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[German version] (Λίψ/ Líps). The west-south-west wind that on the twelve-point compass card of Aristotle blew from the setting point of the sun to the winter solstice (Aristot. Mete. 2,6,363b 19f.; [1. 2347, fig. 11]) and that Aristotle (De ventis 973b 11f.) and the Romans associated etymologically with Libya and therefore called Africus (Plin. HN 2,119f. and 18,336). It was considered damp and was set against the Aquilo (Plin. HN 2,125f.), it brought rain and storms, and through its blazing heat it destroyed the shoots of the vine [2]. On the compass card of Timosthenes this Libónotos (A…

[German version] (ἡ ἐμπίς/ empís, ὁ κώνωψ/ kṓnōps, Diminutive κωνώπιον/ kōnṓpion, Lat. culex, culicellus, culiculus; conops: Dioscorides Longobardus 3,23) is the general name for these buzzing insects which cause irritation by sucking blood. Aristotle gives a clear account at Hist. an. 5,19,551b 27-552a 8 and 1,1,487b 3-5 (so [1]) of the development of a midge of the genus Chironomus including the metamorphosis of the empís. The culices ficarii which help to pollinate figs are wasps of the type Blastophaga psenes (Plin. HN 11,118; 15,80 and 17,255). The common mosquito is t…

[German version] By this is meant the gradual and purposeful transformation of wild animal species into domesticated animals by human agency. Because of their biological characteristics, only a few of the wild mammals living during and immediately after the Ice Age were suitable for domestication. Only 5 of 19 orders of mammals provide domesticated species; these are the Lagomorpha (rabbits), Rodentia (guinea-pigs), Carnivora (dog, cat, ferret), Perissodactyla (horse, donkey) and the Artiodactyla (pig, sheep, goat, cattle, camel, llama). Domesticated animals howeve…

(βάτραχος/ bátrachos, Ionian βάθρακος/ bátrakos, βρόταχος/ brótachos, Lat. rana) is the collective name for frog amphibians (βατράχων γένος; batráchōn génos, Aristot. Hist. an. 7(8),2,589a 28f.) comprising the genuine frog species and the toad species. [German version] A. The genuine frog species The genuine frog species include the green water frog (Rana esculenta), the brown grass frog (Rana temporaria L.; the first two distinguished by Theophr. fr. 174,1; cf. dioptes Plin. HN 32,70 and 139) and the tree frog (Hyla arborea), which Pliny (HN 32,75; 92; 122) app…

[German version] (βοῦς ἄγριος; boûs ágrios, bubalus; βούβαλος; boúbalos on the other hand is the gazelle!). Native to southern Asia and therefore originally foreign to the Mediterranean countries. Job 39,9ff. presumably uses this name to refer to the Assyrian wild ox that is also depicted on reliefs from that area (Luther translates it wrongly as ‘unicorn’). The short description of Aristot. Hist. an. 2,1,499a4ff. (cf. Plin. HN 8,38: Africa vituli potius cervique quadam similitudine, ‘as Africa brings forth this animal rather with a certain similarity to calf and dee…

[German version] (ἀνθεμίς; anthemís, Latin anthemis, Plin., later chamomilla, from which the English name is derived) probably is today's composite genus, Matricaria L. Dioscorides 3,137 Wellmann = 3,144 Berendes (cf. Plin. HN 22,53f.) knew of three species with differently coloured flowers that had warming as well as thinning powers. In antiquity the camomile, as a flower infusion, was already used externally and internally as an anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic medicine.  Anthemis Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography P. Wagler, s.v. Anthemis (2), RE 1,2364f.

