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[German version] (μερισμός; merismós from μερίζειν; merízein = ‘to divide, distribute’) in Athens the name for the ‘distribution’ of funds from tax incomes by the apodéktai to the appropriate officials ( archaí ). The sums allocated were determined by the council of the polis ( boulḗ ) and had to be struck off immediately after distribution ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 48,1-2). Merismos is not attested before the 4th century BC ( Taxes III. B.). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Rhodes, 557-560.

[German version] Goth of Thracian origin (born around AD 480), whose family did not accompany Theoderic to Italy in AD 488. He served as an officer in Justinian's army against the Persians, under  Belisarius in the reconquest of Italy, as also against the Goths and in his old age in Syrian territory. He achieved high rank ( dux Mesopotamiae 531; mag. mil. vacans in Italy 535-546; mag. mil. per Armeniam 550-554), was even patricius, but was finally banished for having a too nonchalant attitude towards his duty as a consequence of excessive financial dealings. PLRE 2, 226-229. Eder, Walter (B…

[German version] Ruling dynasty in the Regnum Bosporanum, named after its founder Spartocus [1] I, who took over the power from the Archaeanactids of Panticapaeum in 438/7 BC. The dynasty, which distinguished itself in the Classical and early Hellenistic periods with a brisk trade in corn in the Aegaean (primarily with Athens), came to an end in 109 BC with the handing over of power by its last ruler, Paerisades [6] V, to Mithridates [6] VI of Pontus. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (Προθύτης; Prothýtēs). Theban, leading anti-Macedonian politician who, relying on Athenian help, in 335 BC advocated the secession of Thebes from Macedonia. Swiftly advancing on Thebes, Alexander [4]  the Great (Diod. 17,8,2) demanded in vain his surrender (Plut. Alexandros 11,7). He was probably killed in the defence of the city, which involved heavy losses (Arr. Anab. 1,8,1-8; Diod.  Sic. 17,14,1; Plut. Alexandros 11,12). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] [1] Flavius A. Cos. 434 AD Father of Dagalaifus, grandfather of A. [2], in AD 434 consul together with Aspar Ardabur. As magister militum ( comes foederatorum?) he defeated a Persian officer in single combat in 422, in 441 Theodosius II sent him as magister militum against the Vandals to Africa but he missed his opportunity because he stayed too long in Sicily. He was defeated by Attila in 443 (as was Aspar). In 447 patricius; died in 449 (PLRE 2, 145 f., A. 2). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Flavius Areobindus Dagalaifus Areobindus Cos. 506 AD Son of Dagalaifus,…

[German version] Modern term for the year AD 69, in which four emperors – some at the same time, some in swift succession – ruled the Roman Empire (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian), and in the broader sense for the period between Iulius [II 150] Vindex's revolt against Nero (beginning of AD 68) in Gaul and the elevation to emperor of  Vespasian (1 July 69 in Egypt, 3 July 69 in Syria) or its recognition by the Senate in Rome (21/22 December 69). Galba [2], from an ancient patrician family, sided with Iulius Vindex's rebellion, was proclaimed empe…

[German version] Abbreviation of the blanket name A(ulus) A(gerius), which, in Roman juristic writing, serves as the designation for the plaintiff (  actio ). N(umerius) N(egidius) stands for the defendant. In addition, the names Titius, Gaius or Sempronius are used for the designation of a third party. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (τοπάρχης; topárchēs). 'Leader (ἄρχειν/ árchein = rule) of a district ( tópos)'; in the Hellenistic period the highest civil administrative official in a tópos (q.v.). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] As distinct from the ager peregrinus, the 'foreign territory', ager Romanus (AR) was the area of the state of Rome inhabited by Romans (including the city). It consisted of privately owned real estate ( ager privatus) and public lands ( ager publicus ). Parts of the ager publicus could be transformed into ager privatus through the settlement of Roman citizens ( assignatio viritim, 'man by man'; or in closed citizens' colonies, cf. coloniae C) or could be completely divided from the AR to become ag er peregrinus when colonies with their own state areas were establis…

