Search

[German version] Sicilian dynasty of tyrants from Acragas, who were closely related to the  Deinomenids in Syracuse (genealogical table with the Deinomenids). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] ( hellēnismós). In antiquity from the time of Aristotle or his pupil  Theophrastus, this was the name for the correct use of the Greek language ( hellēnízein = ‘speaking Greek’), but it is not attested as a term until the 2nd cent. BC (2 Macc 4,13) and there designates the Greek way of life, disapproved of from a Jewish point of view. Based on the meaning of Hellenism, originating among Alexandrian scholars at almost the same time, as ‘Greek spiritual world’, Christian writers then use Hellenism in the sen…

[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…

[German version] Until the 1st cent. BC, the usual meaning of tranquillitas is 'peace, stillness' (as late as in Caes. B Gall. 3,15,3); after that, under the influence of Stoicism and the philosophy of Epicurus (analogous with the Greek γαλήνη/ galḗnē, 'calm' = 'peace of mind'), the word becomes the Latin philosophical term for 'calmness of mind' ( maris t.: Cic. Tusc. 5,6,16; t. animi: Cic. Fin. 5,8,23; cf. Sen. Dial. 9: De tranquillitate animi). In combination with 'security' and 'peace' (cf. Cic. Leg. agr. 1,24; Cic. Off. 1,20,69; Cic. De orat.1,1,2) t. gained political significance…

[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 following the p…

[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 (  Áreios págos ;   senatus ) and prepared the resolutions of the popular assemb…

[German version] [1] P. Sabina Daughter of Poppaeus [1] Sabinus, 1st cent. AD Daughter of Poppaeus [1] Sabinus, married to T. Ollius, then, after his death, to P. Cornelius [II 33] Lentulus Scipio (proconsul of Asia in AD 41/2). She was the mother of P. [2] Sabina by T. Ollius, and by Scipio probably of P. Cornelius [II 49] Scipio Asiaticus, whose cognomen indicates that he was born in Asia. P. was regarded as the most beautiful woman of her day (Tac. Ann. 13,45,2), was embroiled in numerous scandals (Tac. Ann. 11,2,1) and committed suicide in AD 47 to a…

(Ἐπίλυκος; Epílykos). [German version] Epilycus Writer of comedies Comedy writer, whose surviving work consists of the title of one play (Κωραλίσκος; Kōralískos, The little lad from Crete? cf. Phot. p. 198,15) and of nine fragments; fr. 3 (remnants of catalectic anapaestic tetrameters) and fr. 4 (catalectic anapaestic dimeter in Doric dialect) show that he belonged to the Old Comedy (late 5th, early 4th cent. BC). Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 1986, 170-173. [German version] [2] Nephew of Andocides [1], 2nd half of the 5th cent. BC The son of Teisander…

[German version] I. General remarks In contrast to ius iurandum , which in Latin generally refers to the oath itself and the act of swearing an oath, the sacramentum ('oath') has to do with the obligations an individual assumes vis-à-vis the god who is invoked (usually Iuppiter (I. B) in his function as Dius Fidius or 'all gods'). The sacramentum threatens that one may become sacer , in thrall to a god and consequently outlawed, by taking an oath affirming a false statement or failing to keep a promise made under oath (assertive or promissory oath) [1. 76-84]. Eder, Walter (Berlin) …

[German version] I. Capitol Hill in Rome, consisting of a summit called C. in the south (46 m) and the Arx in the north (49 m), linked by the depression of the asylum. Until Trajan's forum was built, the C. was the south-western spur of the Quirinal and linked with it by a bridge. From archaic times, buildings on the C. had to have very deep foundations because of unfavourable geological conditions; in addition, since ancient times, there have been landslides, terracing (in the 15th and 16th cents.), as well as other substa…

[German version] ('period of recruitment for the forum', in distinction to a military one; Tiro [2]) describes both the public presentation in the forum of a young man from the upper classes after his donning the toga virilis ( deductio in forum: Suet. Aug. 26,2; Suet. Tib. 54,1; Suet. Nero 7,2) and the ensuing approximately one year period of education for famous politicians, orators and lawyers (Cic. Lael. 1,1: cf. Cic. Brut. 89,306). The instruction did not happen systematically, but rather by constant accompaniment and observation …

