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[German version] In modern industrial societies, the function of SP is to set up systems to prevent the occurrence of cases of hardship, and to protect individual citizens and groups of citizens from defined risks. A vital instrument of SP is social insurance, of the kind created in the German Empire between 1883 and 1889 (health insurance, accident insurance, old-age insurance); unemployment insurance followed during the Weimar Republic. Since that time, the actual concern in SP has been, on the …

(τριήρης/ triḗrēs; Lat. trieris, triremis;from tri- 'three' and Gr. eretmón, Lat. remus 'oar'). [German version] I. History of the Trireme From the battle off Salamis [1] (480 BC) to the Hellenistic age, the trireme of the Classical period was the most battle-worthy warship of the eastern Mediterranean region. It was developed from the elongated boats of the archaic period, which possessed one or two banks of oars on both sides and were used in Naval warfare. The tactical goal in naval battles was to sink enemy shi…

[German version] The technique used by the Greeks, of binding the individual blocks in quarried-stone walls by means of variously formed metal clamps, was adopted by the Romans for their monumental architecture. Besides that, they early on used mortar made of lime and sand as a bounding agent in house building. Thus, lime, which in Greece had been used primarily for the roughcast of buildings, acquired greater importance as a building material in the Roman period. Lime is obtained from limestone by burning at temperatures of some 1000° C; the calcium carbonate (CO3Ca) turns into calciu…

(Latin veterani). [German version] I. Republic The Roman army in the Republican Period was a militia; all citizens with means exceeding the defined level (cf. Census) were obliged to provide combat service in the military; the term of service depended on military requirements, and was not precisely defined. It was the custom for soldiers released from the army after military service to return to their farms, and to be available again for recruitment upon the outbreak of another war (Pol. 6,19-26; Liv.…

[German version] (Bíτων; Bítōn). Author of a short work on catapults and siege equipment; named in Athenaeus (14,634); the work is dedicated to a King Attalus and was therefore composed between about 230 BC (when Attalus I assumed the title of king) and 133 BC (death of Attalus III). As B. mentions older types of catapults but not the torsion catapult that was otherwise well attested from the end of the 4th cent. BC, the work probably belongs to the early years of the reign of Attalus I. B. describes two catapults that could hurl stones weighing from c. 2 kg to 18 kg, a mobile siege tower ( helépol…

Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) The genre of portraiture, which developed in Antiquity, and especially that which developed in Rome from the 1st cent. BC under the influence of the Greek, diverged into a multiplicity of types (portrait statues,  equestrian statues, portrait busts, apotheoses in relief form, imago clipeata on sarcophagi etc.). According to their respective functions and historical (re-)applications (e.g. as portraits of rulers or poets), these types cons…

[German version] From the Archaic Period on, Greek trading ships were no longer propelled by oarsmen but had a large sail attached to a yard (ἐπίκριον/ epíkrion; Lat. antemna/ antenna), allowing them to use wind power. Even the long warships had a mast with a yardsail; as these ships, however, had to be used regardless of wind conditions and in naval battles required great manoeuvrability, oarsmen could not be dispensed with; they used the sail on longer journeys in favourable wind. Greek warships in the 5th-4th cents. BC not only had the big sails (μεγάλα ἱστία/ megála histía; Xen. Hell. 1…

[German version] [1] Type of building Latin term for buildings, both urban and rural, used for storage, craft production, selling goods, offering drinks, meals and lodging, and also as living space. Storage economy; Workshop; Inn Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) [German version] [2] T. Frigida Road station in Etruria on the Via Aemilia Scauri between Pisae and Luna at the crossing over the Frigidus (modern Frigido), modern San Leonardo in Frigido. Uggeri, Giovanni (Florence) Bibliography L. Banti, Luni, 1937, 71  G. De Santis Alvisi, Questioni lunensi, in: Centro Studi Lunensi. …

[German version] A. Etymology and development of the word's meaning The term liberalitas (= li.) denotes, on an abstract level, an attribute (cf. Sen. Dial. 7,24,3: ... quia a libero animo proficiscitur, ita nominata est), in a particular case an act of generosity. The term largitio (= la.) belongs to the area of gifts, as does li.; derived from the adjective largus (in the original sense of a freely flowing spring, Cic. Off. 2,52) la. usually signifies the distribution of gifts. In the political vocabulary of the late Republic la., seen as a gift by means of which a particular purp…

