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[German version] (Δήλιος; Dḗlios). Epithet of  Apollo, indicating his association with the island of  Delos: he was born there, and along with  Leto and  Artemis had a central cult site there. D. is as frequent an epiclesis for Apollo as  Pythius, which indicates his association with  Delphi. Whereas there are many cases where the cult of a divinity named Pythius was established (i.e. sanctioned) by the Delphic oracle, there is no comparable institution on Delos: the epiclesis D. is more the expres…

[German version] (Ἀγήτωρ; Agḗtōr, Doric for Ἡγήτωρ; Hegḗtōr). Epiclesis of Zeus in Sparta, connected with the preliminary sacrifices at the beginning of a campaign (Xen. Lac. Pol. 13,2), of Hermes in Megalopolis (Paus. 8,31,7, in the form of Hermes) and of Apollo Karneios in Argos (Theopomp, FGrH 115 F 357 = Schol. Theocr. 5,83). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] I. Egypt see Nile. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) II. Greece and Rome [German version] A. General The personification of conditions from the physical environment is part of many myths and religions in antiquity. Apart from the sun and the moon, the mountains and rivers are of special significance: they firmly belong to a particular local environment, and thus define identity and home. Whereas the mountain gods in the Greco-Roman world have only mythological and hardly any cultic reality, the worship …

[German version] (Λευκίππη; Leukíppē, ‘the one with the white horse’), as a counterpart to Leucippus with his noble associations, is a typical and almost arbitrarily used heroine's name. Thus it is given to a companion of Persephone (H. Hom. Cer. 418), the mother (Hyg. Fab. 250) or wife of Laomedon (Apollod. 3,146), or to one of the Minyades (Antoninus Liberalis 10), whom Ov. Met. 4,168 calls Leuconoe. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (or Gaia Fufetia). A Vestal, who donated to the city of Rome the campus Tiberinus (the Tiber island according to Plut. Publicola 8,8,101b, or rather the Campus Martius according to Gell. NA 7,7,4); therefore, she was not only honoured with a statue (Plin. HN 34,11,25), but also with a law which set out the central prerogatives of the vestals ( lex Horatia, Gell. NA 7,7,2-4). This story is the aition for these rather unusual privileges, which in many aspects gave the Vestals an equal standing with men. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography A. Momigliano, Tre figure miti…

[German version] (Ἀνδρόγεως; Andrógēos). Son of Minos and Pasiphae. His death in Attica led to the military campaign by Minos for revenge and to paying a tribute of seven girls and seven youths to the Minotaur. He died after his victory in the first Panathenaea through an attack by one of the men he had defeated (Apollod. 3,209). Aegeus is also often made responsible for his death: he allows A. to be removed due to his connections to the sons of Pallas (Diod. Sic. 4,60 f.), or Aegeus despatched him against the Marathonian bull, which killed him (Paus. 1,27,10). As a figure venerated in Attic…

[German version] (Plural ancilia). Ritual bronze shields of the  Salii in the form of an 8; their form is common in Mycenae, later obsolete. Twelve in number, they belong to the ‘pledges of rulership’, pignora imperii (Varro, ap. Serv. Verg. Aen. 7,188), the religious guarantees for the permanence of Rome's might. Usually kept safe in the Regia, the ancilia are publicly displayed ceremonially twice yearly, in March and October, and worn by the Salii for a weapon dance, in their special ritual procession (in addition to the ancilia, trabea, pointed helmet, bronze girdle, breast plat…

[German version] A Volscian Amazon maiden warrior, whose myth is recounted only by Verg. Aen. 11,539-828 (cf. [1. 803]). While fleeing with the young C., her father,  Metabus, the king of the Volscians, tied her to an ash spear, dedicated her to Diana, and hurled her across the river Amisenus; she grew up as a huntress in the forest. In the war against the followers of Aeneas, she joined forces  with Turnus, and was killed by the Etruscan Arruns. Set up as an ideal virgo virilis by Hier. Adversus Jovinum 41,306 BD, she became with Dante (Inferno 1,107; 4,124) a heroic Italian v…