[German version] ( Rangifer tarandus, ὁ τάρανδος/ ho tárandos, Lat. tarand(r)us; parandrus: Solin. 30,25, there [?] shifted to Ethiopia!). The deer-like animal, dispersed as far as northern Italy and southern France during the Ice Age, was known to the Greeks only from the land of the Scythians on the basis of plausible reports in Theophr. fr. 172,2-3; Ps.-Aristot. Mir. 30,832b 7-16 and Aristot. fr. 317 (Antigonus Carystius 25), as well as Plin. HN 8,123-124. A fantastic motif recurring in these sources, such as in Solin. 30,25 (whose report on the pirander was adopted in the Middle …

[German version] The smallest European passerine ( Troglodytes troglodytes) is presumably meant by τροχίλος/ trochílos in Aristot. Hist. an. 7(8),3,593b 11 f.; 8(9),6,612a 20-24 (= Plin.  HN 8,90; but there by trochilos = rex avium the so-called crocodile bird, Pluvianus aegyptius, is meant [1. 241]). The alleged enmity between the wren and the eagle (Aristot. Hist. an. 8(9),11,615a 17-20 = Plin.  HN 10,203) refers to the attribute 'king'. Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography 1 Leitner. Keller 2,82-84  D'Arcy W. Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds, 1936, repr. …

[German version] (ἑλλέβορος; helléboros, helleborus). The name refers to poisonous plants of various families: 1) the Ranunculacea Helleborus L. (ἑλλέβορος μέλας in Theophr. Hist. pl. 9,14,4, etc., = H. cyclophyllus Boissier, not H. niger L. (the Christmas rose); Dioscorides 4,162 Wellmann = 4,149 Berendes; Paus. 10,36,7). The root, in particular, (Plin. HN 25,48). 2), of the Liliacea Veratrum album L. (ἑλλέβορος λευκός, Helleborus candidus, white hellebore: Hippoc. De victu 1,35 [1. 292]; Theophr. Hist. pl. 9,10,1-4 with many local forms; Dioscorides 4,148…

[German version] In Antiquity - as it still is - the ancient Chondrostei family was represented by the Common Sturgeon ( Acipenser sturio L.) and the smaller Sterlet ( Acipenser ruthenus L.). The latter is described by Apion and Archestratus [2] (in Ath. 7,294e-f) as an ἀκκιπήσιος/ akkipḗsios (Latin acupenser/ accipenser) and identified with the ἔλ(λ)οψ/ él(l)ops (etymology still unclear: [1. 1,500], cf. schol. Theoc. Syrinx 18; Plut. Mor. 728e; Ath. 7,308c) and the γαλεός/ galeós (cf. Varro Rust. 2,6,2; elsewhere always meaning shark). Dorion (in Ath. 7,282) and Plut…

[German version] (κίσ(σ)ηρις/ kís(s)ēris, pumex). The relatively soft eruptive rock from volcanic eruptions or porous dripstone. It was used as a building material. In cosmetics it served as an exfoliant agent to smooth the skin (cf. Plin. HN 36, 154-156). A powder made of thrice-burnt pumice helped with eye ulcers and was used for dental care and as a stopper for fermenting wine (cf. Dioscorides 5,108 [1. 78f.] = 5,124 [2. 534f.]). Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography 1 M. Wellmann (ed.), Pedanii Dioscurides de materia medica, vol. 3, 1914, repr. 1958 2 J. Berendes (ed.),…

[German version] (γογγυλίς/ gongylís, ῥάπυς/ rhápys, ῥάφυς/ rháphys, βουνιάς/ bouniás, Latin rapum, napus). Fodder beet (var. rapa) was cultivated from wild beet, Beta vulgaris. Probably the white beet of ancient times is related to turnip rape, Brassica rapa L., of the Cruciferae family. Theophrastus mentions in Hist. pl. 1,6, 6-7 the fleshy root of the gongylís and in the 7th book details of sowing. Columella 2,10,22-24 (= Pall. Agric. 8,2,1-3) seems to understand by napus the swede, and by rapum white beet. He recommends that after the summer solstice or at the end of A…

