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A. Introduction [German source] Italy, Sicily, Malta and Tunisia form a central chain through the Mediterranean that, rather than dividing it, has served it as a bridge at various phases. The Alpine arc to the north was permeable in many respects, channelling rather than hindering cultural and economic exchange. The narrow Adriatic did not render lasting contact between Italy and the Balkans impossible in the 3rd and 2nd millennia [66181]; [63]; [2], but it must be said that the eastern coast of Italy was less than attractive in terms of harbours and coastal navigation [75173].The main …

A.AllgemeinItalien, Sizilien und Malta bilden mit Tunesien eine zentrale Kette durch das Mittelmeer, die dieses weniger teilt als vielmehr zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten als Brücke diente. Der Alpenbogen im N war vielfach durchlässig und kanalisierte kulturellen und ökonomischen Austausch eher als ihn zu behindern. Die schmale Adria machte länger anhaltende Kontakte zwischen Italien und der Balkanhalbinsel im 3./2. Jt. nicht unmöglich [66181]; [63]; [2]. Gleichzeitig ist festzuhalten, dass sich Italiens Ostküste im Hinblick auf Häfen und Küstenseefahrt als w…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. History – III. Archaeology I. Terminology The term “city cult” can be understood as a concretization of the veneration of “local gods” (cf. Stolz). There is evidence from the earliest times of municipal settlements with their complex social forms, rites, and feasts concentrated on the local deities' protection and promotion of community (cf. the gods of Sumerian and Babylonian cities described as “king of the city” or “lord/lady of…” or …

[German Version] I. Social Sciences 1. Concept. War is conflict between large groups, peoples, nations, and states conducted by force of arms. The more precise definition of the term and its differentiation from peace are disputed. Behavioral science tends toward a broad definition: war is a specifically human form of intergroup aggression, functional in the context of competition for scarce resources; in it the use of weapons decreases our instinctive inhibition against killing. The theory that war is…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies Annually recurring (anniversary is derived from annus and verto) feasts play a central role in the chronological organization of a society: they govern the social perception of the time unit “year”; weekly or monthly rhythms can influence the precise scheduling (Calendar; Roman birthday …

[German Version] The interpretation of Rome’s history and present role during the Augustan period found expression in the ludi saeculares. In a mixture of conceptions of time that is no longer perspicuous (including the Etruscan theory of a defined series of saecula; discussed at length by Censorinus, De die natali, 17), the beginning of a new, golden age was celebrated in the year 17 bce, conceived as the fifth recurrence of the centennials of the city of Rome. Whether earlier celebrations of the ludi Tarentini (named for their location on the Campus Martius), for example in 249 bce, had t…

[German Version] (Sep 21, 1868, Emden – Jul 13, 1941, Zürich), Latinist. Norden was professor of classical philology in Greifswald from 1895 to 1899, in Breslau from 1899 to 1906, and in Berlin from 1906 to his retirement in 1935. Because of his Jewish background, he was removed from the board of directors of the German Archaeological Institute, and in 1938 he was forced to resign from the Prussian Academy of Sciences. In 1939 he emigrated to Switzerland. Although all Norden’s extensive oeuvre was…

[German Version] (Jun 17, 1859, Breslau [Wrocław] – May 11, 1931, Halle an der Saale), Latinist and historian of religion. Wissowa was an associate professor at Marburg from 1886 to 1890 and a full professor from 1890 to 1895. From 1895 to 1923 he was a professor at Halle. Two strokes in June of 1923 ended his scholarly career and marked the beginning of a long mental and physical decline. Wissowa’s influence rests primarily on his studies of Roman religion. His compendium Religion und Kultus der Römer (1902, 21912) constituted the foundation for the study of Roman religion through…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. The Pantheon in Rome I. Religious Studies In classical usage, attested since the Hellenistic period, a pantheon (Gk pántheion) was a shrine dedicated to “all the gods” ( hoi theoí pántes). In modern scholarship, the term has come to be used in describing polytheistic (Monotheism and Polytheism) systems, in particular the 12 Olympian gods of Greece. This example also illustrates the problem presented by pantheons: what modern presentations treat as a closed system appears in the sources as…

[German Version] In 354 ce, the calligrapher Furius Dionysius Philocalus made a codex (extant only in copies) that contained the Roman calendar (Fasti; the only known 4th-cent. example), in addition to chronographical works, lists of consuls, bishops, and martyrs. The codex was a gift for the Roman Christian aristocrat Valentinus. The calendar contains a presumably current compilation of the emperor’s festivals, and dates for the cults of Cybele and Isis, but nothing from the calendar of Christian festivals. Jörg Rüpke Bibliography T. Mommsen, Chronographus Anni CCCLIV, MGH.AA 9…

[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Economic Systems and their Theories – III. Economy and Religion I. The Concept The term economy encompasses the totality of all individual actions and social interactions that serve to produce goods (commodities or services [Service sector]) for the purpose of satisfying human needs (Consumption). As a rule, the “production” of commodities means that human labor and …

