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A. Antiquity to Renaissance A.1. IntroductionAntiquity and the Renaissance were high water marks in the history of A. The cosmological worldview, associated with Graeco-Roman polytheism, was in both periods regarded as a form of surrogate religion. While Christian rulers in the West for the most part condemned A. as heresy and only occasionally engaged with it [18], it lived on in Sassanid Persia (AD 227–651) and India. After the Arabs conquered the then hub of scholarship, Alexandria, in AD 642, A. migrated to Constantinople and Baghdad. During the…

[German version] (ἐκλειπτική sc. γραμμή, cf. schol. Arat. 550, p. 323,8 Martin: τὴν μέσην γραμμὴν τοῦ ζῳδιακοῦ; and ThlL V,2, 48,56 ecliptica linea, but mostly ἐκλειπτικὸς sc. κύκλος). One of the five fixed celestial orbits (  kýkloi ), limited by the two tropics and intersecting the equator, i.e. an oblique orbit (λοξός, loxós) whose stars do not rise and set at the same point; it originally referred to the orbit of the sun during its year. The name is derived from the fact that the  eclipses take place on this orbit (Ach.Tat. Isagoga 23, p. 53,…

(Κόνων; Kónōn). [German version] [1] Athenian, after 411/10 BC repeatedly stratēgós Athenian, in 413 BC commander in Naupactus, after 411/10 repeatedly stratēgós. C. was bottled up in 406 by the Peloponnesian fleet in the port of Mytilene and lost 30 ships (Xen. Hell. 1,6,14-23; Diod. Sic. 13,77-79). After Athens' victory at the  Arginusae he was freed. Since he did not participate in the battle, he was not deposed and sentenced to death like the other generals (Xen. Hell. 1,6,38-7,1). He escaped the destruction of …

(Λάσος; Lásos). [German version] [1] L. of Hermione Poet, c. 500 BC in the Argolis (incorrectly in the Suda: Achaia). The Suda places his date of birth in the 58th Oympiad. (548-544 BC). Like Anacreon and Simonides, this Greek poet was under the patronage of Hipparchus in Athens. According to Hdt. 7,6, Onomacritus was expelled by Hipparchus when L. caught him forging oracles of Musaeus. The Schol. Aristoph. Av. 1403 quotes authorities who consider L. the first organizer of dithyrambic choruses positione…

[German version] (ἐπισημασίαι/ episēmasíai, διοσημεῖαι/ diosēmeîai, also σημεῖα/ sēmeîa; Latin signa). The term is used in two ways: to designate a portent of a particular weather phenomenon to be expected, or to refer to a sign expressed by the current weather. The oldest weather forecasts were assembled by the Babylonians on the basis of precise observations (Assurbanipal; Divination; Meteorology), and were often linked with astrological prophecies [6; 7] (Astrology), sometimes compiled in menologies (prophecies by the phase of the moon; cf. calendar [B 2]). The systematic st…

[German version] A. In Superstition Eclipses disturbed the usual regularity of day and night and frightened people as long as they were unable to explain these phenomena. In early times, it was believed that the heavenly bodies suffered under the power of the  demons and attempts were made to end this suffering with banging or loud shouting. On the other hand, Thessalian witches are supposed to have forced the moon down to earth with their magical practices (Pl. Grg. 513a, Hor. Epod. 5,46; 17,77, Ver…

(Ἀντίοχος; Antíochos). [German version] [1] Helmsman in the fleet of  Alcibiades [3] Helmsman in the fleet of  Alcibiades [3]. His indiscipline led to the Athenian defeat at Notion in 407 BC and the subsequent removal of Alcibiades as strategos (Hell. Oxy. 8 Chambers; Xen. Hell. 1,5,11 ff.; Diod. Sic. 13,71; Plut. Alcibiades 10; 35 f.; Lysander 5). Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Bibliography W. M. Ellis, Alcibiades, 1989, 31, 91-93. [German version] [2] I. Soter King of the Seleucids, 281-261 BC Called Soter (‘Saviour’) for his victory over the Galatians -- perhaps the …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In Mesopotamia, the visible stars were combined into constellations; some of these notions about constellations were communicated to other cultures as early as the 2nd millennium BC and, through Greek-Roman transmission, are still common today. The constellations of the  zodiac ─ Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Pisces ─ can be traced back to Babylonian models, also the Big Dipper ( Ursa Maior), the Raven, and the Eagle, among others. Babylonian  lists of constellations have existed since the early 2nd mille…

