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(Ἀρχέλαος; Archélaos). [German version] [1] Macedonian king (ca. 413-399 BC) Son of  Perdiccas, king of Macedonia about 413-399 BC, who according to Plato's spiteful representation (Gorg. 471) was the son of a slave woman and had ascended to the throne by murder. However, he appeared about 415 in a contract with Athens in third place after Perdiccas and his brother Alcetas, i.e. as legitimate (IG I3 89,60). Murdering other pretenders to the throne was not uncommon among the  Argeads, who had no firm rule of succession. He was on a good footing with the Atheni…

This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Macedonia, Macedones | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Oracles | Punic Wars | Athletes | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Ὀλυμπία/ Olympía, Latin Olympia). I. History [German version] A. Prehistory O. was located in the Pisatis (eastern Peloponnese), i.e. in the region of Pisa. The existence and location of Pisa  was already disputed in antiquity. However, the town is an important element in the myth of the origin of the shrine of O. and the games held there (Oenomaus [1], …

[German version] (Πισύη/ Pisýē). Carian city, capital of a local koinón (together with Pladasa, [3. 443 no. 19]; other koiná were led by Mobolla and Idyma); occupied for a short time in 201 by Philippus [7] V, then regained by Rhodes (Syll.3 586; [2. no. 151]), belonging to the region of Rhodian Peraia subjugated on the basis of the Apameia agreement in 188 BC (Antiochus [5] III.) (Steph. Byz. s.v. Π., according to him also Πιτύη/ Pitýē, ethnicon Πισυήτης/ Pisyḗtēs; Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos, De Thematibus 14,33). Archaeology: traces of the acropolis, a theatre, site…

(Λύκαστος; Lýkastos). [German version] [1] City in Crete City in Crete (Steph. Byz. s.v. Λ.; Plin. HN 4,59; Mela 2,113), about 11 km south of Knossos, modern Kanli Kastelli. In Hom. Il. 2,647 participant in the Trojan War. Autonomous in phases but mostly dependent on Knossos and belonging to its territory. In 184 BC, conquered by Gortyn (Pol. 22,19) until revised by Roman arbitration [1]. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 A. Chaniotis, Die Verträge zw. kret. Poleis in der hell. Zeit, 1996, 281-285, no. 40. I. F. Sanders, Roman Crete, 1992, 154. [German version] [2] River River f…

[German version] (Ζαρκαῖον ὄρος; Zarkaîon óros). Craggy mountains between Chauon (modern Ḫōy in Iran) and Ecbatana (Diod. 2,13,5), and therefore a chain in the northern Zagrus mountains in Media. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliography H. Treidler, s. v. Z.o., RE 9 A, 2328.

I. Archaeology and urban studies [German version] A. Definition and Function Latin term for market, market place; rarely also the forecourt of a tomb (in the meaning of Greek drómos, e.g. Cic. Leg. 2,61) or part of a wine press (Varro, Rust. 1,54; Columella 11,2,71). As the mercantile and administrative centre of a Roman city ( Town/City), the forum, which took the form of a large open space framed by buildings, was essentially the equivalent of the Greek  agora. A location at the intersection of the   decumanus and   cardo in the city centre is the rule in …

[German version] (Κορινθιακὸς κόλπος; Korinthiakòs Kólpos). According to Str. 8,2,3, the Gulf of C. (the eastern section of which is today called Gulf of C., the western section ‘Gulf of Patras’ [Πατραϊκὸς κόλπος], was held to begin at the estuary of the Achelous or the Evenus on the coast of central Greece and Araxus (today the Cape of the same name Ἄκρα Ἄραξος) on the Peloponnesian coast, at a width of 10 km and a maximum depth of 133 m. The two coastlines approach each other at Antirrhion and Rhion to within c. 2 km (ancient reckoning: 5 stadia/ 925 m, Str. loc. cit.; maximum 7 stadia/1295…

[German version] Town in  Latium, west of   mons Albanus ; exact location unknown (near  Bovillae?). A. was destroyed by  Tarquinius Priscus (HRR Valerius Antias F 11; Str. 5,3,4: Ἀπίολα; Apíola; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,49,2; Liv. 1,35,7); with the booty from A. he undertook the construction of the Capitoline Temple, and held magnificent games. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 2, 1902, 563.

(Ἰνδός; Indós). [German version] [1] The Indus The River Indus. Probably from Old Indian Sindhu (for the etymology cf.  India); the Indian name is better attested as Sindus in Plin. HN 6,71, than Σίνθος; Sínthos in Peripl. m.r. 38; 40 and as Σίνδων/Σίνθων; Síndōn/ Sínthōn in Ptol. 7,1,2 (here a branch of the delta). According to general Greek opinion (with the exception of  Megasthenes), the I. is the largest river in India, known to the Greeks since the end of the 6th cent. BC (Scylax in Hdt. 4,44). The lower reaches for instance downstr…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Byzantium | | Commerce | Hellenistic states | Asia Minor | Limes | Patricius | Rome (Ἀμάσεια; Amáseia). City with fortress on the west bank of the  Iris (Yeşil İrmak) in  Pontus (today Amasya), residence of the Mithridatids ( Mithridates). The fortress lies where the river breaks through a part of the northern Anatolian foothills c. 250 m above the city; the city and the fortress were enclosed by a Hellenistic defensive wall (still well preserved today). Not mentioning the five monumenta…

