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[German version] Of the approximately 100 species of the Liliaceae genus Aspar…

[German version] The identification of the 'Cydonian apples' (μῆλα κυδώνια/ mêla kydṓnia) or the Lat. mala cotonea - Italian cotogna denotes quince - with the quince ( Cydonia oblonga) is at the very least dubious. The features of the fruits mentioned in the descriptions since Alcman (fr. 90 Bergk) and Stesichorus (fr. 27 Bergk) (pleasant odour, suitability for making jam and the comparison between their round shape and female breasts) can also refer to other species of apple. Even Solon's prescription (Plut. Mor. 138d 1; Quaest. Rom. 65 = Mor. 279e-f) that a bride should eat this apple …

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[German version] The ibex ( Capra ibex L.), which belongs to the genus of goats, lives in the high mountains of Europe (Alps, Pyrenees) and in Palestine. It was not known to the Greeks; the Romans mention it as ibex only since Pliny (HN 8,214). Where Isidore (Orig. 12,1,17) got the nonsensical claim that the ibex would throw themselves from the peaks when enemies approached…

[German version] (ἀλώπηξ/ alṓpēx; Lat. volpes, vulpes). Through outstanding adaptation to the human env…

[German version] (ὕαινα; hýaina, from ὕς/ hýs, ‘pig’). First mention in Hdt. 4,192; γλάνος/ glános (Aristot. Hist. an. 7(8),594a 31); κ(ο)ροκόττας/ k(o)rokóttas, first in Ctesias fragment 87 M. and Agatharchides, Periplus maris rubri 39. Latin hyaena and c(o)rocotta(s) in Plin. HN 8,72 and 107; post-Classical belua (belva) (S HA Gord. 33,1). It was probably not just the more common striped hyena ( Hyaena striata in the Middle East and Africa) that was known but according to Opp. Kyn. 3,288 (Περὶ στικτῇσιν ὑαίναις) also the spotted hyena ( …

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[German version] This widespread primary rock from the interior of the earth only received its name in the modern age, derived from the Italian ‘granito’ (from Lat. granum, ‘grain’). The Greeks took their name lithotomíai Thēbaikṓn from its source in quarries in Egyptian Thebes (Theophr. De lapidibus 6 [1. 58]; according to Plin. HN 36,63 suited to the manufacture of small hand mortars, co…

[German version] (φώκη/ phṓkē, Latin vitulus marinus, 'sea-calf', or phoca, Manil. 5,661) was the term in Antiquity for the monk seal, Monachus monachus, up to 4 m long with a whitish underside  and rare in the Mediterranean. Only Tac. Germ. 17 seems to allude to the pelt of the common seal ( Phoca vitulina). The monk seal is known as early as Homer (Hom. Od. 4,404-06, cf. H. Hom. 3,77 φῶκαί τε μέλαιναι/ phôkaí te mélainai, 'the black seals'), but also in Aristophanes (Vesp. 1035; Pax 758) and Theocritus 8,52. Despite their innocuousness  (Diod. 3,41) they were hunted…

[German version] Because of their mode of growth, since antiquity four different leafless or small-leaved species of plant bear the name equisetum, equisaeta, cauda equina or caballina, ἱπποχαίτη ( hippochaítē) or ἵππουρις ( híppouris), horsetail or mare's-tail. This is true of: Equisetum L. and Hippochaete Milde, equisetum, shave grass or scouring rush; of Ephedra L., ἔφεδρον ( éphedron) or ἵππουρις, the jointfir members of the Gymnospermae, some of them climbers; also of water-plants in the case of the candelabra alga Chara, still called E. foetidum in the 16th cent. by C. Ba…

[German version] The dried, peppercorn-like flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum (earlier known as Caryophyllus aromaticus L.) reached Rome from the Moluccas by way of India and Greece as garyophyllon (Plin. HN 12,7). With doctors of late antiquity such as Aetius Amidenus, i.a., the term karyóphyllon (Arab. karanful, It. garofalo or garofano), probably derived from the Old Indo-Aryan katuphalam (‘acrid fruit’), was quickly extended to carn…

[German version] (derived from Lat. prunus for the tree and prunum for the fruit, from Greek προύμνη/ proúmnē instead of the earlier name κοκκύμηλον/ kokkýmēlon, 'cuckoo-apple'). While the tree was evidently indigenous to central Europe, the Greeks and Romans probably learned of its cultivation in the Near East. Growing only poorly in Greece, it was cultivated in many varieties in Italy (according to Plin. HN 15,44 only after Cato [1]). Grafting on to apple, nut and almond stock yielded varieties no longer ascertainable with any certainty such as apple-plums ( malina pruna, Plin. HN 1…

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[German version] (μαλάχη/ maláchē, μολόχη/ molóchē in Dioscorides, Lat. malva). In antiquity there were various species (cf. Plin. HN 20,222) from the family of the Malvaceae with rose-like flowers as well as the marshmallow ( althaea [2], Althaea officinalis, ἀλθαία/ althaía, ἐβίσκος/ ebískos, Lat. hibiscus, althaea malva agrestis, Isid. Orig. 17,9,75) with white or pink flowers. Being harsh on the stomach (Dioscorides 2,118 Wellmann = 2,144 Berendes), the garden mallow was not much in use, but it was (since Hes…

[German version] (Αἰῶραι; aiôrai). According to Poll. 4,131, a theatre machine consisting of cables with which the gods or heroes were able to float forth in flight, obviously a Hellenistic invention [1.291]. Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography 1 H. Bulle, in: ABAW 1928.

[German version] ( Felis tigris L., Greek ὁ/ἡ τίγρις/ tígris, Latin tigris), a large striped (cf. Plin. HN 8,62) cat, widespread in Asia originally from Hyrcania to India (incorrectly in Ptol. 4,8,4: Ethiopia). According to Varro Ling. 5,100 and Str. 11,14,8 (term τόξευμα/ tóxeuma; cf. Isid. Orig. 12,2,7: sagitta for the Medes and Persians) the name…

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[German version] A gentian plant ( Menanthes trifoliata L.), unknown in antiquity, wrongly described in 16th- and 17th-cent. books on herbs as bog bean or water trefoil ( Trifolium fibrinum). It is widespread in marsh flats and, because of its bitter qualities, is today used i.a. to combat fever and worms. What was called μινυανθές ( minyanthés) in Dioscorides 3,109 [1. 119f.] = 3,113 [2. 336f.] and Plin. HN 21,54 (used for tying wreaths) and ἀσφάλτιον ( aspháltion) was in fact the leguminous plant Psoralea bituminosa L.  Clover varieties Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography 1…

[German version] (ὄνος/ ónos, πολύπους/ polýplous, ὀνίσκος/ onískos, κούβαρις/ koúbaris, κύαμος/ kýamos, τύλον/ týlon, centi-, mille- (or mili-) and multipedium). The common woodlouse, rough woodlouse or pill bug (mentioned as early as Soph. fr.363 N2) of the Crustacea subphylum, at Aristot. Hist. an. 5,31,557a 24f. (on similarities between fish lice and many-legged ὄνοι/ ónoi), Dioscorides 2,35 [1. 1. 133] (on many-legged ὄνοι which curl up under water containers when disturbed as helpful against e.g. jaundice and as a component of injections aga…