[German version] Claudius Balbillus, Tiberius. Praefectus Aegypti AD 55-59; games were held in Ephesus after 70 (Βαλβιλλεῖα; Balbilleîa) in his honour. Sen. Q Nat. 4,2,13 praises his erudition, therefore identified by Cichorius i.a. [2; 3; 9. 39] against [10] with the son of Thrasyllus, the astrologer of emperors Claudius (he comes to him in 41 as envoy of the Alexandrians to Rome), Nero and Vespasianus. His writings, addressed to a certain Hermogenes, were called Ἀστρολογούμενα ( Astrologoúmena). Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) Bibliography Fragments : 1 F. Cumont, CCAG VIII 4, 23…

(Διονύσιος; Dionýsios). Famous personalities: D. [1], the tyrant of Syracuse; the historian D. [18] of Halicarnassus. Dionysios (month),  Months, names of the. The chronicle of Ps.-D. by Tell Maḥre see D. [23]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] D. I. Notorious tyrant in Syracuse c. 400 BC of Syracuse, son of Hermocritus, born in c. 430 BC, died in 367 BC. Founder of the ‘greatest and longest tyrannical rule in history’ (Diod. Sic. 13,96,4; appearance: Timaeus FGrH 566 F 29). Possessing a sophist education (Cic. Tusc. 5,63), D. had enormous ambitions a…

(Τίμαιος; Tímaios). [German version] [1] Main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus T. of Locri [2] Epizephyrii in southern Italy (Τίμαιος Λοκρός/ Tímaios Lokrós), the main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus, was in Antiquity regarded as a Pythagorean [1.83-85]. The Suda s.v. T. (IV p. 553,26f. Adler) and the scholia to Pl. Tim. 20 A Greene report that he wrote on mathematical problems, on nature and on the life of Pythagoras [2] (μαθηματικά, περὶ φύσεως, περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγόρου βίου/ M athēmatiká, Perì phýseōs, Perì toû Pythagórou bíou) [1.85]. One treatise, in the Doric dialect [2.11-19], ent…

[German version] (πλειάδης/ pleiádēs, Latin pliades, also Βότρυς/ Bótrys, 'bunch of grapes' or 'curl'; Latin Vergiliae, 'twig'). In contrast to the Hyades, the P. were known from the time of Euripides and Hippocrates by the collective singular Πλειάς/ Pleiás: seven faint stars, placed close together, designated as a 'nebula'. According to Nicander [4], they are located on the tail of Taurus ascending in reverse, otherwise - because only its forequarters form stars - at the start of its sector. Both Hom. Il. 18,486 and Od. 5,272 ment…

(Μητρόδωρος/ Metródōros). [German version] [1] M. of Chios Democritan philosopher, 5th/4th cent. BC Democritan philosopher ( Democritus [1]) of the 5th-4th cent. BC who recognised Fullness and Emptiness, Being and Non-Being as the first principles. This orthodoxy, however, does not go beyond the fundamental theoretical views of Atomism: M. is said to have had his own views in other matters (70 A 3 DK). M. propounds the uncreatedness of the universe (τὸ πᾶν) in the Eleatic manner ( Eleatic School) because a c…

[German version] (Οἰνοπίδης; Oinopídēs) of Chios. Astronomer and mathematician in the 2nd half of the 5th cent. BC. According to Procl. (In primum Euclidis Elementorum librum commentarii, p. 65,21), O. was only a little younger than Anaxagoras [2]. Diog. Laert. 9,41 records that O. was mentioned by Democritus [1]. According to Diod. Sic. 1,98,3, O. was trained by Egyptian priests. His cosmological theory of two elements (fire and earth), was in accordance with the Pythagoreans (Aristot. Mete. 1,8,3…