[German version] (Αἰδώς; Aidṓs). ‘Shame, demureness, respect’ [1]; its antonym is  Anaideia (Hes. Op. 324); its effect can be ambivalent (Hes. Op. 319-320). She is often personified, but the boundary between appellative and personification cannot always be easily drawn [1]. In Hesiod (Op. 200), as comprehensive social powers A. and Nemesis are the last of the gods to leave iron-age humanity (the two are already connected in Hom. Il. 13,121 f.). According to Sophocles she is enthroned with Zeus as o…

[German version] (Αἴθιλλα; Aíthilla). Familiar form of Αἰθία (Polyaenus. 7,47), daughter of Laomedon, sister of Priam, captured by Protesilaus' companions after the conquest of Troy. On the peninsula of Pallene, with her fellow prisoners she burns the Greek ships, whereupon the Greeks found Scione (Conon FGrH 26 F 1,13; Tzetz. Lycoph. 921). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] Roman name for a group of twelve deities, six male and six female, presumably from the etymological root *‘con-sens’ (‘being together’) [1]. They corresponded to the 12 Olympians of Greece from at least the time of Varro [2], but the name, including an archaic plural form deum consentium, points to greater antiquity. Their temple ( aedes deum consentium: Varro, Ling. 8,70) must be the porticus deum consentium at the north end of the Forum and its two groups of six golden statues each (Varro, Rust. 1,1,4) those which Vettius Agorius  Praetextatus restored in 367 ( CIL VI 102 = I…

[German version] [1] King and founder of Tegea (Paus. 8,45,1), eponymous oikist of Alea (Paus. 8,23,1) and of the Tegean sanctuary of Athena Alea (Paus. 8,4,8); sometimes he is called king of all Arcadia. Usually he is son of Apheidas and grandson of Arcas, with Neaera, father of Lycurgus, Cepheus, Amphidamas and of Auge (Paus. 8,4,8; somewhat differently Apoll. Rhod. 1,161-171: daughter Alcidike, mother of  Tyro Diod. 4,68,1), whom Aleus appoints as priestess of Athena. When she is made pregnant b…

[German version] (Greek Βασιλίσκος; Basilískos), ‘the king of the snakes’, fabulous snake of the Libyan desert, documented from Hellenistic times; detailed descriptions are given by Pliny (HN 8,78f.) and Isidore (12,4,6f.). Recognizable by a white spot on its head, ‘like a diadem’ (Pliny) and by its unsnakelike form of forward motion, the B. kills by its breath and smell: wherever it passes, it burns bushes and grass and breaks stones (Plin.). It can kill humans also by its mere gaze (Plin. HN 29,66…

[German version] (κῶμος; kômos, verb κωμάζειν; kōmázein) is the term for the ritualized, exuberant Greek procession to the music of the cithara or, especially, the flute (Ath. 14,9,618c). In its earliest occurrences, the word is not connected with Dionysus, but describes rites with musical accompaniment, probably also with singing and dancing. (In H. Hom. Merc. 481, Hermes gives Apollo the lyre for kṓmoi; in Ps.-Hes. Aspis 281, kōmázusi young men in a marriage procession dance rapturously to the sound of the flute; Pind. Pyth. 5,22 calls the performance of his song a kṓmos of men). Unt…

[German version] (Ἀλθαιμένης; Althaiménēs). Rhodian hero, son of the Cretan king Catreus. He left his homeland when an oracle prophesied that he would kill his father, and at Camerus he founded the mountain cult of Zeus Atabyrius. His father set out to find him, and during a nocturnal landing he was mistaken for a pirate and slain by A., unrecognized. A. wanders around aimlessly and dies in anguish (Diod. Sic. 5,59) or is swallowed up by the earth (thus Apollod. 3,12-16, in whose account he also murders his sister Apemosyne). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

 Only Latin Acoetes has been handed down; the Greek form Ἀκοίτης does not appear to be attested. [German version] [1] Mythical Helmsman Helmsman of a Tyrrhenian pirate ship, opposed the intention of his travelling companions to kidnap the beautiful child Dionysus, and therefore was the only one to escape transformation into a dolphin (Ov. Met. 3,582-691 as first-person account to Pentheus; Hyg. Fab. 134); perhaps following a common Hellenistic source that went back to Hom. H. 7; in all other accounts of this myth the name or the entire episode is missing [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) …

