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[German version] A. Definition and function The Graeco-Roman altar (ἐσχάρα, βωμός; eschára, bōmós; Lat. ara, ‘fireplace’) is defined by its function and not as an object of a certain type. An altar can be an ephemeral natural or artificial elevation, hearth or building for sacrifices involving fire, drink or other elements (in contrast to the sacrificial pit dug into the ground, the βόθρος [ bóthros], Hom. Od. 10, 517; Lucian Char. 22) and marks the centre of a sacrificial act. There are sanctuaries without a  temple, but never without an altar ([23. 150]; a…

[German version] (Angiportus). Lane; synonymous with vicus. According to Vitr. De arch. 1,6,1, a narrow lane or side street in contrast to platea and via, sometimes a cul-de-sac in Roman city layouts. Larger houses had a rear entrance accessible from the angiportum. Cf.  Town planning;  Roads;  Construction of Roads Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography W. H. Groß, s. v. Angiportus, KlP 1, 352.

This item can be found on the following maps: Achaeans, Achaea | Education / Culture (Φιγάλεια/ Phigáleia, Φιγαλία/ Phigalía, from the Hellenistic Period Φιάλεια/ Phiáleia). [German version] I. Location and historical development Town in southwest Arcadia on a very remote mountainous site above the north bank of the Neda (Pol. 4,3,5ff.; Str. 8,3,22; Paus. 8,39,1-42,13; Ptol. 3,16,19; Hierocles, Synecdemus 647,13), near present-day Figalia, and with close geographic and historical connections to Messana [2]. The town has a well…

[German version] A rostrum (Greek βῆμα/ bêma; Latin plural rostra,) is an elevated podium, a pulpit (early Christian  ámbōn, Lat. ambo), or a type of stand, shaped in a variety of forms, which raises the speaker above his audience. This is useful not only from an acoustic point of view, but also lends importance to the protagonist acting on the podium, as it 'lifts' him in a significant way over his surroundings. Rostrum-like devices must already have been present in the archaic Greek citizen communities, as in all larger communities of colonists which had to decide…

[German version] I. Nomenclature and definition Roman triumphal arches (TA) as a free-standing monument were originally called fornix . Around the beginning of the Common Era the word ianus came into use, followed with increasing regularity by arcus. The term arcus triumphalis came into use in the 3rd cent. AD, leading in the early 19th cent. to the problematic modern concept of 'triumphal arches'. This refers to an imposing arch structure, generally free-standing, but sometimes also to an arch that spans a roadway and connects two bui…

[German version] Theatre on the Campus Martius in Rome; probably already begun under Caesar and completed by Augustus in 17 BC for the Saecular Games ( Saeculum III), but dedicated only in 13 or 11 BC in the name of the nephew and first - early deceased - 'heir' of Augustus, M. Claudius [II 42] Marcellus. It was built on the place on which a large wooden temporary theatre was customarily constructed only for performances, and so takes its place in a tradition which was well-known in the Rome of the time. The complex, wh…

[German version] Modern architectural term describing the ideally identical spacing between mutuli (Mutulus) - sometimes also the distance between the guttae of mutuli - on the geison in the Doric entablature of a peripteral temple (Angle triglyph problem; Column). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing)

[German version] I. Definition Assembly buildings (AB) are in the following defined as any building of Greek and Roman antiquity, which within the framework of the social, political, or religious organization of a community served as the architectonically defined location for interaction and communication. However, it is not always possible to define the function of an AB unambiguously nor to assume its exclusive usage. Sometimes, buildings or parts of buildings fall under the above definition, whic…

[German version] [1] Barrier in a Roman circus Term for the massive elongated barrier that divided a Roman circus into two tracks running in opposite directions. A spina was usually walled and variously decorated (e.g. with statues); at its ends stood the metae (Meta [2]) that marked the turning point of the running track. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography J. Humphrey, Roman Circuses, 1986, Index s. v. S. [German version] [2] City at the mouth of the Spines This item can be found on the following maps: Venetic | Etrusci, Etruria | Colonization Etruscan city at the mouth of th…

[German version] A. Etymology, term, delimitation The term architect, not documented before the 5th cent. BC, derives from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων ( architéktōn; Hdt. 3.60; 4.87); in turn, this term is derived from τέκτων ( téktōn); τεκτωσύνη ( tektosýnē; carpentry), which shows that the architect of early archaic times initially dealt with  wood and only later came in contact with stone as a building material. The Latin arc(h)itectus is a loan word from this Greek semantic field. An architect is associated with practical tasks carried out by tradesmen in the cont…

[German version] ‘Non-genuine’ dome constructions from layered corbel stone vaults ( Vaults and arches, construction of) are to be found throughout Mediterranean cultures from the 3rd millennium BC; they seem to have entered largely independently the architectural repertory of Minoan Crete (tholos graves at Mesara and Knossos), Mycenaean Greece (‘Treasure-house’ of Atreus in Mycenae; ‘domed grave’ at Orchomenus), Sardinia ( nuraghe), Thrace and Scythia (so-called ‘beehive’-domes on graves and also Etruria (domed grave at Populonia). This form is mostly …

(γυμνάσιον; gymnásion). [German version] I. Building style Public facility for sporting and musical leisure activities in the Greek polis; the term is derived from γυμνός/ gymnós (naked) and refers to the  nakedness at sports practices and competitions. Synonymous with gymnasium for the period from the 4th cent. BC in ancient written sources as well as in modern specialized literature is the concept of the  palaistra (cf. Vitruvius 5,11). This as the ‘Wrestler school’ originally referred only to a functionally determine…

[German version] (ὀπαῖον, opaîon). The opening in the roof or dome in the architecture of antiquity; an important element of lighting in ancient buildings. Rare in Greek architecture ('lantern' of the Lysicrates monument in Athens; Telesterion of Eleusis), but common in Roman dome building. Dome, Construction of Domes; Roofing Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography W.D. Heilmeyer (ed.), Licht und Architektur, 1990  C. Spuler, Opaion und Laterne. Zur Frage der Beleuchtung antiker und frühchristlicher Bauten durch ein Opaion und zur Entstehung der Kuppellaterne, 1973.

