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[German version] (Ψελλός/ Psellós). Byzantine writer, jurist and politician, b. Konstantinos P., c. AD 1018 at Constantinople. It is unclear whether P. (from ψελλίζειν/ psellízein, 'to lisp') was a personal byname or a family name. P. was an official at the imperial court from 1041, becoming imperial private secretary in 1043, quickly acquiring a great reputation as a teacher and receiving the title of 'consul of the philosophers' (ὕπατος τῶν φιλοσόφων/ hýpatos tôn philosóphōn) in 1045. Coming under suspicion of being an 'astrologer and heathen', he fell into disfavo…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Byzantium Fortress, town and bishop's seat in the province of Pontus in the north-east of  Asia Minor, developed and extended during the reign of  Iustinian I and defended against the Arabs in AD 778 and 940; part of Turkey since 1071 (today Şebinkarahisar). The area around C. had economic importance because of the alum mining carried out there ( Alum) and was the centre of the  Paulician sect from the 7th to the 9th cents. Berger, Albrecht (Berlin) Bibliography A. Bryer, D. Winfield, The Byzantine Monuments and Topograp…

[German version] Author of a lost Greek report on the travels of a legation to the ruler of Kinda in central Arabia and then to Ethiopia and southern Arabia in the year AD 530/1, the existence of which is known only from the  ‘Library of Photius (cod. 3). Similar journeys had been undertaken by 502 by N.'s grandfather Euphrasius, and several in 524 and later by his father Abram. According to Photius, the report emphasised the courage of N. in hazardous situations and contained information on the r…

[German version] (Σκλαβηνία/ Sklabēnía, Latin Sclavinia). A term, common since the 6th cent. AD in Greek and Latin, derived from the demonym Σκλαβηνοί/ Sklabēnoí or Sclavi (Slavs) and used to describe communities formed of Slav tribes inside and outside formerly Roman territories in the Balkan peninsula, Carinthia, Pannonia and Transsylvania. They were for the most part organised in warlike tribal associations without fixed territorial borders and also included members of non-Slavonic peoples; some were autonomous, othe…

[German version] Byzantine philologist, lived c. AD 1265-1316, a pupil of Maximus Planudes. He was the author of the Erōtḗmata grammatiká (Ἐρωτήματα γραμματικά), a Greek grammar in the form of a dialogue, which was still respected by the early Humanists, and scholia on numerous ancient texts, including the first two books of the Iliad, Hesiod's Érga kai hēmérai, Pindar's ‘Olympian Odes, on the Byzantine Triad of Euripides ( Hekábē, Oréstēs, Phoiníssai) and of Sophocles ( Aías, Ēléktra, Oidípous Týrannos), also on works by Aristophanes [3], by Theocritus, the Batrachomyomachía , etc.…

[German version] A. Name A country on the middle reaches of the Nile; more precisely, the area today settled by a Nubian-speaking population: Lower Nubia from the 1st to the 2nd Nile cataract (Aswān to Wadi Halfa, Republic of Egypt) and Upper Nubia from the 2nd to the 4th cataract (Wadi Halfa to Meroe, northern Sudan). In a culturally and historically understood sense, Nubia also includes the land as far as the 6th cataract and around Khartoum (central Sudan). Besides the general term t-stj for the country, recorded from the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3000 BC), the Egyptian la…

(Συμεών; Symeṓn). [German version] [1] Monk and priest, 4th cent. AD Macarius the Egyptian (Μακάριος/ Makários). Born around the year AD 300, Macarius lived from c. AD 330 - c. 390 as a monk and priest in the Scetic desert (Egypt). The accounts of his life (Rufinus, Historia monachorum 21; Pall. Laus. 17) describe his immaculate ascetism and his miracles. The later hagiographic tradition has developed this into a vita. Except for a number of oral sayings ( Apophthegmata patrum) none of Macarius' pronouncements have been handed down; a letter attributed to him may well be a…

(Καππαδοκία; Kappadokía). Region and kingdom in Asia Minor [German version] A. Geography and population C. (Str. 12,1f.) extends from the Taurus to the Black Sea coast; its western border to Paphlagonia and Phrygia, later also to Galatia, is at the Halys (and Lake Tatta); in the south-west, it borders on Lycaonia, in the east on Colchis, Lesser Armenia, and the upper reaches of the Euphrates, in the south on Cilicia and Commagene. The entire region is seen as an ethnic-linguistic entity, part of the Luwian-sp…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Byzantium | Christianity | | Dark Ages | Ionic | Natural catastrophes | Oracles | Pergamum | Athletes | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture | Mineral Resources ( Zmyrna; Σμύρνα/ Smýrna, Σμύρνη/ Smýrnē, Ζμύρνα/ Zmýrna, Ζμύρνη/ Zmýrnē). City in Aeolis, modern İzmir. [German version] I. Early times to Hellenistic Period On a hill near Bayraklı north of the Gulf of İzmir, settled since the 3rd millennium, the Aioleis settled late in the 11th cent. BC (mud brick houses). In c. 700 BC (?) the Iones from Colophon took…

This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | | Etrusci, Etruria | Commerce | Italy, languages | Regio, regiones | Rome | Rome | Batavian Revolt Harbour city in the territory of the Boii on the Ionios Kolpos (Adriatic). [German version] I. Foundation and Roman Period According to myth, R. was founded by Thessalians (Zos. 5,27); however, it was actually founded by Umbri in the 6th-5th cents. BC (Str. 5,1,2; 5,1,11; 5,2,1: Ῥάυεννα/ Rháuenna). The character of R.'s topography includes its proximity to the sea and protection by the natural geographic conditions - s…

