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[German version] I. Botanical Ivy (κισσός/ kissós, ἕλιξ/ hélix, Latin hedera) represents the only European genus of Araliaceae. English ‘ivy’ as well as German Efeu and Eppich (another word for ivy;  Celery) are derived from Old High German ebihouui or eboue. Because of confusion with the rock-rose mentioned in Theophrastus (κίσθος/ kísthos, Hist. pl. 6,2,1), Pliny (HN 16,145) distinguishes between a male ( hedera mas) and a somewhat smaller female form ( h. femina). In his further statements on ivy, he also follows Theophrastus who in turn regards the ivy as being r…

[German version] (Εύγνωστος; Eúgnōstos) The name of the author of a letter (‘The blessed E. to his people’) that has twice been passed down to us in the Coptic library of Nağ Ḥammādī (III 70,1-90,13 and, in a much worse condition, V 1-17). The letter, which was probably written in the late 1st or in the early 2nd cent. AD, contains ─ following the rejection of the philosophical teachings regarding the rulership of the world ─ a cosmogony described as a revelation of the ‘God of Truth’ that consider…

[German version] (Ἵπτα; Hípta) Goddess of western Asia Minor, probably developed out of the old Anatolian Ḫepat, a form of the Great Goddess. Mentioned on inscriptions only in Lydia as Mḗtēr H. and apparently related to  Sabazius. In the Orphic myths, she appears as a wet-nurse, to whom Zeus hands the new-born Dionysus. On her head is a basket entwined with snakes ( líknon) (Orph. fr. 199). She is addressed by the so-called Orphic hymns as the wet-nurse of Dionysus - son of Sabazius or the same - who resides on the Tmolus or the Ida Mountains ( Orphism) (Or…

(Αἴθων; Aíthōn), ‘the fiery one’. [German version] [1] Great-grandfather of Odysseus Great-grandfather of Odysseus, under whose name Odysseus appeared unrecognized before Penelope (Hom. Od. 19,183). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Epithet of  Erysichthon, also son of Helios After the ‘burning hunger’ epithet of  Erysichthon (since Hellanicus FGrH 4 F 7). Suidas (s. v.) makes him a son of Helios. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [3] Epic horse name Epic horse name (‘fire fox’) after Hector's horse (Hom. Il. 8,185); later poets gave this na…

[German version] (ὕψιστος; hýpsistos, ‘the highest’) can be conferred as an adjective on every god, but, since later Hellenism, is above all the epigraphically attested epiclesis of  Zeus as mountain god or high god, and the name of a god ( theòs hýpsistos) who can be identical to Zeus H., but can also indicate the Jewish or Christian God; a distinct differentiation is often difficult. A complete study of the material which has grown enormously since the first analyses, and which L. Robert has announced on numerous occasions, has still not appeared [1]. Zeus is consistently identified a…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General The magic of the ancient Orient and of Egypt is based on a view of the world that runs counter to that of religion. In the world-view of magic, men, gods and demons are tied to each other and to the cosmos by sympathies and antipathies, whereas in the religious world view everything is created by the gods for their own purposes; the relations between men and the cosmos are the result of deliberate actions of the gods. In the practice of religion, however, b…

[German version] (Ἀστραία; Astraía, Latin: Astraea). In the Myth of the Ages in Hes. Op. 197-200, Aidos and Nemesis desert humanity in the Iron Age; in Arat. Phaen. 105 it is Dike, and Ovid Met. 1,149f. calls the constellation Virgo Astraea (cf. Fast. 1,249: Iustitia), as Juv. 6,19f. later also does when he calls A. the sister of Pudicitia (Αἰδώς). Verg. Ecl. 34,6 had imagined the return of Virgo at the beginning of the new Golden Age. All the Roman representations are based on Arat. Phaen. 96-98 which equates Dike with the constellation of Virgo (Parthe…

[German version] (ᾈδωνεύς; Aidōneús). Another name of   Hades. In a rationalistic interpretation of the myth of how Theseus and Peirithous descend into the underworld, in order to steal Persephone, and in so doing were overcome and chained, he is the king of the Molossians, whose wife the two heroes wanted to abduct (Plut. Theseus 31,4. 35, according to an Atthidographer [1]). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 C. Ampolo, in: Id, M. Manfredini, Plutarco. Le vite di Teseo e di Romolo, 1988, 252.

(Δῖα, Δία; Dîa, Día). [German version] [1] Female equivalent of Zeus The female equivalent of  Zeus, as Diwiya on the Linear B inscriptions from Pylos and Knossos, with her own sanctuary, just as  Poseidon also has his female counterpart in the Mycenaean pantheon [1]. In the post-Mycenaean period the three heroines who can be linked with the Mycenaean goddess by name, are all linked with Zeus, but the individual derivation is problematical. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Heroine in the local cults of Phlius and Sicyon The heroine is most likely D. in the local cult…

[German version] (αἶσα; aîsa), ‘Share’, ‘Portion’ (in the language of epic and in border dialects): the destiny allotted by the deity (Hom. Il. 9,608 Diós aísa); therefore synonymous with  Moira. From Homer on, she is personified as spinner of the threads of destiny (Il. 20,127 f.; in Od. 7,196 f. connected to the Clothes, the ‘Spinners’), but differentiated from the Moira Clotho, ‘Spinner’ (Hes. Theog. 905). In Aeschylus she is connected as ‘Bearer of the (avenging) sword’ with Dike and Erinys (Choeph. 647 ff.). From t…