(Πύθιον/ Pýthion). [German version] [1] Term for Attic sanctuaries to Apollo A term rarely used in modern archaeology but common in Antiquity for various Athenian and Attic sanctuaries to Apollo: 1. in southeast Athens on the right bank of the Ilissus (inscriptions, tripod bases extant); 2. cave sanctuary in the cliff on the northwest side of the Acropolis (numerous finds; however, often denoted in ancient literature with the cult name of Apóllōn Hypakraîos); 3. near the Daphni monastery on the sacred way to Eleusis (of undetermined location but presumably the sourc…

[German version] District of the city of Rome, mentioned only by Suetonius (Suet. Tit. 1) as the location of the house in which the emperor Titus was born; presumably on the Quirinal. Often confused with the Septizodium. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Richardson, 350 f.

[German version] I. General In archaeological scholarship monumental columns are defined as columns that are used as monuments. They are separated from their traditional architectural context and crowned by a sculpture, a group of sculptures or an object, and they are either free-standing or grouped together in rows. Common to both varieties is the emphasis on the object on top of the capital, which is created through the extreme elevation, vertical trajectory and high visibility of the column. From…

[German version] I. Persons (Δίων; Díōn) Meister, Klaus (Berlin) [German version] [I 1] Close friend of Plato and defender of his philosophy Son of Hipparinus, brother-in-law and son-in-law of Dionysius I of Syracuse, b. 409 BC, close friend of Plato and defender of his philosophy since Plato's first visit to Syracuse in 388. He gained prestige and wealth as Dionysius' I' trusted friend and advisor and also remained an influential person under Dionysius II. In 366, he arbitrated the peace with Carthage and called Pl…

[German version] Derived from Latin puteus ('well'), a term for enclosures around profane draw-wells, some of which were covered, or for stones pointing out sacred lightning marks. Particularly in the neo-Attic art of Hellenistic times, puteals were  a popular place for relief sculpture. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography E. Bielefeld, Ein neuattisches Puteal in Kopenhagen, in: Gymnasium 70, 1963, 338-356  K. Schneider, s. v. P., RE 23, 2034-2036  O. Viedebantt, s. v. Forum Romanum (46. Das Puteal Libonis), RE Suppl. 4, 511.

[German version] I. General Private sphere as a term denotes that area of life possessing an individual quality, and contrasts with the public sphere by virtue of its intimate character. While the term derives from the Latin privatim/privatus ('personal, discrete, private'), the pair of opposites denoting a polarization of two more or less strictly segregated spheres has existed only since the advent of a middle-class conception of standards in the late 18th cent. Before that, even events such as a ruler's toilet visits or dressing…

[German version] I. Definition of terms, state of research In what follows, road is used to denote a way that is at least partly of artificial construction, i.e. of architectural fashioning in the broadest sense, but not those more or less established, traditional trade and caravan routes and intercontinental links such as the Silk Road. The term covers long-distance roads as well as smaller trails and mule trails connecting towns and regions, but not intra-urban streets (on which see town planning). The…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Byzantium | Caesar | Christianity | Wine | | Commerce | Ḫattusa | Hellenistic states | Ionic | Asia Minor | Asia Minor | Asia Minor | Limes | Marble | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Persian Wars | Pilgrimage | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Athletes | Delian League | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture | Mineral Resources I. History [German version] A. Site City (today Turkish county seat Selçuk) at the mouth of the Caystrus in the Aegean Sea, 80 km south of Izmir. The river sedimentation moved the coastline by abou…

[German version] A building in Rome ([III] with map 2, no. 62), probably built or dedicated in 78 BC under the consul Q. Lutatius [4] Catulus, after the fire of 83 BC, as a place of safe-keeping for public and private documents (CIL I2 736; 737). It was originally primarily public monies that were kept here, later numerous archived materials of state and city administration. According to a funerary inscription found in 1971, its architect was probably a certain Lucius Cornelius. The huge structure, almost 74 m long and, together with the…

[German version] The sundial with calendrical functions described by Pliny (HN 36,72f.), which was built on the Field of Mars in Rome ( Roma) in the reign of Augustus and renovated many times in the 1st and 2nd cents. AD. The gnomon ( Clocks) consisted of an obelisk which threw its shadow on to a paved area with a network of lines marked with bronze inlays. The reconstruction by [1] suggested as a result of various excavations and interpretations of the ancient and modern written records, assumed …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Ancient oriental houses usually had small highly placed window slits. Internal spaces in larger architectural complexes required special lighting by means of a clerestory or openable skylights in the ceiling. Findings in Egypt are in principle similar. Some wider window openings there had richly decorated grilles. Sievertsen, Uwe (Tübingen) Bibliography D. Arnold, s.v. Fenster, Lexicon der ägyptischen Baukunst, 80-82 G. Leick, A Dictionary of Near Eastern Architecture, 1988, 242-244. [German version] II. Greece and Rome As a means …

(Μεγακλῆς; Megaklês). A name that was increasingly common in the Athenian house of the Alcmaeonids in the 7th-5th cents. BC. [German version] [1] Árchon (632/1? B.C.) according to Plutarch The first historical M. Plutarch (Solon 12,1) designates him by name as the árchōn (632/1?), allegedly responsible for the defeat of the Cylonian revolution ( Cylon [1]) and the subsequent curse of the Alcmaeonids (Hdt. 5,71; Thuc. 1,126). Peisistratids Kinzl, Konrad (Peterborough) Bibliography Develin, 30f. PA 9688 Traill, PAA 636340. [German version] [2] Politican and strongman in 6th-ce…