Lammel, Hans-Uwe I. The Concept of Nature (physis/natura) (CT) [German version] A. Antiquity (CT) By assuming the early Greek definition of essential being as 'being-that-has-become' [41; 19; 33; 55; 52], Aristotle had given precise expression to Greek physis, which he conceived of as the becoming and essence of all existing matter that contains the origin of its motion within itself (Metaph. Δ 4). In addition to the material substrate, from which becoming was perceived as proceeding, the notions of shape and form ( morphḗ and eídos) appeared as the goal ( télos) of natural becoming,…

[German version] [1] Egyptian priest and Greek writer According to uncertain sources, M. (see [1]) was a priest from Sebennytus, who lived under Ptolemy I and II and played a part in the introduction of the cult of Sarapis ( Sarapis) [2]. As a Hellenized Egyptian, he wrote in Greek about Egyptian topics. A number of isolated quotations have survived from a maximum of eight works, among them a work regarding the preparation of kyphi (incense), further a hierá bíblos about Egyptian religion, as well as a book about rituals. The question of the works' authenticity remains uns…

(Ἐπιγένης; Epigénēs). [German version] [0] Of Sicyon, Greek tragedian, 6th cent. BC E. of  Sicyon. According to the Suda s. v.  Thespis (θ 282 = TrGF I 1 T 1), the first tragedian (6th cent. BC). The audience supposedly reacted to the lack of Dionysiac content in his plays with the proverbial exclamation οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον ( oudèn pròs tòn Diónyson, ‘But this has nothing to do with  Dionysus!’; TrGF I 1 T 18,3). Perhaps E.'s activity may be related to the τραγικοὶ χοροί ( tragikoì choroí, ‘tragic choruses’) attested for Sicyon in Hdt. 5,67 [2. 21-23].  Tragedy I Zimmermann, Bernhard (Fr…

(Θεόφιλος; Theóphilos). [German version] [1] Comic poet, 4th cent. BC Comic poet of the 4th cent. BC; victor at the Dionysia of 329 [1. test.2], fourth there in 311 with his Pankratiastḗs [2.190, 200]. T. was of the declining Middle and the incipient New Comedy [I G]. Of the nine known titles, two - Νεοπτόλεμος ( Neoptólemos, 'Neoptolemus'), Προιτίδες ( Proitídes, 'The daughters of Proitus') - are mythological plays, the others deal with everyday material. In the Ἐπίδημοι ( Epídēmoi, 'The Pilgrims'), a slave considers whether to run away from his kind master (fr. 1); in the Φίλαυλος ( Phílaul…

(Κάλλιππος; Kállippos). [German version] [1] Athenian student of Plato Athenian student of  Plato, who took Callistratus, who had been sentenced in an   eisangelía proceeding, to Thasos in 361 BC on the order of the stratēgós Timomachus (Dem. Or. 50,47-52). In 357 C. evaded charges in Athens by accompanying  Dion [I 1] during his enforced return to Sicily (Plut. Dion 22,5 and 54,1; Pl. Ep. 7, 333e). Though initially held in high esteem by Dion as a philosophical and political advisor and ‘condottiere’, C. turned against Dion in 3…

(Σεραπίων; Serapíōn). [German version] [1] S. of Antioch Mathematical geographer, 1st cent. BC Mathematical geographer to whom Plin. HN 1,2 referred to as gnomonicus ('measurer of shadows'). In 59 BC, Cicero (who was his contemporary) received S.'s geographical treatise from Atticus as the newest source for his planned Geographica but was hardly able to understand the content (Cic. Att. 2,4,1). In the treatise, Cicero encountered S.'s fierce criticism of Eratosthenes [2] (ibid. 2,6,1). S. estimated the circumference of the sun to be 18 times t…