(Νικηφόρος; Nikēphóros). [German version] [1] Patriarch of Constantinople, died 828 Patriarch. N. was born around AD 750 or 758 in Constantinople; he embarked on a magistrate's career at the imperial court which he represented in 787 at the Council of Nicaea. Around 797 he became a monk and ran a poorhouse in Constantinople. In 806 he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople and failed to end the so-called ‘Moechian controversy’ between Theodoros Studites and the government. In 815 he had to resign at th…

[German version] [1] Byz. general under Justin I Son of a sister of Justin I, cousin of Justinian I, Byzantine general, as magister militum per Thracias under Justin I he conquered the people of the Anti who had invaded the Empire from the lower Danube. As patricius and primus magister militum praesentalis, he successfully combated the military revolt of Stotzas in North Africa in 536-537, on the orders of Justinian I. In a deployment in 540 against the first assault by Chosroes [5] I after the ‘eternal peace’ of 532, a shortage of troops preven…

(Κίλικες, Κιλικία; Kílikes, Kilikía). [German version] I. Cilices a) Tribe mentioned in Homer (Hom. Il. 6,397; 415; cf. Str. 13,1,7; 60), who settled in the southern Troad. b) The inhabitants of the region of Cilicia. The relationship between the two is not clear. Täuber, Hans (Vienna) [German version] II. Cilicia The name first appears around 858 BC in Assyrian sources as H̬ilakku; however, in these it only refers to the mountainous part of the region, where the Greeks first visited. An eponymous hero named Cilix appears in the mythological literature (e…

(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] C. Mother of Avidius Cassius Wife of Avidius Heliodorus, mother of Avidius Cassius [1. 217]. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [2] C. Marciana Wife of senator Wife of a senator, relative of Cassius Apronianus (I. Eph. 3, 710B; Raepsaet-Charlier no. 197). Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [3] C. Paterna Wife of Iulius [II 18] Asper Wife of Iulius Asper, cos. II AD 212 (PIR2 C 529). Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography 1 Syme, SHA-Coll., 1987. [German version] [4] C. Byzantine poet and abbess, died c. AD 800/805 (also Cassiane and Eicasia). Byzantine poet a…

I. Political [German version] A. Definition In Late Antiquity, the term patrocinium referred to relationships of protection and dependence, especially in rural areas, in which the coloni or small farmers placed themselves under the protection of powerful office holders or the owners of large private landholdings. The patrocinium was primarily directed against the imperial administration, particularly against the tax collectors; the rural population sought to escape the obligation of paying taxes through the patrocinium. In modern scholarship, the patrocinium is frequently…

I. The Greek hymnos [German version] A. Cult hymns Although Greek hýmnos (ὕμνος) in the early stage generally means ‘song’, with an epic song or Pindaric  epinikion being equally called ‘hymn’, the specification of the term as ‘song for a god’ is found at the latest in the 5th/4th cents. BC (Pl. Resp. 10,607a: ὕμνους θεοῖς καὶ ἐγκώμια τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς: ‘Hymns for gods and praise for outstanding people’; Pl. Leg. 700b 1-2: εὐχαὶ πρὸς θεούς, ὄνομα δὲ ὕμνοι ἐπεκαλοῦντο) [1]. Hymnos becomes the general term for ‘religious song’, to which belong forms of song allocated to individual…

(Προκόπιος/ Prokópios). [German version] [1] Usurper, AD 365-366 Usurper, AD 365-366 Usurper in AD 365-366. He was born in 326 in Corycus (Them. Or. 7,86c; cf. Amm. Marc. 26,9,11) and was a relative of the emperor Iulianus [11] (Amm. Marc. 23,3,2). In 358 he was a delegate to Persia with the rank of a tribunus (Amm. Marc. 17,14,3), later he held a high position at the schola notariorum (Amm. Marc. 26,6,1). During Julian’s Persian campaign, he commanded a division as a comes (Amm. Marc. 23,3,5). After Julian's death (363) he retired to private life (Zos.…

[German version] I. Greek The modern term 'panegyric' derives from πανηγυρικός ( panēgyrikós sc. λόγος/ lógos), a Greek term denoting a speech delivered during a πανήγυρις ( panḗgyris), a real or fictive 'festival', e.g. the Olympic Games. In the fictive sense →Isocrates was the first to call his fourth speech (389 BC) a Panēgyrikós (Isoc. Or. 59 and 84, 12,172; Letter 3,6; cf. Aristot. Rh. 1408b 15-17). In the broadest sense of the word, the forms of the epideictic genre ('display speech', epídeixis; → genera causarum) belong to panegyric oratory; in the rhetorical treatises of…

(Ζεύξιππος/ Zeúxippos). [German version] [1] Father of Cyclops Father of Cyclops and ancestor of the Attic hero Myrmex [1]. Börm, Henning (Kiel) [German version] [2] Son of Apollo and the Nymph Syllis Another Z., son of Apollo and the Nymph Syllis, successor to the emigré king Phaestus [1] of Sicyon (Paus. 7,6,7). Börm, Henning (Kiel) [German version] [3] Legendary king and founder of Byzantium Legendary king, of indeterminable period, who has been presented since the time of Iohannes Lydus [3] ( c. AD 500) as the founder of Byzantium [1. 261] and who also appears in apocalyp…