[German version] (Mid-Persian Ōhrmazd, Greek Ὀρομάζης, Ὀρομάσδης; Oromázēs, Oromásdēs). Highest God (‘the Wise Lord’) in the system of Zoroaster, the highest of the good powers ( ahuras), who is surrounded by a host of abstract deities (Amša Spntas) as mediators of his will and his deeds. He is creator and god of blessing, the one addressed in cults of the Zoroastrian community, and it was he that revealed his teachings to  Zoroaster. There is discussion regarding to what extent he is pre-Zoroastrian; in any case he co…

[German version] (Ἄργης; Árgēs). One of the three  Cyclopes, along with Brontes ( brontḗ, ‘thunder’) and Steropes ( steropḗ, ‘lightening’). His name comes from argḗs, a stock expression for lightening (Hes. Theog. 140; Apollod. 1,1). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἠρικεπαῖος; Ērikepaîos). Deity which is mentioned in Orphic poetry and the associated Bacchian mysteries; the late etymology of ‘life-giver’ (ζωοδοτήρ; zōodotḗr) cannot be verified (Malalas, Chronogr. 4,91; cf. Suda 660 s.v. Orpheus). The name is first mentioned with certainty in the papyrus Gurôb 1, a Dionysian mysteries text of the late 3rd cent. BC [1]; an earlier reference in a gold leaflet from Pherae is uncertain [2]. E. then becomes important in various Neoplatonic writings of the so-called r…

Suggestive heroic name: ‘Defender’. As such it is assigned to three figures, who are difficult to differentiate from each other. [German version] [1] Son of Ormenos, domiciled in Eleon Son of Ormenus, domiciled in Eleon in Boeotia, whom Autolycus robbed of a famous leather helmet (Hom. Il. 10,266; cf. 2,500; Pherec. fragment 38a FHG 4, 638). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Likewise son of Ormenus, father of Phoenix Likewise son of Ormenus, father of Phoenix. The son seduced the concubine of his father, who cursed him with childlessness; Phoenix fle…

[German version] Roman goddess whose temple was vowed and founded on the Caelius mons by the first  Brutus immediately after the expulsion of the  Tarquinii; (Macrob. Sat. 1,12,31). Its foundation day is 1 June, the festival of the Carnaria (CIL III 3893). C. received offerings of bacon and bean gruel (Macrob. Sat. 1,12,32; cf. Ov. Fast. 6,169-182: Kalendae fabariae), which suggest a simple, old-fashioned way of life (Ovid) or which are meant to depict C. as a protector of physical strength (Macr.). The authors state that her role is the protection of …

[German version] A. General Points, Definition Mysteries or rather mystery cults (in order to avoid the misleading term ‘mystery religions’) are cults of the Greek and Roman world which, for classical and modern observers alike, constitute a circumscribed category of cults within Greek and Roman religion.  Their name derives from the Attic celebration of the Mysteria, the festival of Demeter and Kore/Persephone, celebrated annually over a period of days at the shrine of Eleusis, and known since the Ho…

(Ἀστυδάμεια; Astydámeia). [German version] [1] Daughter of the Dolopian king Amyntor Daughter of the Dolopian king Amyntor, by Hercules mother of Tlepolemus (Hes. fr. 232; Pind. Ol. 7,24). In Homer she is Astyocheia (Il. 2,658), in Apollod. 2,149 and Hyg. Fab. 162 Astyoche, daughter of Phylas of Ephyra (Apollod. 1,166). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Wife of  Acastus of Iolcus Wife of  Acastus of Iolcus, who purified Peleus from his accidental killing of  Eurytion. When Peleus rejected her love, she slandered him to his wife  Antigone [2],…

[German version] (Αἰολίδαι; Aiolídai). Not only the sons of Aeolus, such as Sisyphus, Athamas and Cretheus, but also their descendants, e.g. Bellerophontes and Jason in Pindar, Minyas, Phrixus, Idmon in Apoll. Rhod. In Virgil's Aeneid (6,529) Anchises calls Odysseus Aeolides, in accordance with the tradition which makes him the son of Sisyphus (since Soph. Phil. 417). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography M. Scarsi, s. v. Eolide, EV 2,324.