(τόπος/ tópos). [German version] [1] Administrative unit Territorial subdivision of a nome ( nomós [2]), attested from the Hellenistic period onwards in Egypt and in its external possessions (Syria, Palestine, southern Asia Minor); also as an administrative unit under the Seleucids and Attalids (Attalus, with stemma), probably with a similar structure but not understood in detail [1. 440]. In Egypt a topos comprised several villages or kômai (Kome B), and therefore formed a unit of intermediate size, which had no pharaonic antecedent, unlike the nome and kome, but was newly form…

[German version] A victory title assumed by Roman emperors to indicate a military success over the Sarmatians (Sarmatae). After AD 175, Marcus [2] Aurelius and his son Commodus were the first to bear the epithet Sarmaticus following the peace treaty with the Iazyges. Maximinus [2] Thrax and his son Maximus bore the title Sarmaticus maximus from AD 236. Although Sarmatian tribes continued to threaten the Danube border, Diocletianus was the first to accept the title Sarmaticus maximus again in AD 285 (three more times from then on). After Diocletian, all the Augusti of the…

[German version] Neither Greek nor Roman law is familiar with prison sentences as punitive detention in the modern sense (otherwise [1]). As a rule, until the trial the accused remains free (in Rome a kind of pre-trial confinement is permissible for political crimes), a convicted criminal only stays in prison until the execution of the sentence. Also, private detention of a debtor for a creditor, precisely regulated in Rome from the time of the Law of the Twelve Tables onwards, is not to punish but rather to force payment. Addictus; Carcer; Desmoterion Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography 1 …

(Ἀμυρταῖος; Amyrtaîos). [German version] [1] Ruler of Sais, 1st half of the 5th cent. BC of Sais, joined the Aegean rebellion begun by the Libyan  Inarus and supported by Athens (Thuc. 1,109) against the Persian king  Artaxerxes I and held the Nile delta after the victory of the Persians (again supported by Athens; Thuc. 1,110,4; Plut. Cimon 18) for several years. His son Pausiris was reinstated by the Persians in the rulership (Hdt. 3,15). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Egyptian king (404-398 BC) probably the grandson of no. 1, listed by Manetho as the only king of…

Wars within or between ancient alliance systems (Socii; Symmachia; Symmachoi). The term does not include punitive expeditions by the leading power against individual alliance members. The following wars were already called SW (πόλεμος συμμαχικός/ pólemos symmachikós, bellum sociale) in Antiquity: [German version] [1] War by Athens against allies of the 2nd Athenian League, 357-355 BC The war by Athens against seceded allies of the Second Athenian League from 357-355 BC, which put Athens into serious military and financial difficulties (Symmoria). Du…

[German version] (θεσμοφύλακες /thesmophýlakes, from thesmós = 'law, ordinance' and phyláttein = 'to guard'). 'Guardians of ordinances', a rarely recorded collegium in Classical Greece (for Elis: Thuc. 47,9) with scarcely identifiable powers. Recorded in the Hellenistic period in Boeotia (IG VII 3172,178; cf. Plut. Mor. 292d thesmophylákios nómos) and on Ceos (IG XII 5,595B) as an authority which saw to the enforcement of judicial punishments and (on Ceos) brought law suits against officials. In Ptolemaic Egypt (recorded for Alexandria [1], thesmophylakes were the leaders …

[German version] Propraetor. Legate of Cornelius [I 71] Scipio in Locri [2] after it was regained in the war with Hannibal in 205 BC (second of the Punic Wars). In 204 the Locrians' complaint in the Roman Senate about P.' despotism, which was tolerated by Scipio, and about the pillage of the sanctuary of Persephone was used by Q. Fabius [I 30] in his motion to relieve Scipio of his command (Liv. 29,19,6). A senatorial commission, friendly to Scipio, established his innocence in Locri, however, and brought P. to Rome, to be put on trial by the people's tribunes for perduellio …