[German version] ( ervum, Columella 2,10,34 et passim, Plin. HN 18,57; 18, 139 et passim; ervilia, Plin. HN 18,58 et passim; Columella 2,13,1; ὄροβος/ órobos, related to ἐρέβινθος/ erébinthos ‘peas’). Collective name for small-seed legumes. These belong to the following genera: a) Vicia with the subgenus Ervum L. (among these V. ervilia (L.) Willd., the bitter vetch, cf. Columella 8,8,6); b) lens, lentil ( lens, Cato Agr. 35,1; 116; 132,2; 158,1; Columella 2,10,15 et passim; Plin. HN 18,57 et passim; lenticula, Plin. HN 18,123; Columella 2,7,1; 11,10; 8,8,6; φακός/ phakós, Hebrew ʿaḏā…

[German version] ( Phoenicopterus ruber L., φοινικόπτερος; phoinikópteros, phoenicopterus). Wader named after its partly scarlet red wings; distinctive, shy brooding bird in north Africa and southern Asia, today also in the Camargue (southern France). It was first mentioned as a rare import by Aristophanes (Av. 270ff.) and also by Cratinus (fr. 114 Kock = 108 Edmonds). The observation of huge flocks made by the Alexander-historian Cleitarchus (FGrH 137 F 21) is reflected tendency (without naming the fla…

[German version] A grey-brown bird, related to the woodpecker, which can turn its neck 180 degrees around like a snake and has two forward pointing and two backward pointing claws on each foot (Aristot. Hist. an. 2,12,504a 11-19; Aristot. Part. an. 4,12,695a 23 f.; Plin. HN 11,256), and was called ἴυγξ/ íynx or κίναιδος/ kínaidos (literally 'lewd person') or κιναίδιον/ kinaídion (Hesych. s.v.), with the Latin loanwords iunx (Laevius fr. 27,3) or iynx. Ael. NA 6,19 has a flute imitate its unique call. With its long tongue and thin beak it catches insects. According…

[German version] (Μενέστωρ; Menéstōr). A Pythagorean from Sybaris, contemporary of Empedocles (5th cent. BC) and according to Iambl. VP 267 the earliest Greek botanist. Three citations in Theophr. Hist. pl., and the four in C. plant. [1. 375f.] show that he distinguished warm plants, i.e. evergreen ones such as ivy and laurel and water plants such as rushes and reeds ( Kalamos [2]) from the other cold ones. He even took into account ecological factors such as different habitats, climate (see esp. Theophr. Caus. pl. 1,21,6) and maturation times. Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliogra…

[German version] The ancient names (μελεαγρίς/ meleagrís, Latin meleagris, synonym: gallinae Africanae or Numididae) actually only meant the common guineafowl ( Numida meleagris L.) ─ in spite of Columella 8,2,2 (cf. [1. 19]) ─ among the total of 23 species spread over southern Asia and the Middle East as well as North and West Africa. The guineafowl was probably introduced to Greece in the 4th cent. BC and only in the 1st cent. BC to Italy (Varro, Rust. 3,9,18, cf. Plin. HN 10,74: ‘the last of the southern birds brou…

(χαμαιλέων; chamailéōn) [German version] [1] Peripatetic, 2nd half of the 4th cent. BC From Heraclea Pontica. Peripatetic of the 2nd half of the 4th cent. BC. He wrote works of a popular/ethical nature and a long series of anecdotal monographs on poets from Homer to  Anaxandrides. His ethical views were conventional, and his entire body of work conditioned by the popularizing tradition of his school.  Aristotelianism Gottschalk, Hans (Leeds) Bibliography Wehrli, Schule 21969, 49-88 F. Wehrli, in: GGPh 3, 555-7. [German version] [2] A reptile found in India and Egypt A reptile found …

[German version] (Greek ὁ, ἡ ὄρτυξ/ ho, hē órtyx, Lat. coturnix). The quail ( Coturnix coturnix) is a very small poultry bird which flies poorly against the wind, seeming to murmur in complaint (cf. Aristot. Hist. an. 8(9),12,597b 14; Plin. HN 10,33). It was believed, on its spring and autumn migrations in the northern Mediterranean region (Aristot. ibid. 597a 22-27), to follow the lead of the landrail ( Crex crex), the 'mother of the quails' (ὀρτυγομήτρα/ ortygomḗtra; Plin. HN 10,33). While migrating, it was caught with nets (Diod. Sic. 1,60) into which it was driven w…