[German version] Pre-Platonic thinkers, such as the Pythagoreans (Pythagorean School) or Anaxagoras [2] had a concept of an empty “space” (τὸ κενόν/ tò kenón). The examination of this view led Aristotle (Aristoteles [6]) to the conclusion that no such 'void' could exist. His argument reveals that Anaxagoras had undertaken experiments to study phenomena of air. For Aristotle, Anaxagoras' demonstrations show that air is a form of matter (ὅτι ἔστι τι ὁ ἀήρ/ hóti ésti ti ho aḗr: Aristot. Ph. 213a-214b). In the 3rd cent. BC, Ctesibius [1] constructed apparatuses which made use o…

[German version] I. Greece Tactics are understood as the planning and execution of military operations, such as marching and battles. Before the emergence of the phalanx , no tactical organization of the army is discernible. The battle formation of the phalanx, however, required the army to be divided into subunits, with a marching order, an ordered array in file and a clear system of orders. Ancient historians and military writers document various marching orders and possible transitions (often probably rather remote from reality) fr…

[German version] I. General points Water was needed for various purposes in ancient civilizations: in the household as drinking water, for preparing food, and for hygiene (Hygiene, personal); in crafts (Crafts, Trade) for metalwork (Metallurgy) and for fulling (Fulling, Fuller); in public life for bathhouses and thermae; and finally in agriculture for the irrigation of gardens and fields. However, in the Mediterranean region, it was not available in sufficient quantity and quality in the form of surf…

[German version] (ἐλέφας/ eléphas, Latin ebur) was obtained from the tusks of African and Indian elephants, and like silk, amber, incense and pepper is one of those precious goods that had to be imported from areas outside the Roman empire; according to Pliny, ivory was the most valuable material supplied by land animals (Plin. HN 37,204). The price for ivory was extraordinarily high in the 1st cent. AD; nevertheless there was a shortage of ivory so that people began also to process the ordinary bone…

I. Ancient Near East [German version] A. Metal extraction Metals are extracted from ores (smelting). Precious metals: gold, silver, elektron; base metals: copper, tin, lead, iron. The beginnings of metallurgy can be found in mineralogically favourable regions, particularly near the (copper-)ore deposits of Anatolia. Elements of pyrotechnology have been identified in aceramic neolithic settlements of the early 7th millennium BC, in particular products of metallurgy based on the smelting of copper ore. The…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient For Mesopotamia, as for the Near East in general, we are poorly informed by both written and archaeological sources about military organization, techniques, and engineering. The isolated case of the ‘Vulture Stele’ (about 2500 BC, from Tello, southern Babylonia; [1. pl. 91]) points to differences between heavily and lightly armed soldiers. The war chariots depicted there and on the ‘Ur Standard’ (somewhat older, from Ur; [1. pl. VIII]) were probably static symbols, …

[German version] I. Definition of technology Technology describes the ensemble of tools, devices and procedures used for the acquisition and transformation of materials, the production and transportation of foodstuffs and consumables, the erection of structures, the provision of infrastructure, and the storage of information. The devices and procedures employed in different areas of technology are not independent of one another; rather, they constitute a technological complex with many interdependenci…

(Σίμων/ Símōn). [German version] [1] Sculptor in bronze from Aegina, c. 480-460 BC Sculptor in bronze from Aegina. S. participated with a horse and a charioteer in the votive offerings dedicated by Phormis at Olympia; accordingly, his period of artistic activity is around 480-460 BC. The base which belonged to it has been identified. A dog and an archer by S. (Plin. HN 34,90) probably formed a further group. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overbeck, nos. 402, 437  M. Zuppa, s.v. S. 2, EAA 7, 1966, 315  F. Eckstein, Anathemata, 1969, 43-49  E. Walter-Karydi, Die äginetische Bi…

Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) [German version] A. The Enlightenment's Assessment of Ancient Society (CT) Although ancient society played a prominent role in Enlightenment discourse, clarification of historical fact was not always the primary consideration in the treatment of any particular theme; rather, Greek or Roman society was described and cited in various theoretical contexts as a model or classified historically to justify or refute particular philosophical, political or economic positions. Influenced b…

I. General [German version] A. Gold and gold deposits Gold is a soft precious metal that can be shaped well mechanically and so can be worked easily into sheets and wires, but it has a relatively high melting point at 1063°C that makes casting difficult. It is relatively rare in nature where it is present in the form of gold aggregates in solid rock from which it is extracted through mining methods, or it is present in the form of gold particles or grains in sandy deposits of weathered primary rock, from…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Archaeological finds attest to battues with traps in the Middle East from the 7th millennium BC onwards. On the other hand, there is only a little cuneiform evidence of the occupation of the hunter, e.g. in the  Gilgamesh Epic (TUAT 3. 676, I iii 9ff.). Wild cattle, wild goats, wild donkeys, gazelles, lions,  elephants and many other animals were hunted. As hunting weapons, people used traps, nets and snares as well as bows and arrows, throwing-sticks, lances, sword…