Search

[German version] Abbreviation of the Roman praenomen Lucius. In the Roman numbering system, L denotes the value 50 and probably developed from the bisection of the Greek aspirate Θ (via the form , which found no use as a letter in the early Latin alphabet). Italy, alphabetical scripts; Numerical systems Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] The A. form the royal dynasty of the East Goths and, with regard to reputation, stand above the royal dynasty of the West Goths, the  Balthi. The family tree of the A., which was developed by Iordanes (died 79) in AD 551 and began with Gaut, indicates godly origin; the eponym of the tribe, Amal, stands only in the fourth place. Iordanes relies upon Cassiodorus, who outlined shortly after the death of the Amal Theoderic the Gr. (526) in his (lost) history of the Goths an origo Gothica, which, in turn, took up an already-existing gentile tradition that had been cultiv…

[German version] As distinct from the ager peregrinus, the 'foreign territory', ager Romanus (AR) was the area of the state of Rome inhabited by Romans (including the city). It consisted of privately owned real estate ( ager privatus) and public lands ( ager publicus ). Parts of the ager publicus could be transformed into ager privatus through the settlement of Roman citizens ( assignatio viritim, 'man by man'; or in closed citizens' colonies, cf. coloniae C) or could be completely divided from the AR to become ag er peregrinus when colonies with their own state areas were establis…

(τόπος/ tópos). [German version] [1] Administrative unit Territorial subdivision of a nome ( nomós [2]), attested from the Hellenistic period onwards in Egypt and in its external possessions (Syria, Palestine, southern Asia Minor); also as an administrative unit under the Seleucids and Attalids (Attalus, with stemma), probably with a similar structure but not understood in detail [1. 440]. In Egypt a topos comprised several villages or kômai (Kome B), and therefore formed a unit of intermediate size, which had no pharaonic antecedent, unlike the nome and kome, but was newly form…

[German version] A victory title assumed by Roman emperors to indicate a military success over the Sarmatians (Sarmatae). After AD 175, Marcus [2] Aurelius and his son Commodus were the first to bear the epithet Sarmaticus following the peace treaty with the Iazyges. Maximinus [2] Thrax and his son Maximus bore the title Sarmaticus maximus from AD 236. Although Sarmatian tribes continued to threaten the Danube border, Diocletianus was the first to accept the title Sarmaticus maximus again in AD 285 (three more times from then on). After Diocletian, all the Augusti of the…

[German version] Neither Greek nor Roman law is familiar with prison sentences as punitive detention in the modern sense (otherwise [1]). As a rule, until the trial the accused remains free (in Rome a kind of pre-trial confinement is permissible for political crimes), a convicted criminal only stays in prison until the execution of the sentence. Also, private detention of a debtor for a creditor, precisely regulated in Rome from the time of the Law of the Twelve Tables onwards, is not to punish but rather to force payment. Addictus; Carcer; Desmoterion Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography 1 …

(Ἀμυρταῖος; Amyrtaîos). [German version] [1] Ruler of Sais, 1st half of the 5th cent. BC of Sais, joined the Aegean rebellion begun by the Libyan  Inarus and supported by Athens (Thuc. 1,109) against the Persian king  Artaxerxes I and held the Nile delta after the victory of the Persians (again supported by Athens; Thuc. 1,110,4; Plut. Cimon 18) for several years. His son Pausiris was reinstated by the Persians in the rulership (Hdt. 3,15). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Egyptian king (404-398 BC) probably the grandson of no. 1, listed by Manetho as the only king of…

Wars within or between ancient alliance systems (Socii; Symmachia; Symmachoi). The term does not include punitive expeditions by the leading power against individual alliance members. The following wars were already called SW (πόλεμος συμμαχικός/ pólemos symmachikós, bellum sociale) in Antiquity: [German version] [1] War by Athens against allies of the 2nd Athenian League, 357-355 BC The war by Athens against seceded allies of the Second Athenian League from 357-355 BC, which put Athens into serious military and financial difficulties (Symmoria). Du…

[German version] (θεσμοφύλακες /thesmophýlakes, from thesmós = 'law, ordinance' and phyláttein = 'to guard'). 'Guardians of ordinances', a rarely recorded collegium in Classical Greece (for Elis: Thuc. 47,9) with scarcely identifiable powers. Recorded in the Hellenistic period in Boeotia (IG VII 3172,178; cf. Plut. Mor. 292d thesmophylákios nómos) and on Ceos (IG XII 5,595B) as an authority which saw to the enforcement of judicial punishments and (on Ceos) brought law suits against officials. In Ptolemaic Egypt (recorded for Alexandria [1], thesmophylakes were the leaders …