[German version] Latin a. (Plin. HN 16,108: with leaves between holly oak, Ilex, and olive tree, oliva) means evergreen trees and shrubs of the Mediterranean Sea area with stone fruit (Pliny: without fruit!) from the families of the rhamnaceae (especially Rhamnus alaternus L., buckthorn) and the oleaceae ( Phillyrea media L. and angustifolia L.). In Theophr. Hist. pl. 1,9,3 κήλαστρος ( kḗlastros; celastrus) seems to belong to Phillyrea because the celastreae genus Celastrus L. is not found by the Mediterranean Sea. Hort [1] translates the φιλύκη ( philýkē) that follows there as a. Hünem…

[German version] (σαύρα/ saura or σαῦρος/ sauros, Latin lacerta and lacertus, possibly connected with ‘upper arm’, cf. [1. 1,743]). Genus name for various species of reptiles native to the Mediterranean: 1. the common wall lizard ( Lacerta muralis), 2. the green lizard ( L. viridis, χλοροσαύρα/ chlorosaúra), 3. the ocellated lizard that occurs especially in south-western Europe and North Africa ( Lacerta lepida; perhaps mentioned for the first time by Hdt. 4,183), 4. probably the monitor lizard ( Varanus) that is more than 20 cm long and is mentioned by Plin. HN 8,141 ( lacertus Arabiae …

[German version] (γλυκύρριζα; glykýrriza, liquorice). This thirst-quenching asthma, throat and cold medication was produced from the rootstock of certain representatives of the 12-species liquorice genus (Leguminosae), especially G. glabra L. and echinata L. As Σκυθική ( Skythikḗ) or γλυκεῖα ( glykeīa) (sc. ῥίζα; ríza) it supposedly came from Scythia (Theophr. Hist. pl. 9,13,2). Dioscurides 3,5 p. 2,8-10 Wellmann = p. 265 Berendes also recommended it for chest and liver ailments. According to Plin. HN 22,24-26, who knew several prescriptions (cf. 25,82 Scythice = Theophr. ib…

Along with the eagles and falcons, the family of night predator birds is given five main varieties in Aristotle. These were also known to the Romans. [German version] A. Eagle-owls 1. Eagle-owl ( Bubo bubo, βύας/ býas or βρύας/ brýas, derived from the onomatopoeic βύζειν/ býzein, as bubo is from bubulare), the largest, almost eagle-sized kind (Aristot. Hist. an. 7(8),3,592b 9-10). It lives in wastelands, in eerie and inaccessible places (Plin. HN 10,34), on tombs and in caves (Isid. Orig. 12,7,39). Plin. HN 10,35 mentions its imprecise, seeming…

[German version] (Greek τὸ ῥόδον/ tò rhódon, Latin rosa). The first references to the plant, famed for its blossoms and, according to Hehn [1. 253 f.], introduced from Media, are in the Homeric hymn to Demeter (Hom. h. 2,6) and - citing its purple colour - Pind. Isthm. 3/4,36b. According to Hdt. 8,138 (cf. Nic. in Ath. 15,683a-b), the celebrated sixty-petalled scented roses in the so-called 'Garden of Midas' in Macedonia grew in the reign of King Perdiccas [1]. Theophrastus (Hist. pl. 6,6,4) knew a full double rose, allegedly hundred-petalled (cf. Rosa centifolia), from Philippi in th…

[German version] ( acer). Depending on how one classifies them, there are 100-200 species of the hardwood genus Acer L., the names for which in most European languages, including Greek ἄκαστος (ákastos) and Latin acer and ornus, are derived from an Indo-European tree name beginning with an a - not from the adjective acer (with an ā). Apart from the Central European A cer pseudoplatanus L. (sycamore maple), platanoides L. (Norway maple) and campestre L. (field or common maple), in southern Europe one finds, among other species, Acer opalus Mill., monspessulanum L. and orientale L. As deci…

