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(Λύκων; Lýkōn). [German version] [1] Athenian, late 5th cent. BC Athenian, supported the rebellion of Pissuthnes against the Great King around 420 BC. Bribed by Tissaphernes, L. fell away from Pissuthnes and received several cities as territory under his rule in recompense (Ctesias FGrH 688 F 15,53). Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Prosecutor of Socrates Prosecutor of Socrates (Pl. Ap. 23e; 36a); satirized by comedians (Eupolis fr. 61; 232; Metagenes fr. 10 PCG; schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 1169) because of his poverty, foreign origin, …

[German version] Impresario, director and actor; leader of a troupe of actors in Rome in the 2nd cent. BC. He provided successful performances for the aediles who organized the plays, at the same time supporting authors who enjoyed his confidence:  Caecilius and esp.  Terentius. He performed the latter's Phormio to the author's entire satisfaction (Donatus on Ter. Phorm. 315). He also twice took on the role of a supportive and combative prologue: for the Heautontimoroumenos and for the 3rd performance of the Hecyra (160 BC). His advocacy of intellectual comedy and purity of diction ( pura…

Name of a plebeian family that gained prominence during the Second Punic War (Schulze, 266). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] C., L. Antiquarian author, 1st cent. BC? Antiquarian author probably of the late Republican period (1st cent. BC; since [6] differentiated from the historian L.C.Alimentus). Seven works of grammarian, antiquarian and legal content are known from quotes in Festus, Gellius and others (fragments: [1. 1,252ff.; 2. 71ff.]): De verbis priscis, De fastis, De comitiis, De consulum potestate, De officio iurisconsulti (at least two vols.), De re …

(ὑποκριτής; hypokritḗs). [German version] I. Concept The underlying verb ὑποκρίνομαι ( hypokrínomai) means in Homer ‘to make a decision upon request’, ‘to interpret’ (on omens: Hom. Il. 12,228 or dreams: Hom. Od. 19,535; 555) or ‘to answer’ (Hom. Od. 2,111). The basic meaning of the noun hypokrites, which is first attested in the 5th cent. BC, was thus postulated now as ‘answerer’ (to questions of the director of the chorus), now as ‘interpreter’ (of the myth which the chorus performed). It refers to the speaker who appeared opposite the si…

[German version] Roman mask figure with an etymologically transparent name (derived from the verb mandere/manducare, meaning ‘chewer, ‘eater); its origin, however, is uncertain. According to Paul. Fest. 115 M. was brought along in the celebratory procession at the circus games ( pompa circensis; cf. [1]) as a tooth-gnashing monster to elicit laughter and fright. If we follow Varro (Ling. 7,95), this M. seems to have found his way into the improvisational Atellana fabula , where he was identified with the character of Dossennus [1] (whose name has b…

[German version] (τριταγωνιστής; tritagōnistḗs). The third actor in a tragedic tetralogy, introduced by Sophocles [1]. In the competition for  best performer (at the Dionysia from 449 BC onwards) only the prōtagōnistḗs would take part. He would take the main role and possibly also powerful single-actor scenes, the two lesser actors (particularly the tritagonistes) would master a large number of different male and female roles; this would require linguistic and performing expression of great variety. In Soph.  OC two performers (Oedipus and Antigo…

[German version] I. Stage competitions Competitions, which included the   skēnḗ (the stage and the podium in front of it for the actor's appearance) in Greek theatre, that is dramatic performances. Originally, the skēnḗ was away from the orchḗstra ( Theatre I) and was used only for changing costumes and masks; it probably was not moved into the audience's view and integrated into the play until 458 BC with the ‘Orestia’ of  Aeschylus [1]. Nevertheless, early dramatic competitions are also thought to have been staged. Blume, Horst-Dieter (Münster) A. Greece [German version] 1. Developm…

Italian nomen gentile, with many bearers in Ameria (CIL XI 4507-16) and Lanuvium (CIL XIV 3225-7). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] R., L. Roman envoy killed in 438 BC by the Fidenati A Roman envoy killed in 438 BC together with his three colleagues by the Fidenati (Fidenae); because of this all three were honoured with statues on the Rostra (Cic. Phil. 9,4; Liv. 4,17,2-6). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] R., Sex. Father and son; the latter was defended by Cicero in 80 BC against the accusation of patricide and embezzlement From Ameria; so…

[German version] (ἠχεῖα; ēcheîa). Instruments/objects producing or amplifying sound (echo). Vitruvius refers to echia as bronze vessels with a wide opening, which were used for resonance reinforcement in the theatre (Vitr. De arch. 1,1,9; 5,5). Tuned to various keys, they were supposedly installed under the rows of seats according to mathematical calculations. They did not exist in Rome, but L. Mummius is said to have brought pieces of loot of this type back from Corinth. However, nothing in the theatre of C…

[German version] (πρωταγωνιστής/ prōtagōnistḗs, 'first in competition', esp. 'first actor, chief presenter'). As a t.t., rare and attested only late; since the derived verb πρωταγωνιστεῖν/ prōtagōnisteîn was used in a metaphorical sense ('stand in the foreground') as early as Aristotle (Aristot. Poet. 1449a 18 and Pol. 1338b 30), however, the word prōtagōnistḗs may have its origin in the 5th cent. BC. In dramatic competitions much depended on the abilities of the prōtagōnistḗs. Aeschylus [1] personally undertook the leading parts in his tragedies, while Sophocles […