[German version] (ἀκρωτήριον; akrōtḗrion) Akroteria are sculptured figures or ornamental pieces that decorate the ridge (middle akroterion) or the sides (side akroterion) of  gables of representative public buildings. Akroteria can be made of clay or stone (poros, marble). Initially, in the 7th/6th cents. BC, round, disc-like akroteria with ornamentation dominate (e.g. Heraeum of Olympia) while later on, three-dimensionally crafted plant combinations (volutes and palmettes) or statue-like figures a…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General Points Despite its central importance to the origin and development of settlements, the supply of water for drinking and other uses in the cities of the ancient Orient has to date not been systematically studied. The analysis of the numerous archaeological discoveries is made difficult by the fact that in most cases they have not been adequately recorded, in others not at all. Individual exceptions are the water installations in the cities and fortresses of ancient Israel, which have been accurately recorded and studied in depth [5]. A.M.B. …

[German version] Modern term, derived from French, for a horizontal support protruding from a wall or pillar, and serving as a ledge for an arch, statuary, or as the base of a corbel or  geison. As multi-storey buildings became more frequent with the increasing range of constructional forms available to Hellenistic architects, the console could form the transition to the roof of a building while still serving as a structural element of the multi-storeyed façade. The combination of console and corb…

[German version] (from the adjective τετράστυλος/ tetrástylos, 'four-columned'). Modern architectural term describing, in analogy to the established term hexastylos ('six-columned'), a temple or column construction with only four frontal columns. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Lit. vgl. Tempel (V. A.3)

[German version] (λέσχη; léschē). An architectural structure, belonging to the category of Greek assembly buildings, where citizens met for negotiations, transactions and discussions (the term lesche is derived from the Greek λέγω/ légō, ‘to speak/to talk’); usually located in the vicinity of the agora or - as a consecrated building - in sanctuaries, and, especially in the latter location, occasionally serving as a hostel. The lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi ( Delphi), described in Paus. 10,15ff., a long, rectangular hall structure with eight internal column…

[German version] A funerary monument on the west bank of the Tiber; construction began around AD 130 under Hadrianus and was completed in AD 139 by Antoninus Pius. In a solemn dedication ceremony Hadrian's remains were transferred from Puteoli where he had been buried provisionally. Although the MH was located in the horti Domitiae it directly was connected with the Campus Martiusthrough the newly constructed pons Aelius (dedicated AD 134). The two-storied circular building (diameter: c. 64 m; original height: c. 21 m) stood on a square base with massive projecting cor…

[German version] (κενοτάφιον; kenotáphion, Lat. cenotaphium, literally ‘empty grave’). In classical archaeology, kenotaphion refers to a tomb structure without the remains of a burial; a kenotaphion is usually a monument for a deceased person whose body was either no longer at hand, e.g. warriors who died in foreign lands or at sea, or a special form of the heroon ( Hero cult). The erection of a kenotaphion often constituted an outstanding way for a community or family to honour those warriors or generals whose remains were known to be in a specific place, but…

[German version] A modern term of classical archaeology, borrowed from Latin, Italian and French, for a half-pillar built into a wall. This architectural element consists, in analogy with a column or a half-column, of a capital, a shaft and a base. Rare in Archaic and Classical Greek architecture (but cf. Ante), pilasters increasingly appear in Hellenistic and especially Imperial Roman architecture and find an application as structural elements of large wall complexes, and also in door and window …

[German version] Centrally-located, spacious, steep-sided hill - at 51 m, however, relatively modest in height - at Rome. Probably settled from as early as the 10th cent. BC (Iron Age wattle-and-daub huts), the MP was an important nucleus of what was to become the world city of Rome. At first, an aristocratic residential area extended between two places of worship (Temple of Magna Mater, from 204 BC; Temple of Jupiter Victor, from 295 BC, as yet not archaeologically identified); numerous remains o…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Dark Ages | Oracles | Persian Wars | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Δωδώνη; Dōdṓnē). [German version] I. Topography, historical development Sanctuary and settlement in Epirus, 22 km south-west of today's Ioannina in the 640 m high plain of Hellopia beneath the Tomarus [1. 85-87, 92]. D. is the oldest oracle site in Greece attested in literature (myth of its founding in Hdt. 2,54f. [2. 51-54]), already known to the Homeric epics (Il. 16,233-235; Od. 19,296-301). The or…

(Θεόδοτος; Theódotos). [German version] [1] Greek architect, c.370 BC Mentioned several times in the construction records for the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus as its architect; his origins are as unknown as his subsequent whereabouts. T.’ salary during the project amounted to 365 drachmae per year, together with further payments of unknown object. It is uncertain whether he is the same person as the sculptor T. named in IG IV2 102 (B 1 line 97) as having, for 2,340 drachmae, fashioned the acroteria for the pediment; it is possible that the name T. has been in…

[German version] The Theatre of Pompey, Rome's first stone theatre, interrupted a long sequence of predominantly wooden theatres which had previously been built temporarily for reasons of public safety in Rome and throughout Italy (Amphitheatre; Theatre II.); it was begun by the triumvir Pompeius [I 3] after his triumph (in 61 BC) and dedicated with lavish games in 55 BC, the second year of his consulship. The gigantic complex on the western part of the Field of Mars (Campus Martius) outside the c…

(κλίμαξ/ klímax, Latin scalae, plural). [German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Stairways were installed to overcome differences in height, but in the form of monumental constructs, they also created distance between buildings and people. There is evidence from the Ancient Orient of stairways ranging from a few steps between street level and a house or stairs inside houses and palaces, through monumental staircases in temples and palaces to stairways in funerary architecture. The materials used were dr…

[German version] [1] Greek architect, 3rd cent. BC Greek architect of the 3rd cent. BC; according to Str. 10,5,7 and 13,1,13, he built a state altar, 1 stadium long ( Measures), from the material of an abandoned temple near Parium; it is presumably depicted on coins (London, BM) and could be compared with the Hieronian monumental altar of  Syracusae. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Overbeck, 2086-2087 (sources) G. A. Mansuelli, s.v. H., EAA 4, 1961, 13 (with fig. 18). [German version] [2] Epigrammatist, 3rd cent. BC Epigrammatist whose existence cannot be proven with…