[German version] Propraetor. Legate of Cornelius [I 71] Scipio in Locri [2] after it was regained in the war with Hannibal in 205 BC (second of the Punic Wars). In 204 the Locrians' complaint in the Roman Senate about P.' despotism, which was tolerated by Scipio, and about the pillage of the sanctuary of Persephone was used by Q. Fabius [I 30] in his motion to relieve Scipio of his command (Liv. 29,19,6). A senatorial commission, friendly to Scipio, established his innocence in Locri, however, and brought P. to Rome, to be put on trial by the people's tribunes for perduellio …

[German version] From AD 540/41 held the regency for Walthari (the minor son of King Wacho) and after Walthari's death (in 547/48) became king of the  Langobards. He led the Langobards to Pannonia, where they were settled by Justinian and probably entrusted with the task of securing the Danube border against the Franks. In the battles against the neighbouring Gepids he was insufficiently supported by Justinian, although A. sent a large army to  Narses in Italy in 552. Nevertheless, he achieved vic…

[German version] The modern term 'governor' merges numerous designations of regular officials and functionaries in the ancient Near East and Graeco-Roman antiquity into one. The common factor of all these positions was the fulfilment of military and administrative duties (i.e. 'governing') far from the centre of rule, in clearly geographically defined areas (Eparchia; Provincia; satrapy, s. Satrap) and by order of and in the place of the actual political ruler. Representatives and deputies of the …

[German version] Like the modern term 'people' (in the sense of population, broad masses, lower social class, ethnic group, nation among others) the ancient terms which were used for 'people' (δῆμος/ dḗmos [1] and populus ) were not clearly defined. But dḗmos and populus never meant 'population' since both referred only to citizens with political rights (Citizenship; Census). Dḗmos could mean all of the citizens of a country, but also only the lower classes, the 'masses', who were also called οἱ πολλοί/ hoi polloí ('the many'), πλῆθος/ plḗthos ('mass') and ὄχλος/ óchlos ('rabble', 'mo…

[German version] Abbreviation of the common Roman name Aulus. A. is of Etruscan origin (Aules?) and was also used as a cognomen in the imperial period. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Salomies, 11, 24, 165.

[German version] is used as an abbreviation of the Roman name Publius and very often appears on coins and in inscriptions to stand for functions and titles (e.g. PM = pontifex maximus; PP = pater patriae). For the numerous meanings of P in numismatics and epigraphics see [1. 310-319] and [2. XLIV-XLIX]. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography 1 A. Calderini, Epigrafia, 1974 2 H.Cohen, J.C. Egbert, R. Cagnat, Coin-Inscriptions and Epigraphical Abbreviations of Imperial Rome, 1978.

Ritual marking the end of a campaign of warfare. At the same time it constituted the army's rite of entry into the city and the highest attainable honour for the general. [German version] I. Name and origins The Latin triumphus is derived from the interjection io triump(h)e, which had formed from the Greek cry θριάμβε/ thriámbe in the cult of Dionysus (Varro, Ling. 6,68; Serv. Aen. 10,775) and was originally a plea for the manifestation of the god, comparable to the fivefold triumpe in the cult song of the Arvales fratres [8. 38-55; 7. 223]. The supposed origin …

[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] ('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] (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…

[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…

[German version] PID were officials of the urban Roman legal magistracy ( praetor ), who dispensed justice in Italy in the Republican period, among Roman citizens living far from Rome in communities where political organization was either lacking or rudimentary ( forum, conciliabulum , oppidum I.). PID neither had the right to scrutinize existing law courts, nor did they constitute an instance of appeal ( appellatio ). A praefectura was thus both the (temporary) seat of the official and the legal district for which he was responsible. With developing urban organization in Italy, (cf. mu…

[German version] Abbreviation for Romanus (SPQR), for Roma and in connection with publicus for res ( res publica ); rare abbreviation for the cognomen Rufus. On imperial coins R often stands for restitutor, the 'restorer' (of the empire, the unity of the empire etc.). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography A. Calderini, Epigrafia, 1974, 321-323  H. Cohen, J. C. Egbert, R. Cagnat, Coin-Inscriptions and Epigraphical Abbreviations of Imperial Rome, 1978, 71-74.

