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[German version] According to Roman tradition, the head ( caput) of the Etruscan hero Aulus Vibenna ( olus), discovered when the foundation stone was laid for the Roman temple of Jupiter in the 6th cent. BC, prophesying the future greatness of Rome (Liv. 1,55,5; 5,54,7; Arnob. 6,7; Serv. Aen. 8,345). The historicity of an Aulus Vibenna from Vulci is evident in Etruscan and Latin inscriptions and grave paintings. Prayon, Friedhelm (Tübingen) Bibliography A. Alföldi, Das frühe Rom und die Latiner, 1977, 200-204 with fn. 162 M. Pallottino, in: F. Buranelli (ed.), La Tomba François d…

[German version] I. Introduction The Greek word νεκρόπολις/ nekrópolis, ‘city of the dead’, is attested in Antiquity only in Strabo (17,1,10,14) as the name of a suburb of Alexandria [1] (Necropolis). Modern scholarship transfers the term necropolis to cemeteries of various cultures and time periods. General definitions as to shape and size do not exist. In this article, necropolis refers only to sites of a certain size and usually lying outside the settlements themselves. The size of a necropolis, the …

[German version] Italian name ('pot') for Etruscan vessels: 1. in the form of clay cauldrons; 2. of round-bellied vessels with handles and base. 'Thina' inscriptions of the 7th/6th cents. BC from Cerveteri (Caere) bear witness not only to the Etruscan name of the vessel type, but also to its linguistic affinity to the dinos of the Hellenic world, whose shape was related. The inscription thina on an amphora of the 5th/4th cent. in Populonia suggests that the name was later also transferred to other restricted vessel shapes. Prayon, Friedhelm (Tübingen) Bibliography G. Colonna, Nomi etru…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia The Sumerian term é and the Akkadian term bītu, meaning 'temple' or 'house (of the deity)', were not restricted to 'dwellings' of deities of a particular size or importance. They applied to sanctuaries from small neighbourhood shrines in residential areas to large, freestanding, tall buildings, from one-room cult sites to temple complexes with extensive auxiliary buildings, and they could be used for temples where one or many deities were worshipped. Prehistoric structures are often classified as temples only because apparently they nei…