[German version] (αὐλή; aulḗ) In Homer (Od. 14,5) the enclosed, light courtyard of a  house. Since the 7th cent. BC, the aule is a central part of the Greek courtyard house, where the multi-room house is grouped around the aule, which can be used agriculturally, for example as stables. The development of the courtyard house marks an important point in the development of Greek house architecture; it displaces the until that time usual form of the one-room house (megaron, oval and apsidal house). The aule was usually paved; from classical times, it is present in nearly all houses…

[German version] ('crematorium'). An architectural cremation place for Roman rulers, of which often only an altar remains. The best-known example is the Ustrinum of Augustus on the Field of Mars in Rome (Campus Martius; Roma III.) near the Mausoleum Augusti; Strabo (5,3,8), describes it as lavishly built and preserved, after the act of cremation, as a monument. Remains of other ustrina on the Field of Mars are assigned to the emperors Hadrianus, Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography A. Danti, s. v. Arae Consecrationis, LTUR 1, 1993, 75 f.  H. …

[German version] Passed down in Vitruvius [1. s.v. l.], an architectural technical term, on many occasions there also designated as lacunaria (pl.), for the sunken panels that decorated the ceiling between wooden beams crossing one another ( Roofing), the Greek equivalent being phátnōma, gastḗr, kaláthōsis [2. 45-52 with additional terms for details of the lacunar]. Lacunaria were as a rule three-dimensionally recessed and decorated with paintings or reliefs (mostly ornamental). In the temple or columned building, the place where they were first app…

[German version] Wall decoration with a structure imitating architecture misleadingly described in Vitruvius (7,5) as stucco facing in the sense of the 1st Pompeian style ( Stucco;  Wall paintings); as an archaeological technical term incrustation (from Latin   crustae sc. marmoreae, Greek πλάκωσις/ plákōsis) in contrast describes solely the interior facing of walls of lesser material with marble slabs (however, the relationship of this ‘genuine’ incrustation to the 1st Pompeian style which imitates incrustation and therefore is frequen…

[German version] 1. Central room in the ancient Italian and Roman house with lateral cubicula (sleeping chambers) and rear tablinum (room serving as passage between the atrium and the peristylion) flanked by the   alae which had no door. Early forms of the atrium are reproduced in Etruscan chamber tombs (Cerveteri), the oldest evidence is represented by Etruscan domestic architecture at the end of the 6th cent. BC in Rome (the Palatine) and in the Etruscan Marzabotto. The early Roman atrium served as a reception room for the clientes whom the patron received while sitting on the solium. In …

[German version] (πνύξ/ pnýx). Conspicious large hill built with houses in the urban area of Athens to the west of the Acropolis (Athens II. 3, Hill of the Muses). From the late 6th century BC this was the place of the people's assembly (Ekklesia). Initially they held sessions on a gently sloping piece of ground following a natural semi-circle, which was almost undeveloped; the only structure was a rostrum (βῆμα/ bêma). In the late 5th century BC the whole site was architecturally shaped and in the process turned through c. 180°. The lavishly and representatively built orchestra-sha…

[German version] Distinct  ornamentation in the decorative canon of Ionic architecture, in modern architectural terminology also known as the ‘Ionian  kymation’: a profiled ledge with an arched cross section whose relief or painted ornamentation consisted of an alternation of oval leaves and lancet-shaped spandrel tips and which often concludes at the lower end with pearl staff (astragal) corresponding to the rhythm of the egg-and-dart moulding. Apart from decorating the  epistylion or the  frieze…

[German version] According to Varro (Ling. 5,161) and Vitruvius (6,3,1f.) the customary formation of the roof opening of all types of the  atrium in the Roman  house. The funnel-shaped roof surfaces of the compluvium, which slope inward, conduct rainwater into the  impluvium, a basin at the atrium's centre. In the older displuvium the roof surfaces slanted outwards. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography E. M. Evans, The Atrium Complex in the Houses of Pompeii, 1980 R. Förtsch, Arch. Komm. zu den Villenbriefen des jüngeren Plinius, 1993, 30-31.

I.Near East and Egypt [German version] A. Near East From the earliest times clay was the most important building material in Mesopotamia, along with reeds in the marshlands of the extreme south. With only a few exceptions, stone architecture, in a fairly strict sense of the term, is not found either in Babylon, which was lacking in raw materials other than limestone lodes, or in Assyria. When stone was used it was mainly for functional purposes, e.g. in laying foundations. Only in late Assyrian monumenta…

[German version] I. General Town planning is the designing of urban settlements (Town, city) on an organizational basis, with the central and particular functions of the town, e.g. as a port or a political centre, having an effect on its external and internal form. Most towns and cities in the Middle East and Egypt arose in the earliest times (in the Middle East from the 5th millennium onwards) at economically or strategically important points (trade routes, river crossings, anchorages). Towns and c…

(Ἀπολλόδωρος; Apollódōros). Political figures [German version] [1] Athenian politician (4th cent. BC) Son of  Pasion of Acharnae, Athenian rhetor and supporter of Demosthenes (394/93, died after 343 BC). A. was one of the richest Athenian citizens after 370. He undertook costly trierarchy liturgies (cf. IG II2 1609,83 and 89; IG II2 1612, b110; Dem. Or. 50,4-10; 40 and 58) and in 352/51 gained a victory as   choregos (IG II2 3039,2) but had only limited success in obtaining a political post commensurate with his wealth. From 370 to 350 BC he indulged in litigat…

(Σώστρατος/ Sṓstratos). [German version] [1] Of Cnidus, Greek architect, 1st half of 3rd cent. BC Son of Dexiphanes of Cnidus; architect of the early Hellenistic period (1st half of 3rd cent. BC), mentioned several times in ancient literature (Plin. HN 36,83; Lucian, Amores 11; Lucian, Hippias 2). He was also diplomatically active, as one of the philoi of Ptolemaeus [3] II (Str. 17,1,6). As well as with various canal constructions linked to the conquest of the Egyptian city of Memphis and buildings at Cnidus and Delphi (FdD III/1 nos. 198 and 299), h…

