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[German version] is the term for the military conflicts between Rome and the Latin League ( Latini D.) - of which Rome was not a member - and between Rome and individual Latin towns that sporadically occurred from the beginning of the Republic (about 510 BC) to the dissolution of the League by Rome in 338 BC. The first Latin War can be considered as an attempt of the Latins to end Rome's dominant position. Rome had become the dominant power among the Latins under its kings Servius Tullius [I 4] and Tarquinius [12] Superbus (cf. Liv. 1,52) and made it …

[German version] Votive gift of the Greek states that were taking part in the Persian Wars against Xerxes to Apollo of Delphi in the form of a bronze column of three snake bodies intertwined like a rope, with their heads bearing a gold tripod-type cauldron. On their coils are inscribed in the Doric dialect the names of 31 Greek states, beginning with the Spartans ( Laked[ aimónioi]). The gold cauldron was stolen in the third of the Sacred Wars (356-346 BC) by the Phocians (Paus. 10,13-19), the column was taken by the emperor Constantinus [1] to Constantinople,…

[German version] A. Historical development Hellenistic states (HS) evolved from the collapse of  Alexander [4] the Great's empire in the eastern Mediterranean and Near Asia, and from the imitation by individual rulers in Sicily and southern Italy ( Agathocles [2],  Hieron [2] II) of Hellenistic government and administrative institutions. After the death of the 32-year old Alexander, who left behind no heirs competent to govern nor any solid imperial administration, the empire's unity was at risk: its…

[German version] Modern term for the confrontation between the patricians ( patricii ) and plebeians ( plebs ) at Rome, which began in 494 BC with the foundation of the people's tribunate and ended in 287 BC with the recognition of the decisions of the plebs ( plebiscitum ) as generally binding laws ( lex, leges ) (but s. [1], who puts the end only as late as 217/6). Only the relatively homogenous patriciate should here be understood as an 'order'. The plebs was highly fragmented both socially and economically, and moreover the plebeian clientes of the patricians were …

[German version] Prophetic oracle, fragments transmitted in three Greek papyri of the 2nd and 3rd cents. AD (texts in [1. 195-209]; partly translated in [4. 412-415]; on Imperial Period interest in the PO see [3. 194-199]). On the 'Island of the Sun' a potter sent by Thot unfolds, in the presence of a (fictional) king Amenophis (as spokesman of Chmun the god of pottery? [1. 184 f.]), a terrible portrayal of the physical and moral decline of Egypt and its inhabitants [2. 168-170] in a period of foreign ru…

[German version] Ramnes, Titi(ens)es and Luceres (as in Liv. 1,36,2, but in 1,13,8 and Cic. Rep. 2,20,36: R(h)amnenses) are the  Etruscan (Varro Ling. 5,55; see also [1. 218, 581]) names of the three tribus established by Romulus [1] (according to Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,14,2 and Gell. NA 15,27: organised by families) which were each divided into 10 curiae and thus formed the primary structuring of the Roman people and army (30×10 equestrians, 30×100 infantry: Varro Ling. 5,89; Liv. 1,13,8). Ennius's derivation of the term R. from Rom…

[German version] (μερισμός; merismós from μερίζειν; merízein = ‘to divide, distribute’) in Athens the name for the ‘distribution’ of funds from tax incomes by the apodéktai to the appropriate officials ( archaí ). The sums allocated were determined by the council of the polis ( boulḗ ) and had to be struck off immediately after distribution ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 48,1-2). Merismos is not attested before the 4th century BC ( Taxes III. B.). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Rhodes, 557-560.

[German version] Goth of Thracian origin (born around AD 480), whose family did not accompany Theoderic to Italy in AD 488. He served as an officer in Justinian's army against the Persians, under  Belisarius in the reconquest of Italy, as also against the Goths and in his old age in Syrian territory. He achieved high rank ( dux Mesopotamiae 531; mag. mil. vacans in Italy 535-546; mag. mil. per Armeniam 550-554), was even patricius, but was finally banished for having a too nonchalant attitude towards his duty as a consequence of excessive financial dealings. PLRE 2, 226-229. Eder, Walter (B…

[German version] Ruling dynasty in the Regnum Bosporanum, named after its founder Spartocus [1] I, who took over the power from the Archaeanactids of Panticapaeum in 438/7 BC. The dynasty, which distinguished itself in the Classical and early Hellenistic periods with a brisk trade in corn in the Aegaean (primarily with Athens), came to an end in 109 BC with the handing over of power by its last ruler, Paerisades [6] V, to Mithridates [6] VI of Pontus. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (Προθύτης; Prothýtēs). Theban, leading anti-Macedonian politician who, relying on Athenian help, in 335 BC advocated the secession of Thebes from Macedonia. Swiftly advancing on Thebes, Alexander [4]  the Great (Diod. 17,8,2) demanded in vain his surrender (Plut. Alexandros 11,7). He was probably killed in the defence of the city, which involved heavy losses (Arr. Anab. 1,8,1-8; Diod.  Sic. 17,14,1; Plut. Alexandros 11,12). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] [1] Flavius A. Cos. 434 AD Father of Dagalaifus, grandfather of A. [2], in AD 434 consul together with Aspar Ardabur. As magister militum ( comes foederatorum?) he defeated a Persian officer in single combat in 422, in 441 Theodosius II sent him as magister militum against the Vandals to Africa but he missed his opportunity because he stayed too long in Sicily. He was defeated by Attila in 443 (as was Aspar). In 447 patricius; died in 449 (PLRE 2, 145 f., A. 2). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Flavius Areobindus Dagalaifus Areobindus Cos. 506 AD Son of Dagalaifus,…