[German version] (σαλαμάνδρα/ salamándra from Persian, Lat. salamandra, identified at an early stage with the gecko, Lat. stellio), presumably the nocturnal fire salamander, Salamandra salamandra, an amphibian of the order Caudata ( Urodela), which is black with large yellow spots. The yellow spots led to the superstition that because of its coldness it could not only live in fire (e.g., Aug. Civ. 21,4) but even extinguish it (Aristot. Hist. an. 5,19,552b 15-17; Plin. HN 10,188; Gp. 15,1,34; cf. Theophr. fr. 3,60 and Ael. NA 2…

[German version] (ἡ ψυχή/ psychḗ, literally ‘soul’ e.g. in Aristot. Hist. an. 5,19,551a 14; νύμφη/ nýmphē, literally ‘young girl’ in Aristot. Gen. an. 3,9,758b 33; Lat. papilio and papiliunculus in Tert. De anima 32). Butterflies and moths is the collective term for the insect order of the Lepidoptera. Despite their certainly large spread in the Mediterranean region, they were not often recorded in scientific treatises in antiquity. Aristot. Hist. an. 5,551a 13-27 (cf. Aristot. Gen. an. 1,18,723b 5f. and 2,1,733b 13-16) correctly assigns them to the insects (ἔντομα/ éntoma, cf. In…

[German version] (ἄγρωστις; ágrōstis, Latin gramen). Already substantiated in Homer for fodder grasses but not the same as the genus of paniculate grasses of the same name that includes more than 100 species. According to the botanical descriptions (Dioscorides 4,29 [1. 2,192] = 4,30 [2. 381], Apuleius among others), the term refers to cereal plants like couch grass ( Agropyron = Triticum repens L. according to Sprengel [in 2. 381]) or luxuriantly growing cinquefoil ( Cynodon Dactylon, Panicum Dactylum L.), according to Fraas [2. 381] the hippagrostis of the herbal books of t…

(ὁ λύκος/ lýkos, ἡ λύκαινα/ lýkaina, diminutive λυκιδεύς/ lykideús, occasionally σκύλαξ/ skýlax, 'young animal'; Latin lupus, lupa and lupus femina, e.g. Enn. Ann. 1,68; Etym.: leo + pes, 'lion-foot', in Isid. Orig. 12,3,23). Large and feared land predators, wolves were known by first-hand experience to all peoples in Antiquity. Only Opp. Cyn. recognizes five species. Plin. HN 8,84 and 11,202 mentions a Gaulish lupus cervarius and distinguishes it from the Aethiopian wolf, in reality a jackal (cf. θῶες/ thôes in Aristot. Hist. an. 6,35,580a 26-31). The lycaones (Plin. HN 8,123; M…

[German version] (Greek μυγαλῆ/ mygal, Lat. sorex or Old Latin saurex and mus araneus, 'spider mouse'). Due to its secretive habit, this insectivore family of mammals with various species was hardly known in Antiquity. It was often confused with the ordinary mouse. Pliny describes the ears of the sorex as hairy (HN 11,136) and the tip of the tail as similar to that of the cow or lion (ibid. 11,265). Their hibernation is correctly mentioned by Plin. HN 8,223 (referring only to the garden shrew [1. 175]). Much superstition and magic was reported: supposedly, egrets ( ardeola) and shrews pre…

[German version] The fig has been indigenous to southern Europe since at least the Neolithic period, as documented by fruit discoveries from Lerna, the Argolid and the Bronze Age at the Mincio. The first literary references are in the Odyssey (e.g. Hom. Od. 11,588; 12,103). The fig is represented by two deciduous species of the genus Ficus of the Moraceae: (a) Ficus carica L. as ἐρινεός ( erineós), the goat fig as a wild form besides to the συκῆ ( sykê), the cultivated eating fig that was pollinated by a male plant ( caprificus) of (a). (b) the sycamore or mulberry fig, Ficus sycomorus L. (συκόμορ…