[German version] (Μαίσων; Maísōn). In the catalogue of masks of Iulius [IV 17] Pollux (4,148; 150), M. is listed among the slave characters of the New Comedy as a man with a red fringe of hair around his bald head [1]. Athenaeus (14,659a) specifies the mask type as a local cook (in contrast to Tettix who comes from a foreign country) and names as his source Aristophanes of Byzantium (fr. 363 Slater). The latter derives M. from an actor of the same name from Megara (it has been debated since antiqui…

(Νεοπτόλεμος; Neoptólemos). [German version] [1] Son of Achilles and Deidamia The son of Achilles [1] and Deidamia, the daughter of king Lycomedes [1] of Scyros. Rare but explainable variants of the mother's name are Pyrrha (Heliodorus 3,2 = Anth. Pal. 9,485,8) and Iphigenia (Duris of Samos FGrH 76 F 88; on this FGrH 2 C 130). Homer only knows the name N., and Pyrrhus probably only becomes more common in the 4th cent. (first Theopompus FGrH 115 F 355) because of dynastic considerations of the Epirote king…

[German version] I. Concept Greek θέατρον ( théatron: 'Place where one looks'); Lat. theatrum. The Greek word can denote any arrangement of rows of seats or raised stands ( íkria) as a gathering place for festive, cultic or athletic events, as in Sparta for the Gymnopaidia festival in 491 BC (Hdt. 6,67,3), in the sanctuary of Olympia (Xen. Hell. 7,4,31) or the altar steps in the Amphiareion of Oropus (IG VII 4255,29 f.). The stands for the games in honour of Patroclus [1] depicted by the vase painter Sophilus ( c. 570 BC) may be seen as a theatre as well [1]. As a technical term in …

[German version] (βροντεῖον; bronteîon). Device for producing thunder in the theatre. Behind the scenes a leather sack filled with pebbles was made to collide with a bronze metal plate or stones were shaken in iron vessels (Poll. 4,130; Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 292), but late witnesses certainly are not reporting from their own experience. In tragedy, thunder provided a background for the appearance of gods or catastrophes sent by the gods, and the authors did not differentiate between rumbling in the…

[German version] (ἐκκύκλημα; ekkýklēma). Theatre machine, through which ‘interior scenes’ could be made visible: a platform which ‘rolled out’ of the fly tower. Since the word ekkyklema is not documented prior to Poll. 4,128 (Aristophanes, however, uses the related verbs) and since clear archaeological indications are lacking, the existence of such a device in the theatre of the 5th cent. was called into question despite better knowledge of the texts [1; 2]. The tragedians removed bloody acts of violence from the audienc…

(Σάτυρος/ Sátyros). [German version] [1] S. I King of the regnum Bosporanum from 433/2 to 389/8 BC. Son of Spartocus I. S.' co-regent may have been (until 393/2) his brother Seleucus [1]. S. directed his attention at the Asiatic coast of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Bosporus [2]). He restored the Sindian King Hecataeus following a revolt, and allied with him through a dynastic marriage. S.'s divorced wife then sent the King of the Ixomates against him (Polyaenus, Strat. 8,55). S. died during the siege of Theodosia. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography V. F. Gajdukevič, Da…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Dead Sea (textual finds) (Greek Μασάδα, Masáda; Hebrew mṣdh, Arabic Tall al-Sab). The name, which is recorded only in Greek and Latin, is probably derived from the Aramaic meṣādā (‘fortress’). It stands in isolation on a rocky plateau on the western shore of the Dead Sea, a rhomboid 600 m north-south and 300 m east-west; 50 m above sea-level with steep cliffs c. 350 m above ground level in the east and c. 150 m in the west. Jos. BI 7,280-294 offers a detailed description, and it is mentioned in Plin. HN 5,73 and S…

[German version] I. Phoenicia Facial masks and head protomes (also shortened human representations including the neck and shoulder part) are a common type of monument since the 9th/8th cent. BC in the Phoenician-Punic world. They spread from the Levant (here going back to the 2nd millennium, e.g. in Tell Qāṣila, also from Tyrus, Amrīt, Akhzib, Hazor, Sarepta etc.) via Cyprus, Carthage, Sicily (Motya), Sardinia and Ibiza into the far west (Cadiz). The masks (with openings for eyes and mouth) mostly …

[German version] The Greeks called any mechanical device μηχανή but in the narrow sense it referred to the Greek theatre machinery: a crane installed behind the stage as a flying apparatus that can be swung into the scene to take the characters in a drama to a remote location or cause gods to appear up high. The mechane is referred to in drama texts and later sources under many names: κρεμάθρα ( kremáthra, ‘suspension device’, Aristoph. Nub. 218), γέρανος ( géranos, ‘crane’ [in both senses], Poll. 4,130), αἰώρημα ( aiṓrēma, ‘swing’, schol. Aristoph. Pax 80), κράδη ( krádē, ‘fig branch’, Ari…

[German version] (Καλλιππίδης; Kallippídēs). Tragic actor of the 5th/4th cents. BC, who, popular and controversial, was remembered long after his death. He himself was many times the victorious  protagonist, for example at the Lenaia of the year 418, but the tetralogy of his poet did not win a prize [1]. His expressive gesticulation, aimed at producing a realistic effect, was modern in its style; it displeased Mynniscus who had once appeared with Aeschylus and who described the young colleague as a…