[German version] I. General The states of antiquity had no executive PA independent of government and legislature in the sense of the modern separation of powers. The triple division of constitutions, indicated in Aristot. Pol. 1297b 35-1301a 15 ( tría mória, 1297b 37), into a decision-making, legislating organ ( tò bouleuómenon), an executive element ('on the offices': tò perì tàs archás) and judicature ( tò dikázon) owes more to the schematically working mind of the author than to a political concept as such, especially since the fields defined show conside…

[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. was with his father - had handed over a fortress (Sinoria?) which had been entrusted to her by Mithridates after losing a battle against Pompeius [I 3] in 66 ( Mithridatic Wars C), together with all its treasures to Pompeius [III 1] who promised in return to spare X. if he should fall into Roman hands (Plut. Pompeius 36,6; Cass. Dio 37,7,5). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Biblio…

(Τίμαιος; Tímaios). [German version] [1] Main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus T. of Locri [2] Epizephyrii in southern Italy (Τίμαιος Λοκρός/ Tímaios Lokrós), the main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus, was in Antiquity regarded as a Pythagorean [1.83-85]. The Suda s.v. T. (IV p. 553,26f. Adler) and the scholia to Pl. Tim. 20 A Greene report that he wrote on mathematical problems, on nature and on the life of Pythagoras [2] (μαθηματικά, περὶ φύσεως, περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγόρου βίου/ M athēmatiká, Perì phýseōs, Perì toû Pythagórou bíou) [1.85]. One treatise, in the Doric dialect [2.11-19], ent…

[German version] [1] Roads and bridges, construction of see Roads and bridges, construction of Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Voting bridge The term pons (generally in the plural form of pontes) was also used for the narrow 'voting bridges' in Rome which members of the comitia had to cross on the way to cast their votes. It is argued that the saying Sexagenarios de ponte (deicere) with its incitement to throw sixty-year olds from the bridge (Cic. Rosc. Am. 100; Fest. 452; Macrob. Sat. 1,5,10) stemmed from the demand by younger voters to bar older o…

[German version] Abbreviation of the Roman first name Quintus; in the formula SPQR ( SenatusPopulusQueRomanus) for Que (= postpositive 'and'); in inscriptions frequently for the relative pronoun qui, quae, quod (e.g. Q[ui] I[nfra]S[cripti]S[unt] = 'the undersigned') and for q uaestor . Rare on coins, mostly for Quinquennales, the five-year celebration of an emperor's rule. In MSS, Q stands as the numeral for 500,000. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography H. Chantraine, s. v. Q, RE 24, 1963, 621-623.

[German version] Within the sphere of state and politics, elections serve to appoint organs (individuals or committees), who were generally entrusted for a set period of time by the majority of qualified voters with the preparation or execution of community tasks; in monarchic systems, political elections are of no importance. There is no information regarding the appointment of functionaries (for military tasks or within the jurisdiction) in early aristocracies, but it is likely that selection wa…

[German version] The federation of 12 cities or tribes into an alliance was an old and widespread occurrence in the Mediterranean region and well beyond (cf. the 12 tribes of Israel). The number 12, which had symbolic significance, emphasized internal closeness and, at the same time, differentiation from the outside. Political/military goals in the sense of a defensive community or a federation for the arrangement of common policies cannot be identified in any of the ancient leagues of twelve citi…

[German version] Brother-in-law of Alarich ( Alaricus [2]), AD 410-415 king of the West Goths. Probably by order of Alarich active as army commander in Pannonia, A. was summoned by him in 408, reached Italy in 409 and was named comes domesticorum equitum by the usurper  Attalus [11]. After the death of Alarich in 410 he gave up Alarich's African plans and in 412 on the advice of Attalus travelled to Gallia to the usurper  Iovinus. A. soon came into conflict with him and in 413 handed him over to Dardanus, the Gallic praefect of the Emp…