I. General [German version] A. Notions of measuring time Most cultures have some method of measuring time, frequently based on periodical changes within nature or the stars. The oldest of these is the pars-pro-toto method, in which it is not a certain period of time as a whole that is connected, but a regularly recurring phenomenon within that time [1. 9 f.] (e.g. lunar phases). Metaphors of time or the measuring thereof play no great role in antiquity, with the exception of the field of  metrics. Usually, the focus was not on …

[German version] I. Classical antiquity Pilgrimage, defined here as a journey of considerable length to a sacred place, undertaken for religious reasons, was a common practice in all of antiquity, not solely a Christian phenomenon. Rutherford, Ian C. (Reading) [German version] A. Greek world The best-documented form is the state pilgrimage ( theōría ), in which the Greek city-states sent out envoys ( theōroí) to attend religious festivals, announce their own festivals or consult oracles. However, festivals drew not only official theōríai but also private pilgrims; in general…

(σοφία/ sophía, Latin sapientia). I. Greco-Roman [German version] A. General and philosophical concept The Greek noun σοφία/ sophía (Ionic: σοφίη/ sophíē), derived from the adjective σοφός ( sophós), which has been documented since the 6th cent. BC, generally refers to the superior skill and knowledge that distinguishes the expert and artist from the masses and accounts for the high regard in which he is held. The term sophía is used to describe any practical mastery, such as that of a helmsman, master builder, physician, military commander or statesman (cf. Ho…