[German version] (βατράχιον/ batráchion = σέλινον ἄγριον/ sélinon ágrion in Dioscorides), buttercup, crowfoot. The widespread family of the Ranunculaceae has more than 100 species in Greece and Italy. The Greek and Latin names for the plant seem to be derived from' frog' (βάτραχος/ bátrachos, Lat. rana), owing to its preference for damp locations. Dioscorides (2,175 Wellmann = 2,206 Berendes) and Pliny (HN 25,172 f.) describe the appearance of four species; it is impossible today to determine exactly which. The leaves and stems in poultice…

[German version] [1] Carthaginian settlement on the west coast of Sardinia This item can be found on the following maps: Sardinia et Corsica | Coloniae (It. Ant. 84,1; Corni: Anonymous of Ravenna 5,26; Guido 64; at Ptol. 3,3,7). Carthaginian settlement on the west coast of Sardinia, eighteen miles from each Tharros and Bosa, today S'Archittu (Cuglieri). Founded at the end of the 6th cent. BC, C. was extended to become a city protected by strong walls, which Liv. 23,40f. calls the caput eius regionis, capital city of that thickly wooded region (the Montiferru). In the summer of…

[German version] Pliny (HN 10,97 = Sol. 33,15) reports -- taking up the work of Ps.-Aristotle (Hist. an. 9,13 p. 616a 6-13 = 8,5 of the Arabic-Latin translation of Michael Scotus) -- about the cinnamon bird cinnamolgus (κιννάμωμον ὄρνεον; kinnámōmon órneon) in Arabia that builds its nest in high trees of twigs from the  cinnamon and which the inhabitants shot down with lead arrows for profit. Through Isid. Orig. 12,7,23 this fairytale went into the extended Latin  Physiologus of Ps.-Hugo of St. Victor (3,30 [1. 95], cf. [2. 103f.]) an…

[German version] (χάννη, χάννα; chánnē, chánna). A fish of the perch family, perhaps the comber ( Serranus cabrilla), according to Aristot. Hist. an. 8,13,598a 13 a saltwater fish that, according to 8,2,591a 10, was carnivorous. Ath. 7,327f emphasizes its large mouth, the black and red stripes as well as, in 8,355c, its tender flesh. As no males were known -- the channe indeed is a hermaphrodite -- it was thought that the female fertilized itself (Aristot. Hist. an. 4,11,538a 19; Plin. HN 9,56 and 32,153, according to Ov. Halieutica 108). Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography L…

[German version] (ἀψίνθιον/ apsínthion or ἡ ἄψινθος/ ápsinthos or ἀψινθία/ apsinthía, Latin absinthium since Plaut. Trin. 935) describes popular spices and medicinal plants in several of the roughly 200 species of the Artemisia [3] genus in the Compositae family. Predominant was Artemisia absinthum L., which appears on the Greek mainland as Artemisia arborescens L. The yellow-flowered herbaceous plant reaches a height of about 1.20 m and has lancet-shaped leaves with silvery hair, which contain aromatic and bitter substances. Cappadocia and Pontus…

[German version] This songbird family is represented in the Mediterranean by only two varieties: (a) the grey ( Muscicapa striata Pall.) and (b) the collared flycatcher ( M. albicollis Temminck). The two were not distinguished in antiquity, thus it is impossible to identify them either in zoological records or in ancient illustrations (for instance on mosaics [1. vol. 2, 119]). The ancient name συκαλλίς/ sykallís, ficedula is based on the assumption, already indirectly refuted by Aristotle (Hist. an. 8(9),3,592b 21f. and 28f.) that it eats figs. Aristotle's c…

[German version] (Sumerian iagin > Akkadian uqnû > Greek κύανος/ kýanos > Lat. cyanus; Egyptian ḫsbḏ). The blue rock is a complicated silicate related to the artificial ultramarine. It is characterized by its more or less deep blue colour, often with golden specks of iron pyrite. Lapis lazuli (LL) was extracted in what is present-day Afghanistan/province of Badaḫšān and in the Afghan-Pakistani borderland (Quetta), brought from there to the Near East and to Egypt via the Sinai. It was traded raw, separated from…