[German version] Hermetic writings (HW; the terminus is modern) are Graeco-Egyptian texts, whose author is supposed to have been the Egyptian god Thot, Greekified as Hermes Trismegistus. His epithet (‘the thrice great H.’), which has only existed since the Imperial period, derives from the thrice repeated call to Hermes-Thot as ‘the greatest’ (which is already documented in Hellenistic Demotic and Greek sources). Clemens [3] of Alexandria (Strom. 6,4,35) describes a procession, in which 42 fundame…

[German version] (Ἀστραῖος; Astraîos). Titan, son of the Titans Creius (Crius) and Eurybia. With Eos he begot the winds ( Astraei fratres, Ov. Met. 14,545) which blow at the first light of dawn, the morning star and the other stars (Hes. Theog. 375-82; Apollod. 1,9). Besides that he is a giant, son of Tartarus and Ge (Hyg. praef. 4). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography E. Simon, s.v. A., LIMC 2. 1, 927.

[German version] (Καύκων; Kaúkōn). Eponymous hero of the Peloponnesian people of the  Caucones [1]; his genealogy is dependent on the ancient localization of the people first named in Hom. Od. 3. 366. His grave was shown in Lepreum in Triphylia (Paus. 5,5,5; Str. 8,345), and according to the Triphylian cult centre on Samicon, he is seen as the son of Poseidon (Ael. NA 1,24). Yet as a result of the Arcadian localization, C. is also the son of Arcas (schol. Hom. Od. 3,366) or of Lycaon (Apollod. 3,97…

[German version] (Ἀδράστεια; Adrásteia). Goddess related to the mountain mother of Asia Minor,   Cybele. She had a cult at Cyzicus (actually on the Adrásteia óros outside the city, Str. 12,8,11; 13,1,13) and on the Trojan Mount Ida (Aesch. fr. 158 TGF). A. was compared to Artemis (Demetrius of Scepsis apud Harpocr. 6,9; Solin. 7,26) and revered in Athens in association with Bendis (IG I3 383,142; cf. 369,67). In mythic poetry she was associated with the birth of Zeus: as daughter of Melisseus, sister of Ide and of Curetes, she helps with the care of the chil…

[German version] Named only in Tacitus (hist. 2,3; ann. 3,62,4), founder of the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos, which was called  Aeria [3] after him. Father of Amathus, the founder of the second largest Cypriot Aphrodite sanctuary. Research derives the name partly from Greek ἀήρ, ‘air’, partly from ‘copper’ Latin aes, (Greek κύπρος). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography V. Pirenne-Delforge, L'Aphrodite grecque, 1994, 330-333.

(Αἴπυτος; Aípytos). [German version] [1] Arcadian hero Arcadian hero, son of Elatus, father of Peirithous (Hes. fr. 166). His grave, known already to Homer (Il. 2,604) was displayed on Mount Sepia at Cyllene, where he had been bitten by a snake. Pindar (O. 6,30) gives his residence as Phaesane at Alpheius; Pitane promises him her daughter by Poseidon, Evadne, who, by Apollo, will become mother of the seer Iamus. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] King of Arcadian Trapezus King of Arcadian Trapezus, son of Hippothous, father of Cypselus. He went blind because he…

[German version] (Ἀδμήτη; Ádmḗtē). Daughter of Eurystheus, Hera priestess in Argus, for whom Hercules secured the belt of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons (Apollod. 2,99). She fled with the cult image to Samos and there became a priestess of Hera; the cultic aetiology of the Samian festival of the Tonaia (Ath. 15,672) is dependent on this.  Hera. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography M. Schmidt, s. v. A., LIMC 1.1, 216-218.

[German version] (Ἡρόδωρος; Heródōros) from Heraclea on the Pontus. Mythographer, father of  Bryson of the Megarian School, wrote in Ionian dialect around 400 BC, often cited in the MSS as  Herodotus. Monographs on individual mythical figures (Heracles in at least 17 bks., Pelops, Oedipus) or groups ( Argonaútai, Orphéōs kaì Musaíou historía = ‘Orpheus and Musaeus’), of which a few fragments are extant (FGrH 31), are conceivable in the titles. Accordingly H. adopted the mythical traditions especially of  Hellanicus and  Pherecydes of Athens. The…

