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[German version] A. Introduction The etymology of superstitio cannot be determined with any certainty (from superstes in the extended sense of the 'remains left' after a sacrifice, or from superstitiosus in the sense of 'telling fortunes or prophesying': Cic. Nat. D. 2,28,72). It is of no particular relevance for our understanding of the concept in different contexts [1. 387; 5. 633; 7. 101], as the discourse of ancient commentators is based on various concepts of superstitio. Outside the field of religion, into Late Antiquity (and beyond) superstitio and superstitiosus are used in…

[German version] Cave sanctuaries existed in antiquity in two contexts in particular: firstly as ‘sacred caves’ of the Bronze Age and Neolithic cultures, as well as of the Minoan palace period in Crete, and secondly as ‘initiation caves’ in the archaic period and classical Greek periods, later also in the Roman West. The caves of Minoan Crete in particular have been relatively well researched. Fifteen caves are definitely confirmed there (incl. the caves of Skotinó at Knossos, and the caves of Vernapheto and Kamares), whilst it is assumed that additional caves exist [1. 55ff.]. In the caves, votive offerings were found of clay vessels, grain remnants and animal bones. The best-known cave is probably the so-called ‘cave of Zeus’ on Cretan Ida. According to mythological traditions of antiquity, Zeus was supposed to have been brought up there by the  Curetes (Str. 10,4,8; Diod. Sic. 5,70,2 and 4; Paus. 5,7,6). A special feature of this cave is that it continued to be frequented in the post-Minoan period, and from the 8th cent. ‘sacrificial festivals invol…

[German version] Apart from the   comitia curiata the earliest form of the Roman people's Assembly convened by the   pontifices twice yearly [1. 215] (about 6th-4th cents. BC). The calata comitia (CC) take their name from the word calare (‘to call’; cf. Fest. p. 251 s.v. procalare) that was common in priestly language etc. in conjunction with the ‘proclamation’ of the dies fasti ( Calendar) [2. 312]. The sources have passed down to us the occasions for the convening of the CC -- the   inauguratio of the rex (later of the rex sacrorum) and the so-called ‘great Flamines’ of Rome (Gell. …

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[German version] (from dedicare, ‘dedicate/consecrate’). In Latin texts (inscriptions and literature) the most frequent expression for the transfer of objects and property (plots of land, temples, altars, v…

[German version] Verbal noun of consecrare, ‘to dedicate, to declare as sacrum’; a legal act by magistrates -- often together with  pontifices -- in which the consecrated object was withdrawn from worldly/human use. A specifically Roman procedure, since in Roman understanding temples, cult images, altars and cult instruments did not have an ‘autogenous’ sacred quality. A differentiation by content between conse…

[German version] In its oldest source, the   senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus from 186 BC, the Latin word bacchanal is used in the singular to designate a place of cult worship (Schuhmacher, Roman Inscription II 11). In the plural, it designates religious groups and cult rituals (Macrob. Sat. 1,18,1-5). The term …

[German version] (προμαντεία/ promanteía). Privilege, first awarded in recognition of special merits in the 5th cent. BC by Delphi to cities (Plut. Pericles 21,2), and …

[German version] The word grotto is borrowed from Greek kryptós (‘concealed, hidden’; Italian grotta, French grotte). Grotto is occasionally used as a synonym for cave but it mostly describes in particular caves with natural or artificially irrigation. In religious history grottos appear in the following contexts: 1. Grotto sanctuaries of the prehistoric period: here it is worth mentioning the cult sites of north-western European peoples that were situated in grottos and often painted with religious and mythological motifs of the hunt [1; 2], as well as the grotto sanctuaries of the Minoan palace culture on Crete. Here especially the grotto of Psychro has become known because of the rich votive finds [3. 55f.; 4. 54ff.]. 2. Grotto cults in conjunction with the  Nymphs and the reception within Greece of the Arcadian god  Pan: characteristic of the cult sites is their position outside urban civilization that was partly consciously chosen because of the ‘wild’ and ‘anti-civilized’ character of the deities [5. 75ff.], unless these were older (spring) sanctuaries that were situated in the ‘wilderness’ anyway [6.509ff.]. Between the 5th and 3rd cents. BC there is evidence, starting from Athens, of a series of privately used grotto sanctuaries in Attica that were frequented exclusively by (free) women (cf. Men. Dys. 260ff.; 407-418) [5. 233ff.]. 3. Grotto as an ‘imaginary place’ in poetry and architecture: to this belongs, for example, the so-called Grotta di Tiberio near Terracina, an artificially laid out grotto that served as mythological scenery for banquets within the scope of villa architecture (a total of four marble groups, of which three depicted adventures of Odysseus) [7. 32f.] or the so-called Blue Grotto on Capri, probably a sea nymphaeum belonging to a Roman villa that is possibly also meant in Sil. 7,419ff. [8. 137f.]. In Renaissance and Baroque gardens (e.g. garden of the Villa d'Este, Tivoli) as well as in Romanticism grottos fulfilled dec…