[German version] Ancient technical term related to  building technology (IG VII 3073, 121; 142). In Greek stone block construction, anathyrosis refers to the partial removal of material from contact surfaces between two stone blocks or column sections (usually by picking). By this minimization of the contact zone between two construction elements, not visible from the outside, their fit could be improved; viewed from the outside, the joints formed a network of superfine lines. The disadvantage of the anathyrosis is an increased pressure on the reduced bearing surfaces, w…

[German version] Architectural term recorded in Vitruvius (3,2,6; 3,8-9), used to label one of the forms of temple listed there. The pseudodipteros type was, according to Vitruvius (7 praef. 12), developed at the Temple of Artemis at Magnesia [2] on the Maeander by the architect Hermogenes [4], who omitted the inner row of columns of a dipteros. The characteristic result of this is the unusually wide ambulatory (Greek pterón) around the cella. In this sense e.g. the temple at Sardis, which also is dedicated to Artemis, is likewise considered a pseudodipteros.…

[German version] A. I. Middle East Since Neolithic times, the most important building material in Mesopotamia has been the unkilned clay brick. A more extensive use of stone can be found in western regions of the Old Orient, in particular Asia Minor, and in Iran during Persian times. The typical New Assyrian house is divided into two sections: a forecourt with utility rooms and an inner courtyard with residential quarters. By contrast, rooms in a Babylonian house as of the 3rd millennium are usually …

[German version] Gates that went beyond purely military aspects (for these cf.  Fortifications) are to be found in Greek architecture from the 6th cent. BC onwards ─ initially as imposingly designed entrances to sanctuaries, and from about 400 BC also in secular contexts (entrances to the  Agora,  Gymnasium,  Stadium or  Assembly buildings, e.g. in Miletus, Priene, Olympia). The development and extension of the própylon as a decorative entrance gate to a  sanctuary can be reconstructed, for example, from the Acropolis of Athens (cf.  Athens II. with locati…

[German version] Modern term for various buildings of the dynasty of the Ptolemies serving the ruler cult; the first Ptolemaeum is considered to be a building built by  Ptolemy [3] II adjacent to the tomb of  Alexander [4]  the Great (later amalgamated by Ptolemy [7] IV with Alexander's tomb into a connected mausoleum complex). There are further Ptolemaea e.g. in Athens (Gymnasion), Limyra (?) and Rhodes (Temenos). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography J. Borchardt, Ein Ptolemaion in Limyra, in: RA 1991, 309-322  Will, vol. 1, 329.

[German version] (Χερσίφρων; Chersíphrōn) from Cnossus. Father of  Metagenes; these two being the  architects of the archaic  dipteros of Artemis at Ephesus (2nd half of the 6th cent. BC), as recorded in Strabo (14,640), Vitruvius (3,2,7) and Pliny (HN 7,125; 36,95). Both of them wrote about this temple in a work which was evidently still known to Vitruvius (Vitr. De arch. 7,1,12), and is one of the earliest formulations of ancient architectural theory ( Architecture, theory of); through his develo…

(Μεταγένης; Metagénēs). [German version] [1] Attic poet of the Old Comedy, 5th/4th cent. BC Attic poet of the last years of the Old Comedy (end of the 5th and early 4th cent. BC), listed among the winners at the Lenaea with two victories, immediately before Theopompus [1. test. 2]. The Suda mentions the titles of five plays: Αὖραι ἢ Μαμμάκυθος , Θουριοπέρσαι, Φιλοθύτης, Ὅμηρος ἢ Ἀσκηταί (or Ὅμηρος ἢ Σοφισταί [1. fr. 11]) [1. test. 1]. The plays have been lost, except for a few fragments. In the most extensive fragment (11 V. from the Θουριοπέρσαι) the na…

[German version] As well as the column/monumental column, there was another possibility available for the displaying of monuments, in their placement on free-standing monumental pillars (on the incorporation of monumental pillars in buildings, cf. pilaster), a form of honouring rulers primarily found in Greece in the vicinity of sanctuaries. An early example of a pillar-mounted monument is the bronze Nike of the Messenians and Naupactians sculpted by Paeonius [1] and placed before the eastern front of the temple of Zeus at  Olympia, atop - and…

(Πολύκλειτος/ Polýkleitos). [German version] [1] Greek bronze sculptor from Sicyon, 5th or 4th cent. BC the Greek bronze sculptor Polyclitus. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) [German version] I. General Bronze sculptor from Sicyon, pupil of Ageladas in Argos. Biographical detail on P. is scanty. His sons were regarded as less successful. P. [2] may, judging by his name, have been a nephew, and Naucydes thus P.'s brother. Six pupils, with mostly unrevealing names, are recorded. However, various family and artistic lineages have b…

(Παιώνιος; Paiṓnios). [German version] [1] Greek sculptor from Mende, 5th cent. BC Sculptor from Mende. The only known surviving original work by P. is a statue of Nike on a triangular pillar in front of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, which according to its inscription and a statement by Pausanias (5,26,1) was dedicated by the Messenians. Pausanias suggests that the occasion of the dedication was a victory in 455 BC, whereas the inscription points to the victory of Sphacteria (425 BC); on stylistic grounds …

(Ἰσίδωρος; Isídōros). [German version] [1] Pirate captain, defeated by Lucullus at Tenedus in 72 BC Pirate captain who organized the Cilician pirates in the area around Crete, was besieged in 78 BC by P. Servilius Isauricus (Flor. 1,41,3), later entered the service of Mithridates and in 72 was defeated by Lucullus in the naval battle of Tenedos at the entrance to the Dardanelles (App. Mithr. 77, Memnon 42,2 = FHG 3,548) and killed (Plut. Lucullus 12.2). Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) [German version] [2] I. of Charax Geographer, end of 1st cent. BC Geographer, certainly of the Augustan p…

[German version] Roman mosaicist, signed a figural mosaic found at Oberwenigen near Zurich ( Attillus fecit). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography A. Blanchet, La mosaïque, 1928, 56 L. Guerrini, s.v. A., EAA 1, 906.