[German version] (Caca). In the mythology of the Augustan authors (Verg. Aen. 8,190-279; Liv. 1,7,3-15; Prop. 4,9; Ov. Fast. 1,543-586), the battle of Hercules with the cave-dwelling monster C. on the Palatine (where the scala Caci lies [1]) or Aventine (according to Verg.) is important: it had stolen Hercules' cattle and was punished accordingly. The myth provides the aetiology for the cult of Hercules in the Ara Maxima on the Forum Boarium, it also takes up -- with its basic theme of the triumph over the monster -- themes of Au…

[German version] (Ἀλήθεια), ‘Truth’. Personified as daughter of Zeus (Pind. Ol. 10,4 and fr. 205) and wet nurse of Apollo (Plut. Symp. 3,9 657e); her throne is made of iron (Them. Or. 22,281c Hercher). To the Romans, daughter of Kronos (Saturnus) (Plut. qu. R.11,267e) or Tempus, ‘Time’, which presupposes the Greek understanding of Kronos as Chronos (Gell. NA 12,11,7, after a vetus poeta); the nuda Veritas in Hor. (Carm. 1,24,7) is probably an ad hoc idea. Represented as an image on the famous painting of the slander of  Apelles (Lucian. Cal. 5), imitated by Botticelli's…

[German version] (Δελφίνιος; Delphínios, in Crete also Delphidios). Epiclesis of Apollo, attested in both Ionic and Doric (Crete) territory and often linked in antiquity, after the Homeric hymn to Apollo, to Delphi and the  dolphin: he is said to have led his priests to Delphi as a dolphin. Many academics adopted this etymology, even though the cults could not confirm it; there the god is thoroughly bound up in the concerns of the young citizens of the polis. In Miletus (then in  Olbia) he is the g…

[German version] (Ἵμερος; Hímeros, ‘desire’). The personification of affectionate longing. Together with  Eros [1], he accompanies Aphrodite (since Hes. Theog. 201); with the  Charites (the goddesses of ‘grace’), he lives close to the Muses (Hes. Theog. 64, a poetological statement). Later he was firmly associated with Aphrodite and Eros, pictorially also with  Dionysus and  Pothos; he is indistinguishable iconographically from Eros and Pothos. A statue of H. by  Scopas used to stand in the temple of Aphrodite at Megara (Paus. 1,43,6). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography A. H…

(Ἀμαρυγκεύς; Amarynkeús). [German version] [1] King of the Epeians King of the Epeians, for whom his sons organize splendid commemorative games after his death. In all competitions, except in chariot racing, Nestor wins (Hom. Il. 23,629 ff.). His son Diores dies at Troy (Hom. Il. 2,622. 4,517) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Thessalian ally of king Augeias Thessalian ally of king Augeias in the fight against Hercules (Paus. 5,1,10). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 R. Hampe, LIMC 1.1, 584 f.

(Ἀργεία [ Argeía], Argia). Appears as the ‘wife of Argus’ in a supporting role in various myths concerning Argus. [German version] [1] Daughter of Oceanus Daughter of Oceanus, sister and wife of Inachus, mother of the early Argive king Phoroneus and Io (Hyg. Fab. 143). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Older daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea Older daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea, wife of Polynices (Hyg. Fab. 69,5). She participated in Oedipus' burial (Hes. fr. 192) and helped Antigone to guard the dead Polynices, but fled before Creon…

[German version] (Κομβάβος; Kombábos) in the aetiological myth recounted by Lucian (De Dea Syria 17-27) is the founder of the temple of Atargatis in Hierapolis who introduced self-castration and women's clothing for the eunuchs ( gálloi); for the motivation the author himself draws an analogy with the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus. Certainly the name C. suggests Cybebe ( Cybele), a term for the Great Mother (Hdt. 5,102) cognate with the Hittite Kubaba, and kýbēbos, a term for the gállos (Semonides fr. 36 West); however, it is unclear here, as in other unrelated details,…

[German version] Healing heroes in a sanctuary in Messenian Pharae. They are regarded as the sons of  Machaon and Anticlea, the daughter of king Diocles (Paus. 4,30,3). Their sanctuary was donated by Isthmius, son of the Glaucus who initiated the cultic worship of Machaon (Paus. 4,3,10). Through these myths, an independent healing cult is obviously incorporated into the cult of  Asclepius so central to Messenia. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[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…

[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.

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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…