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[German version] According to Calpurnius Piso fr. 42 Peter = 10 Forsythe the wife of Volcanus, no other references. Assumed Oscian origin [1] contributes little to clarification. It is possible that Piso, against a contemporary identification of Maia as the wife of Volcanus and eponym of the month of May (conceivable with Gell. NA 13,23; Cincius fr. 8 GRF in Macrob. Sat. 1,12,18; Ov. Fast. 5,81-106), derives the name of the month from a goddess M., with M. for her part probably coming from Latin maiestas (Ov. Fast. 5,11-53 mentions the latter as a possible eponym of the name of …

[German version] Epithet of Juno. According to tradition, her Roman temple on the Arx (Capitolium) was vowed by L. Furius ([I 11], probably not [I 12]) Camillus in 345 BC (Liv. 7,28,4) and dedicated on 1 June 344 (Liv. 7,28,5f.; Ov. Fast. 6,183f.; Fasti Venusini, InscrIt 13,2, p. 58). The traditional story that the shrine was erected at the site of the house of M. Manlius [I 8] Capitolinus (e.g. Liv. 6,20,13; 7,28,5; Ov. Fast. 6,185f.) is based on its erroneous localization on the Arx. The source …

[German version] 'SR' take their name from an ancient Israelite ritual sequence described in Lv 16,5-10 and 20-22, in which every year at Yom Kippur a ram was sacrificed to Yahweh and a second, on to which all the guilt of the people of Israel had been transferred, was driven into the wilderness "to take away divine anger"( ăzāzēl: [1. 159-162]). Post-Exile and, later, Jewish Rabbinic tradition explain Azazel as a demon or fallen angel, whereas early Christian theology interprets the ram as an allegory for Christ, who by his death is supposed to hav…

[German version] is the original form of the name of the Roman god (CIL I2 453; Vetter No. 200B 6b; Volchanus: CIL I2 1218; Volganus: CIL I2 364; Volkanus: CIL IX 6349), the form Vulcanus is more recent. Attempts to trace this name back through the Etruscan Velch(ans) [1. 289-409] to a Cretan ελχάνος ( Welchános, or Zeus Velchanos) [1. 155-287] and thus to identify its origin in the eastern Mediterranean region are based primarily on linguistic similarities; the conclusion that Volcanus was therefore originally a god of vegetation is hypothetical …

[German version] (Σεπτήριον/ Septḗrion), not Stepterion (Στεπτήριον/ Steptḗrion), was the name of a nine-yearly sequence of festivals and rituals, in the course of which a boy would set fire to a wooden construction beneath the temple of Apollo in Delphi, would then himself be led in a procession into the Thessalian Tempe valley to be ritually purified there of his 'offence' with accompanying sacrifices in the river Peneius. A central constituent was the plucking at the sanctuary to Apollo there of a l…

[German version] (Νόμιοι Θεοί; Nómioi Theoí). As an adjunct to νομεύς/ nomeús, ‘shepherd’, νόμιος/ nómios is a poetic apostrophe or actual cult invocation for the identification of groups of gods (anon. NT in Rome: IG XIV 1013) and individual gods in their function as pastoral deities. The following are addressed as Νόμιος/ Nómios: Hermes (Aristoph. Thesm. 977f.); Pan (Hom. H. 19,5; Paus. 8,38,11: cult of Lycosura in Arcadia); the Nymphs (Orph. H. 51,11f.); Aristaeus [1] in Cyrene (Pind. Pyth. 9,65); Dionysus (Anth. Pal. 9,524); Zeus (Stob. 53,13…

I. Terminology [German version] A. Personification in Rhetoric and Poetry The early modern term personificatio expresses the Hellenistic, rhetorical concept of προσωποποιία/ prosōpopoiía , which refers to the representation of fictive persons, concrete (inanimate) items or abstract concepts as speakers and actors (Latin, conformatio: Rhet. Her. 4,66; personarum ficta inductio: Cic. De or. 3,205; prosopopoeia: Quint. Inst. 9,29-37). As a fictional personalisation, primarily of concepts, prosōpopoiía was considered by Greek literary theory to be an element of a…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient The religion of Mesopotamia is characterized by a system of tutelary deities for the numerous city settlements that has its origin in the Sumerian religion of the 4th millennium BC. There is evidence of the existence and worship of city deities from the 3rd to the 1st millennium. Individual city deities achieved supraregional importance in the course of history (e.g.  Assur [2];  Enlil;  Ištar,  Marduk;  Nabû).  Asia Minor IV.;  Pantheon;  Religion II. and III. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) [German version] II. Classical antiquity For Graeco-Roman …

I. Allgemein und Klassische Antike [English version] 1. Begriffsgeschichte Das Adj. πολύθεος/ polýtheos bezeichnet in der griech. Dichtersprache das, was einer Mehrzahl von Göttern zukommt: der Altar als Sitz ( hédra) vieler Gottheiten (Aischyl. Suppl. 424) oder die von einer großen Zahl besuchte Götterversammlung (Lukian. Iuppiter Tragoedus 14). Erst die jüd. und christl. Lit. (Apologien) verwendet das Begriffsfeld zur Rechtfertigung der Herrschaft ( monarchía) eines einzigen Gottes: Philon [12] von Alexandreia prägt δόξα πολύθεος/ dóxa polýtheos (Phil. de decalogo 65…