[German version] From AD 540/41 held the regency for Walthari (the minor son of King Wacho) and after Walthari's death (in 547/48) became king of the  Langobards. He led the Langobards to Pannonia, where they were settled by Justinian and probably entrusted with the task of securing the Danube border against the Franks. In the battles against the neighbouring Gepids he was insufficiently supported by Justinian, although A. sent a large army to  Narses in Italy in 552. Nevertheless, he achieved vic…

[German version] The modern term 'governor' merges numerous designations of regular officials and functionaries in the ancient Near East and Graeco-Roman antiquity into one. The common factor of all these positions was the fulfilment of military and administrative duties (i.e. 'governing') far from the centre of rule, in clearly geographically defined areas (Eparchia; Provincia; satrapy, s. Satrap) and by order of and in the place of the actual political ruler. Representatives and deputies of the …

[German version] Like the modern term 'people' (in the sense of population, broad masses, lower social class, ethnic group, nation among others) the ancient terms which were used for 'people' (δῆμος/ dḗmos [1] and populus ) were not clearly defined. But dḗmos and populus never meant 'population' since both referred only to citizens with political rights (Citizenship; Census). Dḗmos could mean all of the citizens of a country, but also only the lower classes, the 'masses', who were also called οἱ πολλοί/ hoi polloí ('the many'), πλῆθος/ plḗthos ('mass') and ὄχλος/ óchlos ('rabble', 'mo…

[German version] Daughter of  Amalafrida and niece of Theoderic the Great, married to the king of the Thuringians Herminafridus (Iord. Get. 299; Procop. 5,12,22; 8,25,11; Cassiod. Var. 4,1) c. AD 510 in order to cement an alliance against the Franks. After the conquest of the Thuringian kingdom and the death of her husband in 534 she fled to her brother Theodahad in Ravenna. Her son Amalafridus and a daughter went to Constantinople after the taking of Ravenna by  Belisarius, where Justinian married the daughter to the Langobard Audoin (PLRE 2, 63). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (ἔπαρχος; éparchos). Head of an   eparchía , a territorial administrative unit in Hellenistic states, especially in the  Seleucid kingdom. It is disputed whether eparchos ever was an official title for the holder of civil and military power in a subdivision of the satrapy ( Satrap) because in this context it is not attested epigraphically. The first appearance of the term eparchos for a governor in Seleucid territory in Polybius [2] (5,46,7) suggests that eparchos was formed as an analogy to the term eparchía (the Greek term for a Roman province) and describes …

[German version] (Ἀμόργης/ Amórgēs). Persian, illegitimate son ( nóthos: Thuc. 8,5,5) of the satrap of Sardis Pissuthnes; from Caria he resumed his father's rebellion against the Persian king Darius [2] II, which had failed before 413 BC. No later than 412 BC Athens made an attempt at cooperation with A. (Thuc. 8,19,2), in breach of a treaty with Darius [2] II (And. Or. 3,29; cf. Epilycys), if payments to an Athenian general in Ephesus in the year 414 [1. no. 77, Z. 79] were for assistance for A. (as in…

[German version] The SD, also referred to as 'The Severans', 'Severan era', or, owing to the origins of the family in Africa and Syria, the 'African/Syrian emperors', lasted c. 40 years from the accession of their founder, Septimius [II 7] Severus (AD 193-211), via his sons by Iulia [12] Domna, Caracalla (198-217) and Geta [2] (209-211), to Iulia Domna's great nephews Elagabalus [2] (218-222) and Severus [2] Alexander (222-235). The sequence of Severan emperors was interrupted for about a year (April 217-mid 218) by the rul…

[German version] (τελῶναι/ telônai, Sg. τελώνης/ telṓnēs; 'tax leaseholders', from τέλη/ télē = 'taxes' and ὠνή/ ōnḗ = 'buying, lease'); private entrepreneurs or businesses in the Greek domain, comparable with the Roman publicani (see Cic. Ad Q. fr. 1,1,33). They either purchased for a lease guaranteed to the state, the right to collect taxes and tolls for a certain period in a defined area as well as the right to exploit mines, or they received a certain sum of money from the state and had to provide an agr…