[German version] (Μαγνῆτις/ magnêtis or Ἡρακλεία λίθος/ Hērakleía líthos; Lat. magnes). The name magnes supposedly comes from the homonymous discoverer, a shepherd on the mountain of Ida in the Troad (according to Nicander in Plin. HN 36,127) whom Isid. Orig. 16,4,1 holds to be a person from the Indus. The magnet is the well-known stone of iron oxide (Fe3O4) that attracts normal iron and, as ferrum vivum, ‘magnetizes’ the iron in its turn (Plin. HN 34,147; Isid. ibid.; Lucr. 6,910-914). Plin. HN 36,128 differentiates, with the Greek stone expert Sotacus, five …

[German version] Egyptian mongoose ( Herpestes ichneumon, first mentioned under the name ἰχνεύμων by Aristot. Hist. an. 6,35,580a 25, but also ἰχνευτής/-ήρ; ichneutḗs/-ḗr), viverrid with dog-like feeding habits, in Egypt and, according to Vitr. De arch. 8,2,7, also in Morocco. The ichneumon stays mostly in the reeds and likes to raid poultry farms. In Egypt, it was known as the ferocious enemy of the crocodile, into whose open jaws it was said to creep and kill by consumption of its entrails (Str. 17,812; Diod. Sic. …

[German version] A. General The class Crustacea of the arthropod family, to be found, in many varieties, mainly in the sea but also in freshwater. The Greeks called them 'soft-shelled' (μαλακόστρακα/ malakóstraka, Aristot. Hist. an. 1,6,490b 10-12 and passim; Speusippus in Ath. 3,105b; erroneously as ὀστρακόδερμα/ ostrakóderma, Ael. NA 9,6 following Aristot. Hist. an. 7(8),17,601a 17f., where these names are meant, however to distinguish different types of crab). The Romans used contecta crustis tenuibus (Plin. HN 9,83) or crustis intecta (Plin. HN 9,43) or crustata (Plin. HN 1…

(Σέλευκος/ Séleukos, Lat. Seleucus). [German version] [1] Co-regent in the Regnum Bosporanum, c.400 BC Co-regent with Satyrus [2] I in the Regnum Bosporanum, 433/2-393/2 BC (according to Diod. Sic. 12,36,1). As Satyrus is elsewhere (Diod. Sic, 14,93,1) described as a sole ruler, and other sources do not mention his name, his existence is not certain. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography V. F. Gajdukevič, Das Bosporanische Reich, 1971, 231  E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks, 1913, 571  R. Werner, Die Dynastie der Spartokiden, in: Historia 4, 1955, 419-421. …

[German version] This flying fish, mentioned by Pliny in HN 9,82 together with the flying gurnard ( hirundo, Dactylopterus volitans, Aristot. Hist. an. 4,9,535b 27-29; cf. Opp. Hal. 2,459 and Ael. NA 2,50) and often confused with it, is identical, it seems, with the hiérax (two-winged flying fish, Exocoetus volitans Cuv., Opp. Hal. 1,427f.; Ael. NA 9,52) [1. 140 and 145f.]. Further information is lacking, apart from the fish's wariness of hidden hooks (Hor. Epist. 1,16,50f.: cautus ... metuit ... opertum milvus hamum). Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography 1 Leitner.