[English version] A. Alter Orient Nachgewiesen seit der 2. H. des 4. Jt. dienten B. dem Zeitvertreib, aber auch divinatorischen Praktiken (Divination; Kombination mit Lebermodellen [3]). Die Spielbretter mit 5 × 4 Feldern bestanden aus Holz (mit bunten Einlagen oder geschnitzt), Stein (bemalt oder mit Einlagen) oder gebranntem Ton, die Spielfiguren und Würfel aus Elfenbein oder Knochen; zum Spielverlauf sind keine Angaben möglich. Mit dem ägypt. 30-Felder Spiel (bereits prädynastisch) besteht vermutl…

I. Begriff [English version] A. Personifizierung in Rhetorik und Dichtung Der frühneuzeitliche Begriff der personificatio gibt das hell. rhetor. Konzept der προσωποποιία/ prosōpopoiía wieder, welche die Darstellung fiktiver Personen, konkreter Sachen oder abstrakter Begriffe als Redende und Handelnde bezeichnet (lat. conformatio: Rhet. Her. 4,66; personarum ficta inductio: Cic. de orat. 3,205; prosopopoeia: Quint. inst. 9,29-37). Als fiktionale Personifizierung v.a. von Begriffen ist die Prosopopoiie für die ant. Theorie ein Element des allegori…

I. In general and in classical antiquity [German version] 1. History of the term The adjective πολύθεος/ polýtheos refers in poetic Greek to that which pertains to many deities: the altar as the seat ( hédra) of many gods (Aesch. Suppl. 424) or the divine assembly attended by many gods (Lucian. Iuppiter Tragoedus 14). It is only in Jewish and Christian literature (Apologists) that this concept is used to justify the rule ( monarchía) of a single deity. Philo [12] of Alexandria coined the terms δόξα πολύθεος/ dóxa polýtheos (Phil. De decalogo 65) and πολυθεΐα/ polytheḯa (Phil. De mutatione…

[German version] A. Ancient East Attested since the 2nd half of the 4th millennium, board games were used as a pastime but also for divination purposes ( Divination; in conjunction with models of the liver [3]). The playing boards of 5 × 4 squares were made from wood (carved or with coloured inlays), stone (painted or with inlays) or baked clay; the playing pieces and dice, from ivory or bone; no information is available on the way the games were played. There is probably no connection with the Egypt…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In the Ancient Orient the deification of  rulers always occurred in the context of the legitimization and exercise of  rulership. Deified rulers and proper gods were always differentiated on principle. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) [German version] A. Mesopotamia References to the deification of living rulers are geographically restricted to Babylonia and temporally to the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC: a) individual rulers claimed divine descent for themselves as a means of legitimizing their rule…

[English version] I. Allgemeines Die Stellung des Mondes in der ant. myth. Spekulation und kultischen Verehrung reflektiert seine zentrale Position in den kalendarischen, agrarischen und Monatszyklen in ihren unterschiedlichen Aspekten. Adressat von Kult kann der (personifizierte) Mond sein; Kult gilt auch den in ihrem Aspekt als M. mit dem Mond assoziierten männl. oder weibl., in den traditionellen Panthea verankerten Gottheiten. Während z.B. Selene/Luna ebenso wie Helios/Sol in der öffentl. Rel. d…

[German version] I. General The status of the moon in ancient mythological speculation and cult worship reflected its central position in the calendar cycles, agricultural cycles and monthly cycles with respect to their various aspects. The moon (personified) could be the addressee of the cult; the cult also included the male and female deities embedded in the traditional panthea and associated with the moon as moon deities (MD) with regard to their particular aspect. Whilst e.g. Selene/Luna just li…

[German version] [1] River in southern Italy River in southern Italy (approximately 185 km in length) with a catchment area of approximately 5,677 km2. It rises on the south-eastern slopes of Monte Metuccia (near Aesernia) from a large karst spring, absorbs tributaries from the Monti del Matese and ultimately the Calor (modern Calore) to the west of mons Taburnus, before breaking to the north of the Tifata mons through to the Mare Tyrrhenum, where its alluvial deposits have created the plain of Campania (Str. 5,4,4;…

[English version] [1] Bezeichnung für die Vielzahl der Götterwelt Als Begriff der mod. religionsgesch. Systematisierung der Vielzahl der ant. Götterwelt (Polytheimus) bezeichnet P. im folgenden die Gesamtheit einer in einem bestimmten geogr. Raum und sozio-histor. Kontext verehrten Mehrzahl von Gottheiten. Richter, Thomas (Frankfurt/Main) [English version] I. Mesopotamien Im Sumerischen findet sich kein eigener Terminus für eine Göttergesamtheit, der dem des P. entspräche. Der dafür in Anspruch genommene, vorwiegend in lit. Kontext begegnend…

[German version] [1] Name to describe the plurality of gods In modern scholarship on religious history, the term 'pantheon' is used in systematizing the plurality of ancient gods (Polytheism). In the following, it will be used accordingly to denote all the many deities worshipped in a particular geographical area and socio-historical context. Richter, Thomas (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] I. Mesopotamia Sumerian does not have its own expression for a collective of gods corresponding to the term 'pantheon'. The Sumerian term A-nun-na, 'seed of the prince' (i.e. of Enki, …

[German version] [1] Legendary founder of Rome The legendary founder of Rome. Perhaps literally 'the Roman'. A possible correspondence between the Etruscan nomen gentile Rumelna (Volsinii, 6th cent. BC: ET Vs 1,35) and the alleged Roman nomen gentile Romilius - the name is securely attested only in an old tribus Romilia/-ulia (Paul Fest. 331 L.) - and between R. and an Etruscan praenomen * Rumele [1. 31 f.] proves nothing about the historicity of the figure of R. Also problematic is the attempt [2. 491-520; 3. 95-150] to connect the finds from the Roman Mon…