[German version] Modern term for the league of c. 30 Greek states (31 in Plut. Themistocles 20,3; cf. Snake column) which swore an oath to unite against the Persians in the autumn of 481 BC, immediately prior to the attack of Xerxes [1] I and whose representatives ( próbouloi: Hdt. 7,172,1) met regularly in the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth, beginning no later than the spring of 480. The first meeting took place in 481 in Sparta (Paus. 3,12,6), the leading Greek power of the time (cf. Thuc. 1,18,2), or on the Isthmus (Hdt. …

[German version] ('examiner') can, in general Latin usage, mean any chairman of a jury ( quaestio ) in criminal proceedings; however, the chairman selected for an individual trial is usually meant, in contrast to the permanent chairman appointed for a year ( praetor, iudex quaestionis) [1, vol. 2. 2234; 2. 48-50]. He also did not have a vote [2. 1629] and was bound by the decision of the committee which he led. A juristic connection of the quaesitor to the ancient quaestores parricidii ( parricidium ) is disputed, but accepted by [2. 44 f., 132], who sees i…

[German version] In Latin puer is used: (1) to describe male slaves of any age (like the Greek παῖς/ paîs); (2) to distinguish a free male child from a female one ( puella); and (3) to indicate a stage of life (Dig. 50,16,204). According to Festus (307), 'the ancients' ( antiqui) named their slaves Marcipor, Quintipor, etc., to express the master-slave relationship of Marcus or Quintus to each por = puer. A slave remained a puer until freed because his physical development, unlike that of a free child, would not lead to legal majority (Sen. Ep. 47,7). Latin lacks a ter…

[German version] Son of Alaricus [3] II and a daughter of Theoderic the Great. After Alaricus' death (507), his half-brother Gesalech ruled instead of the c. five-year-old A. (Gesalicus; Procop. Goth. 5,12,43; differently Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,37). After 511 Theoderic took over rulership for A., who had been nominally named king (Procop. Goth. 5,12,46; Iord. Get. 302 names Theudis as regent) until after Theoderic's death in 526 when A. took up full rulership (Procop. Goth. 5,13,4 ff.). He married a daughter of the Frank C…

[German version] [1] Flavius, cos. 427 AD Flavius, of Alan descent, father of Aspar A. Consul in AD 427. As magister utriusque militiae, he led a successful campaign against the Persian commander Narses in AD 421-422. In AD 424, he was, as magister utriusque mil. (praesentalis?), sent to Italy by Theodosius II, together with his son, against the usurper Iohannes who had seized power after the death of Honorius in AD 423; however, he was already captured during the crossing and held in Ravenna as Iohannes' prisoner, but freed by his son in AD 425 (PLRE 2, 137 f., A. 3). Eder, Walter (Berlin) …

[German version] In Greek numerical systems, β (beta) designates the number 2 in the ‘alphabetic’ system. In the same system, it can also designate the number 2,000 when prepositioned with a diacritical symbol ('β, ,β). In the ‘acrophonic’ system, β' is the symbol for the fraction 2/3.  Arithmetics;  Numerical systems Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] The ancient census had its origins in the effort to establish the military potential of a community, and was thus at first restricted to the part of the population that was capable of and qualified for military service, i.e. adult male citizens. Because the prevailing principle of self-provision of equipment made military service as cavalryman, heavy infantryman ( hoplitai ), light infantryman or military auxiliary dependent on the citizen's economic standing, a classification according to wealth was made by estimation ( census ; cf. time ), int…