[German version] I. Introduction Polychromy is a term of modern art theory for the phenomenon of colour composition in sculpture, relief, architecture and pots and tablets of clay, stone, etc. It is the opposite of monochromy (Monochromata, Ornaments, Painting, Pigments). The Greek adjectives polýchroos (πολύχροος) and polychrṓmatos (πολυχρώματος), which denote material (Emp. fr. B23 DK) or surface (Aristot. Gen. an. 785b 19) polymorphy, are not terms of ancient art terminology [5. 38, 129 ff.]. Rather the procedures of coloration are named…

[German version] Modern term for the problem arising in Greek stone constructions of the Doric order in the attempt to effect a regular sequence, around a corner of,  triglyph and  metope in the  frieze above a row of columns. In canonical Doric structure, every other triglyph rests over the centre of a column. At angles this becomes unfeasible where the depth of the architrave ( Epistylion) exceeds the breadth of a triglyph, since in that case either the architrave is no longer centred on the aba…

[German version] Modern term coined by the ancient historian Ch. Meier [1. 435-439], which refines, in a democratic-pluralistic context, the technical-qualitative self-image of the artisan class in the classical Greek period, as well the political self-awareness which interacts with it; Könnenbewußtsein encompasses in this sense an important aspect, resp. subarea of the Greek term téchnē (cf. also Demiourgos [2] and [3], Crafts, Artist, Art, Technique, technítai , Technology). Especially in the building trade of the 5th cent. BC, besides o…

(‘Chamber, room, cell, booth’). [German version] [1] Enclosed cella in an ancient temple Technical term coined by Vitruvius (4,1 and passim) for the space enclosed by walls within an ancient  temple (Greek: σηκός, sēkós). The formal development of the Greek temple cella from early Greek domestic architecture ( House), together with the related development of the peripteral temple ( Peristasis), is still a subject for debate. In monumental stone structures from the 7th cent. BC onwards, the cella served for the safe-keeping of the cult image or the image of the god, and…

[German version] I. General Cisterns as storage for rain water or as reservoirs for spring and well water were customary and necessary for a regulated and sufficient  water supply in the climatically unfavourable regions of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, both as small systems for individual houses and farms and as communal systems for settlements. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) [German version] II. Ancient Orient s.  Water supply I. D. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] III. Phoenician-Punic region Systems for securing the water supply by collecting …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt There is evidence of vaults and arches in western Asia, chiefly in crypts and on canals. There are only few surviving examples of the vaulting of above ground spaces. Both true and corbelled vaults are documented, over quite small or passage-like rooms, posterns, staircase substructures and doorway, gateway and bridge arches. Barrel vaults and domes were comparatively common, primarily on storage spaces and furnaces. For the most part techniques were used in…

[German version] (Latin). A primitive hut of perishable building materials; as a rule, a wood and clay construction, roofed with reeds, tree bark or turf (house), in Roman literature, originally described as humble housing (Varro Rust. 3,1,3; Verg. Ecl. 1,68; Plin. HN 16,35) and predominantly classified as for primitive peoples (cf. the huts of the Dacians and Marcomanni in reliefs on the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius in Rome). The principle of the 'natural house', which had been described…

[German version] Ostentatious monumental facade, almost 90 m long, at the intersection of the Via Triumphalis and the Via Appia , which led into the city, near the Circus Maximus, forming the conclusion of the southeastern slope of the Palatine in Rome (and terminologically often confused with the Septizonium). The splendid facade, presumably of five storeys, consisted of three exedra side-by-side, which were provided with terminations at right angles towards the sides of the monument. The S. wa…

[German version] In Classical Antiquity, the playful and wasteful use of water – already known occasionally from the Near East – became a factor within the context of a secured water supply, an unrestrictedly enjoyed, at least in part positively defined, public and/or private luxury and especially in the framework of a specifically Roman understanding of nature (Environment II.); it was also reflected in the architecture relevant for them. Waterworks were uncommon in the Greek polis world. Waterworks are first recorded in connection with opulently designed gardens. Parti…

Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) I. Material Remains (CT) A. General (CT) [German version] 1. Introduction (CT) The present article offers a survey of the ways in which material remains from the ancient world have been transmitted to the modern age. Not included are the active acquisition of antiquities for display or their representation in art museums, or the systematic post-Classical acquisition of remains for research purposes (cf. Antiquarianism; Antiquities, collections of; Classical Archaeology;  Art works, acquisition of/ Art theft; Museum). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) …

[German version] The first toilet facilities connected with sewers in the Graeco-Roman cultural area are to be found in Minoan Crete (sit-down latrines in the palace of Knosos), then not again until the Hellenistic period; in archaic and classical Greece, latrines that consisted of a seat over a transportable vessel were predominant. This comparably primitive principle is also further encountered in Roman culture (for instance in the multi-storey tenement blocks in the large cities), whilst from…

[German version] Scratched or scored lines in architecture (Construction technique; Building trade). The architect's plan was successively transmitted to the emerging building at a scale of 1:1 by tracing. Tracings are recorded from the pre-Greek era in Mesopotamian and Egyptian architecture; in Graeco-Roman architecture, tracing long made scale construction drawings unnecessary. Well-preserved or documented tracings are found, among other places, on the Propylaea in Athens, the large tholos in Delphi and the more recent temple of Apollo in Didyma. Höcker, Christoph (Kissi…

Näf, Beat (Zürich RWG) [German version] I. History and interpretation (CT) Näf, Beat (Zürich RWG) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) Among the great places of antiquity that are of decisive importance for the culture and heritage of the western world, Athens (A.) plays a most important role. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the historical influence of Rome is greater. Since time immemorial Jerusalem, in particular, has been in competition with A. with respect to the question of which city was the foundation…

