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[German version] The title (πράξεις [τῶν] ἀποστόλων; práxeis [tôn] apostólōn or acta/actus apostolorum), which was first documented in the late 2nd cent., is almost certainly not its original. Paul is not really considered an apostle by the author. Acts is part of the Lukan historical corpus together with the Gospel designated as πρῶτος λόγος ( prôtos lógos) in 1.1. Repetitions and contradictions (e.g. Lk 24,50-53 and Acts 1,9-11) are explained as a variatio. The structure of Acts is presented in 1,8: spread of the gospel by ‘witnesses’ and the ‘power of the Holy Gh…

(ἡ Πελοπόννησος/ hē Pelopónnēsos, Doric Πελοπόννασος/ Pelopónnasos). [German version] I. Geography Peninsula in southern Greece (21,439 km²), connected to the mainland (Attica, Boeotia) by the Isthmus of Corinth. It is predominantly mountainous (cf. Cyllene [1], Erymanthus [1], Lycaeum, western Messenian massif with Ithome [1], Taygetus, Parnon) and highly fragmented (cf. the numerous small rivers, particularly in Achaea, e.g. Alpheus [1], Pamisus, Eurotas, Inachus [2]; also the many small coastal plains a…

(Koran) [German version] A. Definition The sacred book of the Muslims, the word of God, received through the prophet Muhammad c. AD 610-632. Schönig, Hanne (Halle/Saale) [German version] B. Origin The divine revelations had already been collected in oral and written form by the faithful during the lifetime of the prophet, but it was the 3rd Caliph Othman (ʿUṯmān; 644-56) who compiled them in their ultimate, unchangeable, canonical form. Schönig, Hanne (Halle/Saale) [German version] C. Structure and form - language and style The 114 Suras (loan word from Talmudic šūrah ‘sequence, lin…

This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Writing | Christianity | Zenobia | Kypros | Diadochi and Epigoni | Natural catastrophes | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Πάφος; Páphos). [German version] I. Old Paphus In antiquity two cities on the southern coast of Cyprus bore the name P.; from the Roman Imperial period, they were differentiated as New P. (Νέα Πάφος/ Néa Páphos, near modern Kato P.) and Old P. (Παλαίπαφος/ Palaípaphos, near modern Kouklia). (Old) P. is first mentioned on the Prism of Asarhaddon (673/2 B…

[German version] (Σέρβοι; Sérboi). The early history of the S. and the Croatians is known in outline only due to the condition of the sources: Aside from a brief mention in the Carolingian Imperial Annals (Annales regni Francorum, MGH SS 1,209: ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur) from the 9th cent. AD, we only have the report by Constantinus [1] Porphyrogennetus (de administrando imperio 32 Moravcsik/Jenkins) following the two - contradictory - chapters on Croatia (ch. 30 and 31). The report claims that the S. had…

This item can be found on the following maps: Achaemenids | Pontos Euxeinos | Byzantium | Thraci, Thracia | Christianity | Wine | Xenophon | | | Diadochi and Epigoni | Commerce | Asia Minor | Asia Minor | Colonization | Limes | Moesi, Moesia | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Persian Wars | Pilgrimage | Pompeius | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Βυζάντιον; Byzántion). [German version] I. Topography and history Greek city on the southern shore of the  Bosporus [1] on a peninsula bordering on the Chrysokeras in the north and on the Propontis …

This item can be found on the following maps: Thraci, Thracia | Christianity | | Daci, Dacia | Commerce | Moesi, Moesia | Pilgrimage | Rome | Rome | Balkans, languages (Σερδική/ Serdikḗ, modern Sofia). [German version] I. Early history until the Roman Period Settlement of the Thracian Serdi on the Oescus [1] between the Scombrus and Haemus mountain ranges, a nodal point of roads (It. Ant. 135,4; Tab. Peut 7,5; Ptol. 3,11,8); modern Sofia. Settled since the 8th/7th centuries BC, in the 5th/4th centuries BC S. developed under the kings of t…

(Κρήτη, Krētē, Latin Creta). [German version] A. Settlement geography C. is the largest Greek island, with an east-west extension of 250 km and a north-south extension of max. 60 km. The narrowest part is the Isthmus of Hierapytna in the east. The island's topography is shaped by its mountains. Three large mountain ranges dominate: in the west the ‘White Mountains’ (  Leúka órē , 2,482 m), in the centre the  Ida Mountains (Piloritis, 2,456 m) and in the east the  Dicte Range (highest elevation 2,147 m) with the Lassithi Plateau (moun…

[German version] I. Term Arabic al-malakiyyūn from Aramaic malkā, ‘king’, used in the sense of the Greek βασιλεύς/ basileús. Syrians and Arabs used this (pejorative) term for the followers of the Council of Calchedon (AD 451), which is even today not recognized by the Monophysites ( Monophysitism) of the Middle East (Syrians, Copts, Armenians). The modern term they use to describe themselves is Rūm (Arabic for ‘Byzantium’, ‘Byzantines’). By contrast, the use of Melchites in the sense of a ‘United Church of the Syrian region’ is comparatively recent (not before the schism of 1724). Niehof…