[German version] (also zilat, zilach, zilac). Name of an office in Etruscan cities, known from inscriptional evidence from the 4th cent. BC onwards; most of the evidence is from the territory of Tarquinii, more from Vulci, Volsinii, Volaterra and Clusium [1. 246 f.]. The zilath seems (to some extent with other officials also described as zilath but charged with other duties) to have been at the apex of the city administration which evolved after the dissolution of the kingdom and the decline of aristocratic power in Etruria (Etrusci). Zilath also appears in connection with mechl rasnal…

[German version] Son of Mundzuk, from AD 434 together with his brother Bleda king of the Huns as successor to his uncle Rua. After the murder of Bleda in 445, A. is until 453 sole ruler of a Hun empire reaching from the Rhine to the Caucasus, which also includes Iranian and Germanic tribes. The strict central organization of the Hunnish tribes, begun already by Rua, increasingly replaces the earlier, looser federation. Probably after the model of the Roman Empire but not with the goal of its destr…

(Already in Hdt. Greek ἔμφυλος στάσις/ émphylos stásis; πόλεμος/ pólemos; Latin bellum civile). Fight between armed citizens of the same state on its territory, which could be particularly fierce in Graeco-Roman antiquity given that ‘citizens’ and ‘soldiers’ were identical and therefore battle-experienced troops encountered each other. The causes lay in social conflicts, political differences or the power aspirations of individuals. Because the boundaries of civil wars are undefined, differentiation from ‘revolts’ and ‘uprisings’ is difficult. [German version] I. Greece Th…

[German version] (ἀκρόπολις/ akrópolis, 'upper city'), the highest part ( ákros = 'located at the top') of a Greek settlement, in Greece and in the Aegean area often with fortification walls, rarely so in the colonies of Sicily and Lower Italy (Fortifications). The original reference to these elevated settlements as pólis (on the Mycenaean roots of the word s. Polis I) was preserved in the designation of the Acropolis of Athens as pólis up into the 5th cent. BC (Thuc. 2,15,6; cf. Aristoph. Nub. 69; Paus. 1,26,6). When settlements began to extend down the slopes begi…

[German version] [1] Struggles between Persians and Greeks Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] A. Terminology and sources The modern use of the term PW in a wider sense refers to the struggle between the ' Hellenes and Barbarians' (Hdt. prooemium) during the time between the Ionian Revolt (500-494 BC) and the middle of the 5th cent. BC; in a narrower sense the attacks on Greece by the Persians (Achaemenidae) under the kings Darius [1] I. and Xerxes I., which were repelled at Marathon in 490 and at Salamis and Plataeae in 480/479. The term PW is not used for later military encoun…

[German version] Until the 1st cent. BC, the usual meaning of tranquillitas is 'peace, stillness' (as late as in C…

[German version] In modern scholarship, the term SW refers to a group of six wars fought between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids for possession of southern Syria (between the River Eleutherus, modern Nahr al-Kabīr, north of Byblus and the eastern frontier of Egypt at Rhaphia; cf. map 'The Hellenistic states in the 3rd Cent. BC'; Coele Syria) between 274 and 168 BC. The war between Antiochus [5] III and Rome (192-188, treated in App. Syr. 11), which is often referred to as a 'Syrian War', is not included in them. The precondition for the SW was the state of possessions …

[German version] The modern term cannot be applied to antiquity. However, even in ancient polities, there were groupings which formed temporarily for the achievement of political ends ( hetairía [2]; factiones ), though they developed no fixed membership or longer-term political programmes. It did also happen that citizenries divided into separate 'partisan affiliations' reinforcing differing conceptions of political content and methods in a quasi-programmatical way ( oligarchía / dēmokratía ; optimates / populares ), playing out differences concer…

[German version] of increasing complexity served in ancient society to reduce and regulate conflict for the purpose of enabling collective action. Independently of the respective constitutional form, council meetings (CM), whose members were usually drawn from economically powerful and socially respected circles, supported the  ruler in decision-making (cf.   basileús ,   gerousía ; the Roman senate under the monarchy), formulated a consensus of peers in the aristocracy (  …