[German version] The name Illyrian Wars (IW) is given to two wars conducted by Rome in  Illyricum in 229 to 228 and in 219 BC. The First Illyrian War of 229-228 was waged against  Teuta, widow of Agron [3], who after the latter's death (in 231?) continued his politics of expansion (230: annexation of Phoenice, and treaties with Epirus and Acarnania). In 229, when she had reached far south beyond the Straits of Ortranto, and laid siege to Corcyra, Epidamnos, and Apollonia [1], and also defeated a f…

[German version] (Τάμως /Támōs) from Memphis in Egypt, representative ( hýparchos) of Tissaphernes in Ionia (Thuc. 8,31,2; 8,87,1 and 3; for the year 411), took part in Cyrus [3]'s rebellion in 401 BC as a commissioner ( epimelētḗs) for Ionia/Aeolis (Diod. 14,19,6) and a naval leader (Xen. An. 1,2,21; 1,4,2) and after the death of Cyrus at Cunaxa fled to Egypt, where he and his sons were killed by Psammetichus [6] (according to Diod. Sic. 14,35,3-5; probably a royal name for Amyrtaeus [2]), who intended to take possession of T.'s fleet and wealth. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] is used in Lat. as an abbreviation of the Roman praenomen  Decimus. As a numeral the letter D stands for the value 500. Like the numeral  C (= 100) it is derived from a letter of the western Greek alphabet not used in the Latin alphabet: Φ (phi), which stands for the value 1,000; the letter form D, indicating half the value of 1,000, was derived by bisection of the Greek symbol (right half). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] Son of Fredigern, youngest brother of the last Ostrogoth king Teja. After his death (AD 552) A. held the fortress of Cumae with the royal insignia and treasure for over a year (Agath. 1,8,6; Procop. 8,34,19 f.), until he handed it over, probably at the end of 553 to  Narses (Agath. 1,20,1-7). In Narses' service he fought against the Franks (Agath. 1,20,9-11) and took part in his victory over the Alemannian  Butilinus at Casilinum in 554 (Agath. 2,9,13; PLRE 3A, 48). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Stein, Spätröm. R., 2, 603 ff.

[German version] (Latin triumviratus, literally 'alliance of three men'). Non-titular appellation (e.g. in Suet. Aug. 27,1; Vell. Pat. 2,86,2) for the special power which Aemilius [I 12] Lepidus, Antonius [I 9] and Octavianus agreed to at Bononia for themselves and which was granted to them, initially for five years, in November 43 BC by plebiscite ( lex Titia; see tresviri [3]). Echoing this, modern scholarship also calls the informal 'group of three' of Caesar, Pompeius [I 3] and Licinius [I 11] Crassus (end of 60 BC) a triumvirate, though it lacked a…

[German version] (πόροι/ póroi, literally 'ways'; plural of póros) in ancient Greece were ways of securing revenues (Xen. Hell. 1,6,12) and later also referred to incomes and sources of income themselves, both in the private and in the public sector ( Chrēmatistikḗ ; Aristot. Pol. 1259a 3-36; Syll.3 284,23). In public finances poroi include not only tolls and taxes from non-citizens ( Métoikoi ), but also income from rents and leases on state property, running state monopolies (mines), court fees and other incomes ( Poristaí ). In his Póroi Xenophon outlines a sy…

(literally 'rule of the fathers'). [German version] A. General comments Patriarchy is a modern term referring to the position of authority of adult men in the family, in establishing relationships between the family and society and in fulfilling political responsibilities. The word patriarchy gained its significance in academic discourse through Bachofen [1], who saw the organization of ancient society according to a 'paternal principle' as following, in terms of development and institutional history, a p…

[German version] Abbreviation of the Latin personal name Marcus and (already in antiquity with an apostrophe: M') Manius. As a numerical sign, M stands for the number 1,000, but it was not derived from mille (Latin word for thousand), rather it came about by reforming the Greek letter Φ ( phi), which was not adopted into the Latin alphabet (see D as a numerical sign). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] P., Lars. Etruscan king of Clusium (present-day Chiusi) at the end of the 6th cent. BC ( Porsena in Hor. Epod. 16,4; Macrob. Sat 2,412; inscription. Porsina, CIL VI 32919; Greek Πορσίνας/ Porsínas: Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5,21,1); probably Etruscan proper name, possibly derived from zilath purthne , the term for the highest office in Etruscan towns. According to Roman tradition (Liv. 2,9,1-14,9; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5,21,1-34,5) P. wanted to reinstate Tarquinius Superbus, who had taken refuge with him, as king of Rome. However he withdrew,…

[German version] Gothic king who, together with other tribes, made forays over the Danube into Moesia and Thrace in AD 250, inflicted a severe defeat on the emperor Decius as he was advancing to relieve Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and, in breach of his agreement with the usurper Priscus, had the city pillaged. In their retreat Decius and his son Herennius took up position near Abrittus, but C. enticed the Roman army into a swamp, encircled and annihilated it. Both emperors fell. Their successor Trebon…

[German version] Elder sister of Theoderic the Great, mother of  Amalaberga and  Theodahad, married in her second marriage around AD 500 the Vandal king Thrasamund in Carthage in order to support the alliance politics of her brother, which until the death of Thrasamund in 523 also succeeded. His successor Hilderic turned away from Theoderic, however, and at the latest in 525 disposed of A. and her followers. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography H. Wolfram, Die Goten, 31990, 307 f.