[German version] (Βλάχοι/ Bláchoi). Byzantine ethnographic term of unclear (ethnic or social) definition. Etymologically, it is the Slavic designation of all Romance peoples in south-east Europe. During the migration period, the ancient Celtic tribe-name of the Volcae was transferred by the Germanic peoples to their Romance neighbours ('Walch', 'Welschen'). The South-Slavs are responsible for its phonologic form (Βλάχ/ Vlach), which can be found in the Byzantine chronicles (Iohannes Skylitzes p. 329,80 Thurn, interpolated) or in the work of Kekaumenos …

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Ionic | Colonization | Marble | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Pompeius | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Χίος; Chíos). [German version] A. Introduction Large (856 km2) island, c. 8 km from the mainland. The ancient settlements were on the east coast, where the main city of the same name is today (few traces, an earthquake in 1881 having destroyed nearly all buildings on the island). Highest point is the Pelinaion (1297 m). The east and south-east …

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Thraci, Thracia | Christianity | | Coloniae | Alexander | Moesi, Moesia | Rome | Rome | Balkans, languages (Φιλιππόπολις/ Philippópolis, Φιλιπούπολις/ Philipoúpolis). [German version] I. Location and history up to conquest by the Goti City in Thrace (Thraci), founded by Philip (Philippus [4]) II in the immediate vicinity of a fortified settlement of the Bessi on the right bank of the Hebrus in 341 BC. An important road and river transport junction between the Ister [2], the Black Sea, …

[German version] Byzantine scholar and bishop, born around 990 in Paphlagonia, died around 1092 (?). M. composed epigrams, letters and speeches, and as the founder of a school of law and editor of Konstantinos IX's novellae he had great influence at the court of Constantinople until the middle of the 11th century. His promotion to metropolitan of Euchaïta was however an exile in disguise. He is important as the teacher and predecessor of Psellos. Niehoff, Johannes (Freiburg) Bibliography A. Karpozilos, s.v. M., LMA 4, 414f.

(Delmatae, Delmatia). [German version] I. General Important people of later Illyricum (degree of Celtization uncertain) in the hinterland of Salona between Tit(i)us (Krka) and Nestus/Hippius (Cetina) on the Glamočko, Livanjsko, Duvanjsko and Imotsko polje. Gave its name to the Roman prov. Dalmatia. Administratively separated from Illyricum at the beginning of the Flavian period. These areas were under the control of the Illyrian kingdom, notorious for its piracy (under the dynasty of the Ardiaeans, Agron and Teuta), which was fought by…

[German version] (Lat. Ragusium, Greek Ῥαούσιον/ Rhaoúsion, Slavic Dubrovnik; regarding the name cf. [1]), city on the Dalmatian coast. The beginnings of the trading city that was to become so famous a rival of Venice on the Adriatic Sea were hazy already for the historians of R. at the time of Humanism so that they arrived at different legends of its origin reminiscent of the type of ancient aetiology (cf. the depictions in [2; 3; 4]). The report by Constantinus [1] Porphyrogennetus (Const. de administ…

[German version] (Μηνολόγιον; Mēnológion). A collection of the lives of Saints of the Orthodox Church, arranged according to the feast-day of the corresponding saint, in accordance with the ecclesiastical year ( calendar). In contrast to the Synaxarion, which provides only brief notices for each saint, and to the Menaion, which usually contains liturgical songs and prayers for the saint's festival, the βίοι/ bíoi (‘lives’) of the Menologion are normally longer. It may have been mentioned first in Theodoros Studites [1. vol. 1, 21], yet the first preserved …

Niehoff, Johannes (Freiburg) I. Byzantine Middle Ages and Modern Period (CT) [German version] A. Prefatory Remarks on Method (CT) The terms 'Middle Greek' and 'Modern Greek' are adopted only as conventions. Their use in the literature is based upon an unreliable application of Western European categories to entirely different practices in the Byzantine East [1]. Fundamental for the following outline is the dichotomy 'written' vs. 'oral' as well as that of 'external' vs. 'internal' linguistic history. While the for…

[German version] [1] Attic Paralia deme of the phyle Hippothontis This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Linear B | Macedonia, Macedones | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Peloponnesian War | Attica | Attica | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Ἐλευσίς; Eleusís, mod. Elefsina). Lohmann, Hans (Bochum) [German version] A. Location Attic Paralia deme of the phyle Hippothontis with urban character, 11 (?) bouleutai, c. 21 km west of  Athens [1] on a low coastal hill range west of Thriasia, whose north-western summit with Hellenistic fortress and…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Byzantium | Commerce | Hellenistic states | Asia Minor | Colonization | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Athletes | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Ῥόδος; Rhódos). [German version] I. Geography Island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, now part of the Dodecanese archipelago, with an area of 1400 km2. A good part of the ancient history of the island was shaped by its geographical situ…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Coloniae | Dark Ages | Achaeans, Achaea | Macedonia, Macedones | Oracles | Peloponnesian War | Pilgrimage (Πάτραι/ Pátrai, ethnicon usually Πατρεύς/ Patreús, Latin Patrae, ethnicon Patrensis). [German version] I. Topography Town in western Achaea, with an important harbour, still known as P. today (on the name see [1]), created by synoikismós from seven villages (δῆμοι/ dḗmoi) (Str. 8,3,2; [2. 89-95, 120f.; 3; 4]). Unlike the modern town, P. was not on the coastal plain, but on the first, low rise above it…