[German version] ('period of recruitment for…

[German version] (Ξιφάρης/ Xiphárēs). Son of Mithridates [6] VI and Stratonice [7], who was killed by his father in 64 BC in revenge for the betrayal of his mother (App. Mithr. 502-505). In 64 Stratonice - without knowing that X. w…

[German version] According to Festus (318, s. v. s.) s. described objects or persons who were protected by oath ( Sacramentum ) in such a way that by harming them the culprit came under the threat of the death penalty. As examples Festus gives the tribune of the plebs ( Tribunus plebis ) and, incorrectly, also the plebeian aediles. From their inception (in 494 BC; Struggle of the orders), the people's tribunes were protected by the lex sacrata (Liv. 2,33,1 and 3;  Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 6,89,2-4; Cic. Rep. 2,58), i.e. by an oath of the plebs to have e…

[German version] 'Squeeze' (German abklatsch, French estampage) is the term for a negative impression of an inscription on paper or a latex sheet. After the inscribed surface has been cleaned, soft paper is pressed with a firm brush, or a thin film of liquid latex is poured, on to the inscription. After drying the squeeze can be detached and transported at will; under suitable lighting it can often be read better than the original. Large collections of squeezes can be f…

[German version] Building where the  boule met. Attestable from the archaic period, from the 4th cent. BC the bouleuterion was regularly one of the public buildings at or in the vicinity of the  agora. On function and construction  assembly buildings. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (πρυτανεῖον/ prytaneîon). Official building of the prytáneis , usually near the bouleuterion in the centre of a Greek polis (Agora; cf., e.g., Athens; Messene; Priene) and ostensibly of great age (cf. Thuc. 2,15,2). As the location of the state hearth, often with a constantly burning flame, the prytaneîon was the sacred centre of the polis and at the middle of numerous cult activities (Hestia). After the Persian Wars the 'contaminated' fires had to be extinguished and rekindled by Delphi in the prytaneîon (Plut. Aristides 20,4 f.). Participation in meals in the prytaneîon (Sitesi…

[German version] Abbreviation of the Roman forenames Sextus and Spurius (also Sp.). S stands also for senatus in the formula SPQR, as S.S. for the Senate's resolution ( S[enatus] S[ententia]) and as S.C. on coins that were minted on behalf of the Senate ( [ex] S[enatus] C[onsulto]; s enatus consultum ). Very often to be found on inscriptions instead of the possessive pronouns of the 3rd person suus, sua, suum (in all the oblique cases), such as S(ua)P(ecunia)P(osuit) ('built with one's own money'). On coins, frequently used within imperial propaganda for s alus ('health'), s ecuritas …

[German version] Marcius C., Cn, received the epithet C. for his deeds of heroism in the capture of Corioli in 493 BC (Liv. 2,33,5). The unyielding patrician's proposal to exploit a famine in order to render the plebs submissive led to his banishment in 491, and to his attempt to return home at the head of the Volsci enemy. According to tradition (Liv. 2,39-41; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8,14-36), his mother Veturia and wife Volumnia persuaded him to turn back before the gates of Rome, and this cost him…

[German version] Marcomannian noble who had fled from  Marbod to the Gothic Gutones. At the instigation of Drusus he invaded the kingdom of Marbod in c. AD 18 with the help of the Gutones who wanted to free themselves from Marcomanni subjugation and drove him into exile in Ravenna. Shortly afterwards he himself was driven out by the Hermundurian Vibilius and fled to Forum Iulii (Fréjus) (Tac. Ann. 2, 62-63). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (Τείσπης; Teíspēs). According to the testimony of a cylinder inscription of Cyrus [2] II (TUAT I 409,21) an ancestor of his grandfather Cyrus [1] I and hence probably, like him, of Persian descent and a ruler in Fars (Persis) in the 7th cent. BC. The genealogical connection with the Achaemenids [2] in Hdt. 7,11, who puts into the mouth of Xerxes I a family tree with a T. as the son of Achaemenes [1] and another T. as great-great-grandson, can presumably be traced to Darius [1]. The…