[German version] (περίστασις; perístasis). Ancient Greek term for a ring of columns (Column), and hence a colonnade in a Greek temple or other ancient buildings with surrounding columns [1]. The colonnade can be formed of a single row (Peripteros) or a double row (Dipteros) (cf. also Peristylion. On formal problems relating to peristaseis in Greek temple construction: Angle triglyph problem; Inclination; Curvature; Proportion). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography 1 F. Ebert, Fachausdrücke des griechischen Bauhandwerks I. Der Tempel, Diss. Würzburg, 1910, 23…

[German version] of Megara, son of Naustrophus, as an  architect and engineer, presumably under the tyrant  Polycrates, was responsible for the construction of a  water supply system for the town of  Samos (modern Pythagoreion on the island of Samos) described by Herodotus (3,60) as one of the great feats of Greek engineering; there is no evidence of further work by E. The system that was rediscovered in 1853 consists of four building complexes connected with each other: a fountainhead building situated high in the mountain ( Wells) with a great covered water reservoir, a pipeline c. 840…

(Κόροιβος; Kóroibos). [German version] [1] Hero founder of Tripodiscus in the Megaris Hero founder of Tripodiscus in the Megaris. The legend is told in Callim. Fr. 26-31 in connection with an Argive aition according to the local historians Agias and Dercylus (FGrH 305 F 8 to) [1]:  Linus, the son of Apollo and  Psamathe, is torn apart by dogs, and Psamathe is killed by her father  Crotopus. As a punishment Apollo sends a child-murdering demon, the Poineḗ or   Ker , to Argus. When the brave C. kills the monster, the god sends a further plague, whereupon…

[German version] ( tector albarius). According to Vitr. De arch. 2,8,20 a Roman craftsman who was responsible for plastering walls, as a rule in three layers, the top layer of which could be painted or stuccoed while still moist. Construction technique; Fresco; Stucco; Wall-painting Höcker, Christoph (Kissing)

[German version] I. Architecture 'Proportion' is a modern technical term in the archaeological research of monuments. In the description of a structure, a proportion represents the ratio of two lines or the ratio of the sides of a rectangular area, in the mathematical sense of a division (x:y). The proportions of a building are determined based on its detailed measurement. Increasingly precise and generally binding procedures for obtaining and evaluating the relevant data have been developed by W. Dörpfeld; K. Koldewey; O. Puchstein i.a. since the late 19th century. The extent to wh…

[German version] (also Lauretum, from laureus, ‘bay-tree’). Place on the Aventine Hill in Rome ( Roma) where bay-trees grow. According to legend the burial place of Titus Tatius (Festus 496 L.). Already at the time of Varro (Varro, Ling. 5,152) the site could no longer be located with certainty. The possibility that L. was divided into two parts ( L. minor and L. maior) is a matter for discussion because of two corresponding street names in Regio XIII (cf. CIL 6,975). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Richardson, 234f.

(Ἄνδρων; Ándrōn). [German version] [1] One of the 400 (end of the 5th cent. BC) From Gargettus, son of an Androtion and father of the Atthidographer  Androtion (FGrH 324), with sophistic interests (Pl. Grg. 487C; Prot. 315C). About a debt affair Dem. Or. 22,33 and passim. Probably identical with A., one of the 400 (500: [1]), author of a   psephisma against Antiphon [4] 411 BC (Craterus FGrH 342 F5). Kinzl, Konrad (Peterborough) Bibliography 1 G. Pesely, in: Illinois Class. Stud. 20, 1995, 66-76. Davies, 913 Traill, PAA 129265, 129130 P. Harding, Androtion and the Atthis, 1994, 14 f. …

[German version] Architect of Samos. For a considerable fee he built the pontoon bridge over the Bosporus (Hdt. 4,87,1ff.) for Darius [1] I in 513/2 BC in the context of the campaign against the Scythians. M. attained fame through a votive offering in the Heraeum of Samos: a panel painting described in detail by Herodotus (4,88,1-89,2), which depicted the (pontoon) bridge and praised the architect in an epigram. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography H. Svenson-Evers, Die griechische Architekten archaischer und klassischer Zeit, 1996, 59-66 (with additional literature).

[German version] From the Greek κρυπτή ( kryptḗ); in the description of the Nile barge of Ptolemy IV, transmitted in Athenaeus 5, 205a, it designated a closed walkway lit by windows. In Lat. texts cryptoporticus could cover various items of architecture such as cellars (Vitr. De arch. 6, 8), vaults (Juv. 5, 106) or even subterranean, vaulted cult or grave structures. In modern archaeological terminology the term cryptoporticus is used synonymously with crypta; this compound word from crypta and   porticus that comes to us only from Pliny (Ep. 2,17,20; 5,6…

[German version] The cylinder, in some cases lavishly sculpted and sometimes decorated with a double trochilus and convex and concave sections, that forms the 'middle layer' of a conventional old-Ionic column base (Samos, Heraion; Column). The spira supports the equally sculpted and convexly curved torus . The spira customarily rises from a plinth. A special form of Ionic basis is developed in late 6th- and 5th-cent. BC Attic architecture, consisting of a torus as base surface, a concavely curved trochilus lying on it and a further torus on top of that, and dispenses with the spira as an …

[German version] Architectural component, i.e. a tongue-shaped projection from the face of a wall. A widespread practice in the ancient art of building (altars, temples, house architecture etc.). In stone construction, the ante stands out against the wall surface with profiled elements, usually rests on an ante foot (ante base) and is crowned by a special ante capital ( Column). As of late classical times, the ante is occasionally separated from the wall by a monolithic execution and thus overly e…

[German version] (παλαίστρα, Latin palaestra). The palaistra developed in the 6th cent. BC as a core element of a gymnasium (with illustration) and, together with a dromos (an elongated running-track) and various long colonnades and covered walkways,  forms a  constitutive part of this type of architecture. A palaistra consists of a roughly square court, surrounded by a peristyle, and various suites of adjacent rooms. Palaistrai were used as places for wrestling; the associated rooms were used for exercising, changing and storing equipment. Greek palaistrai were public spaces,…