[German version] Name of a goddess with several cult-places in central Italy, which were all located outside of municipal centres, as well as a sacred spring in Aquileia. The etymology of her name is as uncertain as the origins…

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[German version] (plural Nutrices). Latin name of female deities who, as wetnurses, were nurturers and protectors of divine or human children. Three areas can be distinguished: (1) in myth, e.g. as a nurse of Jupiter (Amaltheia [1], Ov. Fast. 5,127), also metonymically as ‘nurturing mother earth’ (Hor. Carm. 1,22); (2) in the cult in and around Poetovio, where two shrines and numerous reliefs and inscriptions consecrated to the …

[German version] The etymology and meaning of the term harioli are not clear: harioli is either a diminutive formation of haruspex (  Haruspices ) or it is derived from Latin …

[German version] (πρόμαντις/ prómantis). Greek term for women or men who spoke oracles on behalf of gods. At Delphi (cf. Apollo), the word prómantis was often used as a synonym for the Pythia [1] (e.g. Hdt. 7,141; Paus. 3,4,3 ff.). In literary sources, the term is also used for prophetic figures of other oracles, e.g. in Patara/Lycia (Hdt. 1,182) and by Lake Copais/Thebes (Hdt. 8,135). No specific forms of divination can be associated with the term prómantis [1. 224 ff.]; however, on various occasions literary reports refer to trance-…

[German version] I. Greco-Roman Attempts were made to reconstruct the ancient type of the ‘holy man’ (ἱερὸς ἄνθρωπος/ hieròs ánthrōpos and θεῖος ἀνήρ/ theîos anḗr) or miracle-worker, primarily on the basis of satirical works by Lucianus of Samosata (especially in his ‘Alexander, ‘Peregrinus, and ‘Philopseudes), as well as Philostratus [5]'s vita of Apollonius [14] of Tyana (most recently [1]). The terms most often used by the aforementioned authors for designating miracle-workers and their deeds are forms derived from τέρας (téras; ‘omen, ‘freak, ‘monst…

[German version] MS (= sanctuaries on rises or anticlines) were to be found in various ancient civilizations. Among the oldest monuments known to archeology are…

[German version] (κτίστης; ktístēs). Ktistes (from Greek κτίζειν/ ktízein, ‘to make habitable, to settle’ or ‘to found, set up’) is (next to archēgétēs and oikistḗs; Latin conditor) the term used in the Greek language area in pre-Christian times to describe founders of cities. In inscriptions from the Hellenistic period ktistes also often means founder of games or other public institutions (cf. e.g. CIG 2851). Christian authors use ktistes in the sense of Creator (God) (of the earth, flora, fauna etc.). Ktistes in the sense of city founder could be a god (particularly Apollo), one of the heroes (frequently Hercules) or a human accorded the status of hero, but also a real human being (catalogue in [5. 360-386]). Whilst several cities were considered traditionally to have been founded by gods or heroes and also bore this origin in their name (Hermoupolis, Heliopolis, Heracleia: Menander Rhetor 1,353 Russel/Wilson; Eponymus), for others…

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[German version] I. Ancient Near East and Egypt Votive offerings (VO) to a variety of deities played an important role in the religi

[German version] I. General The word 'sanctuary' is derived, like the French sanctuaire, Italian santuario, etc., from the Latin sanctus ('set off'). On the other h…

Name of a Latin family which belonged to the upper class in Puteoli (Schulze 480). I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] Duumvir of Puteoli 78 BC As duumvir of Puteoli, he entered into a dispute with Cornelius [I 90]  Sulla in 78 BC, who was so upset that he died (Val.Max. 9,3,8; Plut. Sulla 37,3). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] G., Q. Public crier and auctioneer Public crier and auctioneer ( praeco) in the late Republican period (Cicero claims to have known him, Brut. 172). Many anecdotes about his wit and repartee (Cic. De or. 2,244; 28…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General comments In the Near East, idols which functioned as cult images (CI) could be found in central temples, peripheral sanctuaries, private houses, an…

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Old Roman nomen gentile, derived from the prename Marcus. Tradition knows of a patrician branch with the (mythical) king Ancus M. [I 3] and Cn. M. Coriolanus as its most important members. The younger members of the family (from the 3rd cent.) were plebeian without a link to the patrician Marcii being evident. Important families included the Rutili, later also the Censorini, Tremuli, Reges and Rallae. In the Late Republic the family claimed descent from the kings Ancus M. and Numa Pompilius (therefore the cognomen Rex, see M. [I 5]; RRC 346; 425; Suet. Iul. 6,1; [4. 154]) as wel…