[German version] [1] Social class Penestai (πενέσται/ penéstai, sing. πενέστης/ penéstēs) is probably etymologically related to the word πένης ( pénēs), 'poor'. Penestai was applied as the collective term for the class of dependent Greeks who formed the economic and military foundation of the aristocracy in the towns of Thessaly (Crannon, Larissa, Pherae). Dionysius [18] of Halicarnassus compared them with the thétai and pelátai at Athens (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,9); they were thus accorded the social status of dependents or clientes. Most ancient authors, esp. Theopompus (FG…

[German version] [1] Fish Fish (Greek ἰχθῦς/ ichthŷs; Latin piscis) was a common food in Greece and Rome, certain fishes in Rome were even considered a luxury food. This explains the Greek curiosity about neighbouring cultures such as Egypt or Syria, where conspicuous food prohibitions were observed and generalized (priests in Egypt: Hdt. 2,37; Plut. De Is. et Os. 7, 353b; Plut. Symp. 8,8,2; Syria: Ov. Fast. 2,473f.; Porph. De abstinentia 2,61 etc.) that probably relate to the worship of fish in these cu…

[German version] (Νεβρώδη ὄρη/ Nebrṓdé όrē). Densely-wooded mountains, which ‘rise opposite Etna, lower than it, but broader’ (Strab. 6,2,9); the modern Monti Nébrodi and Monti Madoníe in north-western Sicily (north-west of Etna), where according to Sil. 14,236f. both rivers known as Himeras rose. Probably named after nebrós/νεβρός, ‘stag’ (Solin. 5,12). Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Falco, Giulia (Athens) Bibliography K. Ziegler, s.v. N., RE 16, 2157.

[German version] (Καῖνυς; Kaînys). The Italian foothills (modern Punta del Pezzo), from where the shortest distance between the mainland and Sicily ( Pelorias) across the  fretum Siculum was measured (Str. 6,1,5: 6 stades; Thuc. 6,1: 20 stades; Plin. HN 3,73: 12 stades; ibid. 86: 1.5 miles -- the modern measurement is about 3.2 km). Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen, vol. 2, 962.

[German version] (Ξερξήνη; Xerxḗnē). Region in Greater Armenia (cf. Armenia A.) on the upper reaches of the Euphrates (Str. 11,14,5; Plin. HN 5,83: Derzene; Steph. Byz. s. v. Καμβυσήνη; s. v. Ξ.) in the plain around modern Tercan. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliography H. Treidler, s. v. X., RE 9 A, 2094-2096.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Oracles (Κλᾶρος; Klâros). Ionian sanctuary of  Apollo Klarios (since the protogeometric period, 10th cent. BC) with oracle (flowering 2nd cent. AD) in the territory of  Colophon, on the coastal plain of Ahmetbeyli. Well attested in literature and epigraphy (cf. h. Hom. ad Apollinem 1,40; h. Hom. ad Dianam 5; Thuc. 3,33; Str. 14,1,27; Paus. 7,3; Iambl. Myst. 3,11; Aristid. 3,317 Jebb; Tac. Ann. 2,54,2f.: Germanicus in C. in AD 18). Archaeological …

(Στρατονίκη; Stratoníkē). [German version] [1] Daughter of Alexander [2] I, c. 500 BC Daughter of the Macedonian king Alexander [II 2] I. In the winter of 429/8 BC, she was married by her brother Perdiccas [2] II to Seuthes [1], nephew of the Odrysian king Sitalces [1], in exchange for Seuthes' having achieved the withdrawal of Thracian troops from Macedonia (Thuc. 2,101,5 f.). Zahrnt, Michael (Kiel) [German version] [2] Wife of Antigonus [1], 4th cent. BC Daughter of one Corrhagus, married to Antigonus [1], mother of Demetrius [2] Poliorketes and a Philippus, who died…

(also Mithradates; Μιθριδάτης/ Mithridátēs, Μιθραδάτης/ Mithradátēs ). The personal name Μιθραδάτης is Persian - coins [4. 10-17] attest to the original spelling. Inscriptions, (Syll.3 709 passim; 741,14,23; 742,4; 12) sporadically give Μιθριδάτης, even contemporary ones (Greek ILS 37,8, Latin ILS 38,28; 60,5; 9), which is the form found in most later documents (Syll.3 785,10) and manuscripts. The change α/ι is due to weakening of vowels at the morpheme boundary, demonstrable from the 5th century onwar…

[German version] Ligurian Celtic people settled around the mouth of the Rhodanus, whose king Nannus and his son Comanus appear in the founding legend of Massalia  (Iust. 43,3,4-13,  cf.  Aristot. fr. 503 R.). A connection with terms such as Segovii, Segobriga and Segovia is discussed. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliography G. Barruol, Les peuples préromains du sud-est de la Gaule, 1969, 207 f.  D. Pralon, La légende de la fondation de Marseille, in: M. Bats et al. (eds.), Marseille greque et la Gaule (Études Massaliètes 3), 1992, 51-56.

[German version] (Φαρνάκεια/ Pharnákeia, Φαρνακία/ Pharnakía, Latin Pharnacea). Port on the southern coast of the Black Sea (Pontos Euxeinos), founded by Pharnaces [1] I, probably after the occupation of Sinope in 183 BC while incorporating the population of Cotyora (Str. 2,5,25; 7,6,2; 11,2,18; 12,3,13-19; 28-30; 14,5,22; Ptol. 5,6,5; Plut. Lucullus 18,2; Plin. HN 6,11; 32). According to the information on distances in Xen. An. 5,3,2 (cf. also Peripl. m. Eux. 34), however, P. was not on the soil of Ce…