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[German version] (Gesalech; also Gesalecus, Gisaleicus). Illegitimate son of  Alaricus [3] II; after the latter's death at Vouillé in AD 507 he was elected king of the Visigoths, as his legitimate half-brother  Amalaricus, grandson of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic, was still a minor (Procop. Goth. 5,12,43). G. was soon forced to retreat to Spain by the Burgundians and Franks (Chron. min. 1,665f. Mommsen). When Theoderic contested his leadership on behalf of Amalaricus (Procop. Goth. 5,12,46), G. …

[German version] Dux ( reiks) of the  Tervingi; in AD 376, with the permission of  Valens and under threat from the Huns, he led his tribe as dediticii (  deditio ) across the Danube to Thrace (Amm. Marc. 31,4,8; Iord. Get. 134), where the Arian won over parts of the indigenous population. After conflicts with the Romans the Goths defeated the Romans on 9 Sept. 378 in the battle of Hadrianople (Amm. Marc. 31,6,3-5; 11,5; 12,8 [1. 133-139]). F., who was not able to take advantage of the victory because his …

Name of a plebeian gens, attested from the 5th cent. BC (variant Canoleius; Greek Κανουλήϊος; Kanoulḗïos); from the 1st cent. AD, the name becomes rare (ThlL, Onom. 2,148f.). [German version] [1] C., C. Tribunus plebis 445 BC tribunus plebis of 445 BC, who is said to have introduced a plebiscitum Canuleium de conubio, repealing the bar to marriage between patricians and plebeians (Cic. Rep. 2,63; Liv. 4,1,1-6). As it is hard to imagine that a people's tribune of the 5th cent. BC could so decisively intervene in the legislative process, the reliab…

[German version] An inscription in archaic Latin on the so-called ‘Vasculum Dresselianum’, a ceramic vessel discovered in Rome, south-east of the Quirinal, in 1880 by H. Dressel. The triangular object with rounded tips and concave sides (length of sides: 10,3-10,5 cm; max. height: 4,5 cm; cf. [1. 55]) has a round opening at each tip. The inscription is on the outer side, written in three lines to be read from right to left (see fig.; other fig. in [1; 2. 134f., 140]; a version of transcription in [3. 70]). The dating of the text ranges from the 7th to the late 3rd cent. BC; ar…

[German version] Son of Hunimund the Elder, first Gothic king under Hunnish rule. In AD 376 he helped the Hunnish king Balamber to victory over the Amalian Vinitharius (Iord. Get. 248). Perhaps identical to Gensimund, who, although the kingship was offered to him as Amalian magister militum, declined in favour of the legitimate successors (Cassiod. Var. 8,9). PLRE 2,510 and [1. 26f.] consider the two to be identical; contrary [2. 254f.]. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) Bibliography 1 P. Heather, Goths and Romans 332-489, 1991 2 H. Wolfram, Die Goten, 31990.

(Δάοχος; Dáochos). [German version] [1] D.I. Tagos of the Thessalian koinon 431-404 BC from Pharsalus, son of Agias, was the   tagos of the Thessalian koinon for 27 years ( c. 431-404 BC?); his tageia was reputedly a time of peace and prosperity (Syll.3 273) [1. 110f.]. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) [German version] [2] D. II. Thessalian, envoy of Philip II 338 BC high-ranking Thessalian, grandson of D. [1]. In 338 BC, Philip II sent him together with others to the Thebans to procure support against Athens (Pol. 18,4,4; Dem. Or. 18,211…

Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] A. Interpretatio Christiana ofIillustrated Columns (CT) Whether in architectural contexts or isolated as monumental columns, scarcely any building element in post-classical times is linked so closely with reference to Antiquity as the column. This is true both positively, in the sense of a conscious renovatio of Classical or Christian Antiquity, and negatively, in connexion with idols as the embodiment of vanquished paganism. Columns with standing ‘idols’, mostly nude, became almost a topos in the art of the later Midd…

[German version] (Gundovech). King of the Burgundians in AD 457-470, from the family of  Athanaric [1. 44], married a sister of Ricimer (Malalas 374-75; Johannes Antiochenus fr. 209), his sons are Gundobad, Godigisclus, Chilperic and Godomer (Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,28). As an ally of Theoderic II he attacked in 455 with his brother Chilperic I the Suebians in Gaul and settled there after the victory of Theoderic in 457. In 463 he was magister utriusque militiae (per Gallias); in the same year he informed Pope Hilarius about the irregular administration of the bishop of  Vienna (Hilarius Ep…

[German version] (also Eurichus, Euarix). King of the Visigoths in AD 466-484, son of Theoderic I, succeeded to the throne after the murder of his brother Theoderic II (Iord. Get. 190; Hydatius Lemiensis 237). E.'s reign was marked by the constant endeavour to expand the area of his kingdom (originally Aquitania II, Novempopulana and parts of Narbonensis I) and to weaken the dependence on Rome, which is clear from the termination of the   foedus with the Romans. From 468 he advanced against the Suebi and in the following years conquered almost the e…

[German version] (Ἐράριχος; Erárichos). A Rugian, AD 541 king of the Ostrogoths in succession to Ildibad. Officially, E. negotiated with Justinian a withdrawal of the Goths to the region north of the Po, but secretly he offered to abandon the whole of Italy in return for a large sum of money and the status of patricius. While his ambassadors were still negotiating, E. was eliminated after having reigned for only five months; his successor was Totila (Procop. Goth. 3,2; Jord. Rom. 378f.; Chron. min. 2,106f. Mommsen). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Strothmann, Meret (Bochum)