[German version] [2] Assembly place of the municipal council in Rome C. (pl. curiae) was the name of the assembly place of the municipal council in Rome (  senatus ; Fest. p. 42) and also in many   coloniae and municipia (  municipium ) of Italy and the Roman provinces (cf.   curiales ). As opposed to the comitium (  comitia ), the assembly place of the people in the open air, the curia is always a building on a piece of land belonging to the community or a god and mostly it is at the   forum of the town or close to it. Council chambers of non-Roman towns can also be called curiae (Liv. 24,24,5 and 9: Syrac…

[German version] General Roman term for toll. Originally imposed probably only in ports ( portus; [1. s. v.], however, derives portorium from porta, 'gate, door'), extended with the spread of Roman rule in Italy and the provinces to all land and sea tolls. The collection of p. was leased to companies (Publicani), which used the additional services of an extensive staff of slaves and freed slaves, the portitores ('toll officials'). From the 2nd century AD onwards the state Gradually collected tolls with its own personnel (cf. Procurator). For tollable goods, ra…

[German version] In Graeco-Roman antiquity terms comparable to the modern term citizenship,   politeía (πολιτεία) and   civitas , originally not only designated individual rights but also the totality of citizens, the political organization of citizens in the sense of a constitution and an autonomous community. Citizenship was usually attained by being born to parents with citizenship (  conubium ) or granted by resolution of the community or an authorized person, in Rome also through private manumission from slavery (  manumissio ). Admission to citizensh…

[German version] Modern term for two series of Roman emperors in the 1st and 3rd/4th cents. AD, who were descended from the same family: one series of succession was founded in AD 69 by T. Flavius  Vespasianus (69-79) and was continued to AD 96 by his sons  Titus [3] (79-81) and  Domitianus [1] (81-96); the other series, which is occasionally called the ‘Second Flavian Dynasty’, was founded by the house of Flavius Valerius  Constantinus [1] I, which fictively began with (Flavius)  Claudius [III 2]…

[German version] (φιλάνθρωπα/ philánthrōpa, neuter? pl. 'philanthropic <decrees>'). Specific, publicly announced measures by the Ptolemaic kings on economic and/or political preferential treatment (e.g. tax reduction, amnesty) for the population of the kingdom or certain groups (see Ptolemaeus [9] VI. Philometor; Ptolemaeus [12] VIII. Euergetes II.). As a rule, the philanthropa's aim was to prevent unrest which was threatening or had already arisen, and of also increasing the favourable reception of the respective ruler. On inscriptions in Hell…

[German version] Alemannic duke in Frankish service. In AD 539, he accompanied king Theudebert I on a campaign to Italy. In 552, B. accepted a request for help by the Goths and, on his own initiative, crossed Italy together with his brother Leuthari and reportedly 75,000 men down to the straits of Messina. After great success ini- tially, the venture came to an end in 554 near Casilinum where B. lost a battle against Narses and his life as well. PLRE 3A, 253f. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] An inscription discovered in Troezen in 1959 ([1; 2]; translation in [3. 20 f.]) with the text of a decree of the Athenian People's Assembly proposed by Themistocles (the 'Decree of Themistocles'), which decreed the evacuation of the inhabitants of Attica to Salamis and the repatriation of exiles before the naval battle of Cape Artemisium (Persian Wars) in 480 BC; in its present form, it can be dated to the 3rd cent. BC [4. 2; 2. 48]. Its authenticity was soon doubted and the TI w…

[German version] (Greek ἄγγελοι/ ángeloi, πρέσβεις/ présbeis, ἀπόστολοι/ apóstoloi; Lat. missi, nuntii). Despite a lively inter-state exchange, antiquity had no fixed institution for maintaining contact with foreign states through envoys in the sense of constant representation. Envoys were mostly appointed for a certain period, for certain duties and with set competencies. The importance of the work is shown from the fact that they were never appointed by  lot but in Greece as a rule were selected by the p…