[German version] (ἀσπάλαθος, aspálathos) was the name given in particular to the common gorse Calycotome villosa (modern Greek σπάλαθος, σπαλαθιά) and to C. spinosa (Italian sparzio spinoso) that were widespread in the Mediterranean macchia, as well as thorny species of broom (e.g. Genetha acanthoclados, modern Greek ἀφάνα) and aspalathoides and even  acacia or the rosewoods belonging to other families ( Lignum rosae, L. thuris). In Pl. Resp. 10,616a the Erinyes whip tyrants with it in the Tartarus, in Theoc. 24,89 snakes killed by Hercules are burned with …

[German version] Type of houseleek Sempervivum tectorum (ἀείζωον; aeízōon) with yellow blooms and fleshy, evergreen and moist leaves (Theophr. Hist. pl. 1,10,4 and 7,15,2); derives its name from its heavy covering of hairs. According to Dioscorides 4,87-88 [1. 247ff.] = 4,88-89 [2. 418f.], the leaves of both types (Lat. sedum in Plin. HN 25,160-163) i.a. served externally as cooling and astringent medicines for sores and wounds. Democritus is supposed to have recommended the juice to treat seeds (Plin. HN 18,159). In HN 16,76 Plin. means, however, the bushy silverbush Anthyllis Ba…

(from Latin urere, 'burn'; equivalent of cnide in Plin.  HN 32,146, [1. 91],  Greek ἀκαλήφη/ akalḗphē, κνίδη/ knídē). [German version] [1] Stinging nettle The stinging nettle, with its two differently sized species Urtica dioica and Urtica urens in the Urticaceae family, can be identified with the names urtica silvestris and urtica canina (Plin. HN. 21,92), but not with the herculanea. The species silvestris in particular was used as a drug, its leaves, seeds and roots e.g. for women's illnesses (Hippocr. De morbis mulierum 1,31; 1,51; 1,74 and 2,175), fo…

[German version] (εὐφόρβιον; euphórbion, euphorbea). Name given to the gum resin (Plin. HN 25,77f.) of the cactus-like species of spurge ( Euphorbia resinifera, beaumeriana and antiquorum) which King Juba II of Mauretania found in the Atlas Mountains and is said to have named after his personal physician Euphorbius. Dioscorides 3,82 [1. 98f.] and 3,86 [2. 320f.] however mentions a king of the Libyans of the same name as the person who coined the name. According to Isidorus (Orig. 17,9,26), the name euphorbium is derived from the sharpening of the eye-sight through its sap…

[German version] From Celtic tree names alausa, aliza or alisa the Roman and Germanic names for two genuses of rosaceae are probably derived, namely the whitebeam and the serviceberry ( Sorbus aria and torminalis) and the bird cherry or racemosa ( Prunus padus = Padus racemosa). It is uncertain whether ἄλιζα ( áliza; Hesychius) that is said to also mean alnus (alder) and populus (poplar) also belongs to this. Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) Bibliography Bertoldi, in: Zschr. für Celtische Philol. 17, 1927.

[German version] [1] Son of Maeander (Κάλαμος; Kálamos). Son of the river god  Maeander. When his lover Carpus drowns, C. begs Zeus for a premature death. In response, Zeus turns him into a reed, Carpus into a field fruit (Serv. Ecl. 5,48; Nonn. Dion. 11,370ff.; [2. 279]). In a different myth, C. is the lover of  Cissus [3. 168 n. 2]. Vogeler, Joachim (Baton Rouge, LA) Bibliography 1 H. Meyer, s.v. K., RE 10, 1538 2 J. Murr, Die Pflanzenwelt in der griech. Myth., 1880 3 E. Rohde, Der griech. Roman, 31914. [German version] [2] All types of reeds κάλαμος, Lat. calamus, harundo, canna, the n…

[German version] (Greek δρυ(ο)κολάπτης/ dry(o)koláptēs, 'wood-pecker' at Aristoph. Av. 480 and 979, πιπώ/ pipṓ at Aristot. Hist. an. 7(8),3,593a 4, πελεκᾶς/ pelekâs at Aristoph. Av. 884 and 1155; Latin picus at Plaut. Asin. 260, cf. Ov. Met. 14,314). Aristotle (Hist. an. 7(8),3,593a 3-12) is familiar with two spotted woodpeckers of different sizes (probably Dendrocopos major and minor) and the green woodpecker (κελεός/ keleós, Picus viridis), which is about the size of a turtle dove and is widespread, particularly in the Peloponnesus. Aristot. Hist. an. 8(9)…