[English version] (Namensform nach CIL 11,5405, aus Assisi). Röm. Elegiker und Lyriker des späten 1. Jh.n.Chr. Bekannt ist er nur aus den Briefen des jüngeren Plinius [2] (Plin. epist. 6,15,1; 9,22,1f.), der ihn als Elegiker und Lyriker sehr schätzt und ihn als Ritter und Nachkommen des Elegikers Propertius bezeichnet. Die Freundschaft mit Plinius und mit dem Rechtsgelehrten und Consul des Jahres 86 L. Iavolenus Priscus weist auf seine Stellung in der röm. Ges. Gedichte sind nicht erh., sie sollen sich eng an Propertius bzw. Horatius [7] angeschlossen haben (Plin. l.c.). PIR2 P 141. R…

I. Einleitung [English version] A. Bestimmung des Begriffs Als substantivistischer Terminus der rel. Selbstbeschreibung bezeichnet “R.” ein System von gemeinsamen Praktiken, individuellen Glaubensvorstellungen, kodifizierten Normen und theologischen Erklärungsmustern, dessen Gültigkeit zumeist auf ein autoritatives Prinzip oder Wesen zurückgeführt wird. Für die R.-Wissenschaft ist der R.-Begriff dagegen eine rein heuristische Kategorie, mit der jene Praktiken, Vorstellungen, Normen und theologischen Kon…

[English version] [1] C. Maternus Redner und Komödiendichter Röm. Redner und Tragödiendichter, der allein aus Tacitus' Dialogus bekannt ist, in dem er als Gastgeber am Tag nach der Rezitation seiner Trag. Cato auftritt. Weiterhin werden ihm von Tacitus (dial. 2 f.; 9-11) die Trag. Thyestes, Medea, Domitius (3,4) sowie wohl ein Agamemnon (9,2) zugerechnet. Während Tacitus (etwa 76 n. Chr.) den Gegensatz von Dichtung über große Männer und eingeschränkter öffentlicher Rede in C. als Dichter personalisiert, berichtet Cass. Dio 67,12,5 über die Hinr…

[English version] (ἐφημερίς, Pl. Ephemerides). Ein Tagebuch für persönliche Aufzeichnungen, als Amts- oder Rechnungsjournal. Der geläufige Begriff für solche Aufzeichnungen ist hypomnēma(ta) , lat. commentarii oder acta . Als Titel auch lit. tradierter bzw. benutzter Werke findet sich e. für das von dem Alexanderhistoriker Ptolemaios I. benutzte “Kriegstagebuch” Alexandros' [4] d. Gr. (FGrH 117) und die fiktive E. toú Troikoú polémou, das Tagebuch über den Troianischen Krieg des (fiktiven) Dictys Cretensis. Plutarch (Caes. 22) bezeichnet Caesars commentarii als e.; Tagebu…

[German version] Rhetor in the Augustan period; came from Asia (Sen. Controv. 9,6,16). In the twenties BC, at the latest, he probably taught in Rome, more often in Greek than in Latin (Sen. Suas. 4,5). Amongst his outstanding students were  Papirius Fabianus (who later turned away again from F.'s style) and Ovid; close contact with the imperial house is shown by F.'s homage to Maecenas (through the frequent quoting of Vergil's verses, Sen. Suas. 3,5) and probably also by the fact that Seneca menti…

Italian surname (Schulze, 355); according to Roman legend, Rome's war against Alba Longa under King Tullus Hostilius was decided through the fight between the triplet Curiatii brothers of Alba and the triplet Horatii brothers ( Horatius) of Rome, with the former being killed (Liv. 1,24f.; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,16-20). After the destruction of Alba, the family is said to have moved to Rome and to have been included among the Patricians (Liv. 1,30,2; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,29,7). The consul recorded in the fasti for 453 BC, member of the 1st collegium of the decemvirs for the d…

Roman family name, probably derived from Varus. Name-bearers first attested in the 1st cent. BC, but only in the Imperial period did they attain any prominence. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] V. Cotyla, L. Aedile in 48, 47 or 44 BC (Cic. Phil. 13,26), emissary at Rome for M. Antonius [I 9] in 43, and his legate in Gallia transalpina (Cic. Phil. 5,5-7; 8,24-32; Plut. Antonius 18,8). Bartels, Jens (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] V. Rufus, L. Roman poet, c. 70-15 BC Renowned Roman poet (Hor. Ars P. 55) of the Augustan period (c. 70-15 BC). Wi…

Name of an old patrician family, probably connected with the name of the god  Jupiter [1. 281; 2. 729]. The gens was one of the so-called ‘Trojan families’, who were said to have moved from Alba Longa to Rome under king Tullus Hostilius [I 4] (see below). The Iulii were prominent in the 5th and 4th cents. BC. Their connection to the family branch of the Caesares, which rose to prominence from the 3rd cent. and whose outstanding member was the dictator  Caesar (with family tree), is unclear. Caesar's adoptive son,…

A. Basic Principles [German version] 1. Term Calendar developed its modern meaning in post-antiquity from the Latin word for ‘debt register’ (  Calendarium ). In the following, the term is taken as an element of  chronography within a culture which attempts to describe or regulate annual periodicities. Typically, a day represents the smallest unit of a calendar ( Clocks). Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt) [German version] 2. Social Construction of Time Hunting and farming both demand a harmonization with seasonal variations ( Seasons), thus leading to annually repeated patte…