(Αὐτόλυκος; Autólykos). [German version] [1] Son of Hermes and Chione Son of Hermes and Chione (or Philonis, who also bore the singer  Philammon to Apollo, Hes. fr. 64,14). He was included in various mythical family circles, as the father of  Odysseus' mother Anticlea (Hom. Od. 11,85), of  Jason's mother Polymede (Apollod. 1,107) and of Aesimus, the father of  Sinon. He gives the newborn Odysseus his name, and it is whilst hunting with his sons on Mount Parnassus that Odysseus receives the wound in his th…

[German version] Festival of the city of Rome, celebrated on July 7 ( Nonae), a festival of ritual reversal resembling the Saturnalia; its main characteristics were sacrifices by women (Varro, Ling. 6,18), a festive meal under a wild fig-tree, and by the major role of female slaves in begging processions and mock battles (Plut. Camillus 33; Romulus 29,9; Macrob. Sat. 1,11,36-40) [1]. The aitia in Plutarch and Macrobius link the festival to an attack by the Latin towns immediately after the departure of the G…

I. Law [German version] A. Concept Interpretatio is interpretation, not only of texts but also of oral declarations and other matters of legal import. The topos of simple truth requiring no mediator (Petron. Sat. 107,15) does not apply to the specialist knowledge of astrologers (cf.  Divination), philologists (on both: Cic. Div. 1,34; 2,92) and jurists (Cic. Leg. 2,59). At the end of the Republic, the words interpres (‘interpreter’) and interpretari (‘to interpret’) become conflated into the abstract interpretatio [3. 80ff., 91ff.]; this is already true of legal interpre…

[German version] Italian goddess whose worship in places other than Rome is attested to in various towns in central Italy (Agnone, Amiternum, Furfo, Pompeii). The blossom ( flos) to which her name refers is related by the ancient sources to grain (Aug. Civ. 4,8), wine (Lactant. Div. inst. 1,20,7) or any flowering (Fast. Praenestini on 28th April). It is not just in Rome that she is closely connected to  Ceres: in Agnone she is called F. Cerialis (dat. Fluusaí Kerríiai), in Rome her main temple is situated directly with those of Ceres and Liber [1]. She is connected with  R…

(Ἄγρων; Ágrōn). [German version] [1] Mythical figure: inhabitant of Cos Lived with his father Eumelus and his two sisters Meropis and Byssa on the island of Cos. They worshipped only Gaia, rejected the cult of the other gods and scorned Hermes as a thief, Athena as owl-eyed and Artemis as a moth, even when the deities appeared to them in human form. As punishment, they were transformed into birds, A. into a plover (Ant. Lib. 15 according to Boeus, ‘Ornithogony’). Hyginus (Astron. 2,16) adds the mother Echedemeia. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Legendary Lydian king Legendar…

[German version] (Ἀμφιτρίτη; Amphitrítē). Sea goddess and ruler of the aquatic creatures (Hom. Od. 3,91 and passim), daughter of Nereus and the Oceanid Doris (Hes. Theog. 243). By Poseidon, mother of Triton (Hes. Theog. 930-933; daughter Rhode: Apollod. 1,28; daughter Benthesicyme: Apollod. 3,201); later she is regarded, more in line with her importance, as mother of the Nereids (Ps.-Arion 21 = PMG 939,11). The local myth tells that Poseidon kidnapped her when he saw her dance on Naxos with the oth…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General remarks Several hundred prayers have been preserved from the ancient Orient, dating from as far back as the 3rd millennium BC. In some cases, the history of their texts can be traced back for several centuries. A variety of genres usually classified as lamentations, hymns, etc., are actually prayers, since lamentations or hymns of praise to a deity simply represent the occasion for a following prayer, which constitutes the underlying reason for that hymn or lamentation. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) [German version] B. Egypt Invocations of th…

[German version] (Ἀστράβακος; Astrábakos). Spartan hero, Agiad, son of Irbus, brother of Alopecus. His shrine was situated next to the house of king Ariston; according to the Spartan tradition, modelled on Pharaonic myth, A. was the real father of Ariston's son  Demaratus (Hdt. 6,68f.). According to the Hellenistic aition for the flagellation ritual for Artemis Orthia, A. and Alopecus had found the Taurian cult image of Artemis (Paus. 3,16,3-9). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography W. Burkert, Demaratos, A. und Herakles. Königsmythos und Politik zur Zeit der Perser…

[German version] (Γενετυλλίς; Genetyllís). The Genetyllides (pl.) were Attic goddesses, linked, as their name indicates, to birth and fertility. Their sanctuary was situated on Cape Colias. They were venerated by women in an exuberant celebration and received the sacrifice of a dog. Closely related in function were the Phocaean Gennaides (Paus. 1,1,5), and in particular  Eileithyia, who also received canine sacrifices. Documentary evidence: Aristoph. Lys. 2; Aristoph. Nub. 52; Aristoph. Thesm. 130 with schol.; Paus. 1,1,5 with schol.; Hsch., Suda s.v. G. Graf, Fritz (Columbus…

[German version] (Ἄργυννος; Árgynnos). Beautiful Boeotian youth. Agamemnon fell in love with him in Aulis and forgot his army. When A. drowned in the Boeotian Cephisus, Agamemnon established an Aphrodite Argynnis cult (Phanocles fr. 5 Powell, cf. Prop. 3,7,22). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)