[German version] I. Definition In contrast to the townhouse ( domus) or the cottage ( casa; tugurium ), in Latin usage villa describes a combined residential and commercial building in the context of agriculture (V.), and occasionally an agricultural establishement including all facilities (usual term for this : praedium ). This connection with agriculture gradually dissipated in the 2nd cent. BC, a fact which is reflected in the increasingly differentiated range of terminology; along with the 'classical' v. rustica ('country house', 'country estate') which continued to …

(Δάφνις; Dáphnis). [German version] [1] Mythical cowherd Mythical cowherd of Sicilian tradition, son of  Hermes (Stesich. fr. 102 PMG = Ael. VH 10.18; Timaeus, FGrH 566 F 83; Diod. Sic. 4,84,2). He died still a youth because of an unfortunate love affair with a  nymph and was honoured with ritual mourning songs typical of those for Adonis (Theoc. 1,64ff.; 7,73ff.). In bucolic poetry he served as the ideal for the adolescent shepherd and was seen as the originator of the shepherd's song (e.g. Diod. 4,84,3). Despite the Greek name (from   dáphnē : ‘laurel’), the fig…

[German version] A two-part building complex on the via sacra on the edge of the Forum Romanum (Forum [III 8]) in Rome, which, according to the ancient Roman mythologizing historiography, was supposed to have been built as his residence and place of office by the legendary king Numa Pompilius (Ov. Fast. 6,263 f.; Tac. Ann. 15,41; Cass. Dio fr. 1,6,2; Plut. Numa 14; Fest. 346-348; 439; cf. also [1. 328]). The excavated building of striking structure, with a three-roomed core facing the via sacra and a court annexe ([2] with illustration; presumably this court is what was meant by regium atr…

[German version] According to Suetonius (Augustus 100,4; cf. Str. 5,3,8) one of the earliest buildings built under Augustus on the Campus Martius in Rome. It was probably begun in 28 BC, inspired in form and content by the Maussoleum and the tomb of Alexander [4] the Great, and completed around 23 BC. A circular building with a total diameter of 87 m, it consisted of an indeterminate number of concentrical walls made of tuff, that had been several stories high and were connected by radial walls. T…

[German version] (θάλαμος/ thálamos). According to the earlier archaic perception a non-specific term for various rooms inside of a Greek house; according to more recent definition a bedroom of the master of the house or the women's apartments (cf. Hom. Il. 6,321; Hom. Od. 10,340 et passim), usually on the upper floor of a Classical Pastas or Prostas house (House [II] B) and therefore also according to Greek understanding belonging absolutely to the private sphere (Private sphere and public sphere). The ancient terminology is unclear; thalamos can also be the term for a weapo…

[German version] The plan layout of Greek  temples. An amphiprostylos is an ante temple ( Ante) without perimeter hall, which in front of the pronaos as well as on its rear side has an even number of columns each which are spread across the entire width of the building (cf. Vitr. De arch. 3,2,4). In comparison to the   prostylos , where the rows of columns decorate just the entrance and not the rear as well, the amphiprostylos is the form occurring less frequently. The most famous example is the temple of Nike on the Athenian Acropolis. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography H. Knell, Grundz…

[German version] (περίπτερος; perípteros). Colonnaded temple with only a single circle of columns (Temple), in contrast to the dipteros. The term appears in the Latin form for the first time in Vitruvius (3,2,1 et passim). The peripteros rises from a stepped base (Krepis [1]; Stylobate), in the 5th cent. BC with canonical 6×13 columns (in the 6th cent. BC other concepts can be found, esp. elongated forms, primarily in western Greece). It is the standard form of the Greek temple. The regularity of the column positions (Spacing, i…

[German version] The water basin in the  atrium of the Roman house in which rainwater from the  compluvium, the opening of the atrium, was collected and which was often part of a  cistern. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography E. M. Evans, The Atrium Complex in the Houses of Pompeii, 1980 R. Förtsch, Arch. Komm. zu den Villenbriefen des jüngeren Plinius, 1993, 30f.

[German version] I. Ancient Orient The family in Mesopotamia was organized in a patrilineal manner; remnants of matrilineal family structures are to be found in Hittite myths, among the Amorite nomads of the early 2nd millennium BC and the Arab tribes of the 7th cent. BC. As a rule monogamy was predominant; marriage to concubines with lesser rights was possible, while there is evidence of polygamy particularly in the ruling families. The family consisted of a married couple and their children althoug…

[German version] From Latin ceno; originally the dining room on the upper floor of the Roman  house. From time to time the term cenaculum includes the entire upper floor (Varro, Ling. 5,162; Fest. 54,6); the rooms described as cenacula were for accommodating guests of an inferior rank or slaves. They could also be the object of a lease; cenaculum became in this context synonymous with shabby housing. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Georges, 1, 1067, s.v. c. (sources) G. Matthiae, s.v. Cenacolo, EAA 2, 467 (bibliography).

[German version] Greek ἀ(ι)ετός/ a(i)etós (architectural inscriptions: [1. 33f.]); Latin fastigium, fronton; triangular front, framed by the horizontal and raking cornices, of the saddleback roof of a typical Greek columned building; sacred architecture, the gable field (tympanon, for the terminology see: Vitr. De arch. 3,5,12; 4,3,2) is frequently decorated with sculptures; cf.  architectural sculpture. The pitch and hight of a gable in  proportion to the columns and the entablature provide some indicati…

[German version] (ναΐσκος/naḯskos, ‘little temple’). A small temple-shaped building without a surrounding peristyle. In the technical terminology of classical archaeology the term is used for small free-standing architectural structures (e.g. well houses; wells) as well as (occasionally) for specially designed cella constructions within a temple (e.g. in the temple of Apollo at Didyma), occasionally also synonymous with naós (Cella). Also used of tomb reliefs with seemingly architectural wall ends, which protruded because of their spatially deepened surroundings. Höcker…