[German version] Modern term for the year AD 69, in which four emperors – some at the same time, some in swift succession – ruled the Roman Empire (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian), and in the broader sense for the period between Iulius [II 150] Vindex's revolt against Nero (beginning of AD 68) in Gaul and the elevation to emperor of  Vespasian (1 July 69 in Egypt, 3 July 69 in Syria) or its recognition by the Senate in Rome (21/22 December 69). Galba [2], from an ancient patrician family, sided with Iulius Vindex's rebellion, was proclaimed empe…

[German version] Abbreviation of the blanket name A(ulus) A(gerius), which, in Roman juristic writing, serves as the designation for the plaintiff (  actio ). N(umerius) N(egidius) stands for the defendant. In addition, the names Titius, Gaius or Sempronius are used for the designation of a third party. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (τοπάρχης; topárchēs). 'Leader (ἄρχειν/ árchein = rule) of a district ( tópos)'; in the Hellenistic period the highest civil administrative official in a tópos (q.v.). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] Daughter of  Amalafrida and niece of Theoderic the Great, married to the king of the Thuringians Herminafridus (Iord. Get. 299; Procop. 5,12,22; 8,25,11; Cassiod. Var. 4,1) c. AD 510 in order to cement an alliance against the Franks. After the conquest of the Thuringian kingdom and the death of her husband in 534 she fled to her brother Theodahad in Ravenna. Her son Amalafridus and a daughter went to Constantinople after the taking of Ravenna by  Belisarius, where Justinian married the daughter to the Langobard Audoin (PLRE 2, 63). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (ἔπαρχος; éparchos). Head of an   eparchía , a territorial administrative unit in Hellenistic states, especially in the  Seleucid kingdom. It is disputed whether eparchos ever was an official title for the holder of civil and military power in a subdivision of the satrapy ( Satrap) because in this context it is not attested epigraphically. The first appearance of the term eparchos for a governor in Seleucid territory in Polybius [2] (5,46,7) suggests that eparchos was formed as an analogy to the term eparchía (the Greek term for a Roman province) and describes …

[German version] (Ἀμόργης/ Amórgēs). Persian, illegitimate son ( nóthos: Thuc. 8,5,5) of the satrap of Sardis Pissuthnes; from Caria he resumed his father's rebellion against the Persian king Darius [2] II, which had failed before 413 BC. No later than 412 BC Athens made an attempt at cooperation with A. (Thuc. 8,19,2), in breach of a treaty with Darius [2] II (And. Or. 3,29; cf. Epilycys), if payments to an Athenian general in Ephesus in the year 414 [1. no. 77, Z. 79] were for assistance for A. (as in…

[German version] The SD, also referred to as 'The Severans', 'Severan era', or, owing to the origins of the family in Africa and Syria, the 'African/Syrian emperors', lasted c. 40 years from the accession of their founder, Septimius [II 7] Severus (AD 193-211), via his sons by Iulia [12] Domna, Caracalla (198-217) and Geta [2] (209-211), to Iulia Domna's great nephews Elagabalus [2] (218-222) and Severus [2] Alexander (222-235). The sequence of Severan emperors was interrupted for about a year (April 217-mid 218) by the rul…

[German version] (τελῶναι/ telônai, Sg. τελώνης/ telṓnēs; 'tax leaseholders', from τέλη/ télē = 'taxes' and ὠνή/ ōnḗ = 'buying, lease'); private entrepreneurs or businesses in the Greek domain, comparable with the Roman publicani (see Cic. Ad Q. fr. 1,1,33). They either purchased for a lease guaranteed to the state, the right to collect taxes and tolls for a certain period in a defined area as well as the right to exploit mines, or they received a certain sum of money from the state and had to provide an agr…

[German version] Modern term for the league of c. 30 Greek states (31 in Plut. Themistocles 20,3; cf. Snake column) which swore an oath to unite against the Persians in the autumn of 481 BC, immediately prior to the attack of Xerxes [1] I and whose representatives ( próbouloi: Hdt. 7,172,1) met regularly in the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth, beginning no later than the spring of 480. The first meeting took place in 481 in Sparta (Paus. 3,12,6), the leading Greek power of the time (cf. Thuc. 1,18,2), or on the Isthmus (Hdt. …