This item can be found on the following maps: Sparta | Theatre | Christianity | Doric Migration | Dark Ages | Hellenistic states | Achaeans, Achaea | Colonization | Apollo | Macedonia, Macedones | Natural catastrophes | Persian Wars | Punic Wars | Athletes | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Σπάρτη/ Spártē, Doric Σπάρτα/ Spárta). I. Political history [German version] A. Archaic period City in Laconica on the middle reaches of the Eurotas; originally four villages (Cynosura [3], Limnae, Pitana/Pitane, Mesoa), which developed from settlements of D…

(Σόλων/ Sólōn). [1] S. of Athens Poet, legislator, c. 600 BC [German version] I. Life griech. Gesetzgeber, um 600 v. Chr. S. (b. c. 640 BC), an Athenian of the family of the Medontidae, supposedly related through the maternal line with Peisistratus [4], the most important Greek legislator (alongside the legendary Spartan Lycurgus [4]) of the Archaic period and the first prominent Athenian poet. S. first emerged around 600 BC, when he successfully appealed for the conquest of Salamis [1] during the conflict with Megara…

(Δημοχάρης; Dēmochárēs). [German version] [1] Athenian delegate to Philip II, mocked by Seneca Mentioned by Seneca as an Athenian delegate to Philip II and compared to the Homeric  Thersites because of his open and bold style of speech (cf. Il. 2,212ff.) (Sen. De ira 3,23,2f.). Possibly identical with D. [3] PA 3716. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Relative of Demosthenes the orator The son of Demon of the Paeania deme, a relative of  Demosthenes, possibly as commander of the cavalry, he was Athenian delegate and witness of the oath of symmachia with Amyntas (IG II2 102,19?…

(Ἀριστοφῶν; Aristophôn). [German version] [1] Athenian politician (end of the 5th cent. BC) Member of the Athenian regime of 400 oligarchs in 411 BC. Sent by them as an emissary to Sparta, he was abducted to Samos by Athenian democrats and Argives (Thuc. 8,86,9; PA, 2102; Traill PAA, 175995. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Athenian politician (end of the 5th-middle of the 4th cent. BC) Athens. Politician, who was honoured in 403 BC for his resistance against the 30 Tyrants ( Triakonta) by   ateleia (ἀτέλεια) (Dem. Or. 20,148). Until his deat…

(Εὐδοκία; Eudokía). [German version] [1] Aelia Eudocia. Original name Athenais. Came from a traditional background in Athens (her father was the rhetor Leontius) and had an excellent education. Allegedly at the instigation of  Pulcheria, she married  Theodosius II on 7 June 421; she was baptized for this purpose and given the name Aelia E. She was considered pious and increasingly exerted an influence on her husband, pushing aside Pulcheria. In 422 she gave birth to  Eudoxia [2] and before 431 to Flacc…

[German version] [1] Friend of king Herod I, entrusted with political and diplomatic commisions Friend of King Herod I. Entrusted with political and diplomatic commissions and with the education of Alexander, the eldest son of the king of Mariamme, he accompanied him in 23 BC to Rome for five years. When in 14 BC Herod began to distrust his son, G. fell from grace (Jos. Ant. Iud. 16,241-243). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] Accompanied his father Anatolius, the governor, AD 361 to Phoenicia Son of Anatolius, Cilician, brother of Apolinarius, with whom he …

(Πανταλέων/ Pantaléōn). [German version] [1] King of the Pisates, middle of the 7th cent. BC Son of Omphalion, king of the Pisates (middle of the 7th cent. BC); P.'s rule may have been perceived as tyranny already in his own lifetime (cf. Paus. 6,21,1). He temporarily wrested the organisation of the Olympic Games from the Eleians (Olympia IV.; Paus. 6,22,2) [1. 220f.]. His support of the Messenians in the second of the Messenian Wars (Str. 8,4,10) is a later invention [2. 153f.]. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Bibliography 1 L. de Libero, Die archaische Tyrannis, 1996 2 K. Tausend, Amphikty…

A popular cognomen in the Imperial Age, attested with certainty from the 1st cent. AD (ThlL, Onom. 2,133ff.). [German version] [1] Christian in AD 200 Christian in c. AD 200, author of various lost treatise about the Hexaemeron (Eus. HE 5,27; Jer. vir. ill. 48). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] A follower of the Gnostic Valentinianus, 3rd cent. AD A follower of the Gnostic Valentinianus; in c. AD 230, he had a public dispute with  Origen, who accused him of retrospectively falsifying the records (Rufin. Apol. Orig. epil. = PG 17,625; Hier. Adv. Ru…

(Ἄρατος; Áratos). [German version] [1] Legendary figure in the early history of Sparta Legendary figure in the early history of Sparta. According to Just. Epit. 3,4,8, in the first Messenian War A. sent the younger soldiers back to their homes, where they had intercourse with all the women and thus ensured the growth of the Spartan population. The so-called  Partheniae conceived in this way, later founded Tarentum under  Phalanthas, the son of A. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Sikyonian leader of the Achaean League (245-213 Bc) Sicyonian, 271-213 BC, between 245 an…

(Προκλῆς/ Proklês). [German version] [1] Legendary Spartan king The legendary Spartan king. P. was considered to be a son of Aristodemus [1] - and hence a direct descendant of Heracles [1] - and the ancestor of the Eurypontids, named after Eurypon, his son (Hdt. 8,131) or grandson (Plut. Lycurgus 1). As late as the 5th cent. BC, P. and his twin brother Eurysthenes [1] and not, e.g., Lycurgus [4], appear in Hellanicus (FGrH 4 F 116) as the framers of the Spartan constitution. Ephorus (FGrH 70 F 117) also…