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(Ἡρακλείδης; Hērakleídēs). Famous persons: the politician and writer H. [19] Lembus, the philosopher H. [16] Ponticus the Younger, the doctor H. [27] of Tarentum. I. Political figures [German version] [1] Spokesman on behalf of Athens at the Persian court, end of 5th cent. BC H. of Clazomenae (cf. Pl. Ion 541d) was in the service of the Persians and probably called basileús for that reason. Thus, he was able to perform valuable services for Athens at the Persian court in 423 BC for which he received Attic citizenship soon after moving there (after 400, Syll.3 118). To move the Athenians …

[German version] In Greek and Roman painting, stone, and especially marble, was a popular surface for paintings, as it lent itself to representations with varied functions. Images for the funerary cult, which are mostly badly preserved, existed on marble tombstones in many regions of the Mediterranean area from archaic times into the Hellenistic period. Like the relief stelae which were also painted with colours ( Polychromy), they were erected in necropoleis. Reliefs and painting were also combin…

(Νικόμαχος/ Nikómachos). [German version] [1] Healing hero See Gorgasus and Nicomachus Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Athenian official, 410-404 BC Allegedly the son of a slave and only later accepted as an Athenian citizen. In 410-404 BC, N. led the commission for recording the laws ( anagrapheîs tôn nómōn). Exiled under the Thirty ( triákonta ), he returned in 403 and again became anagrapheús. In 399/8 BC, N. was accused of manipulating the laws, thus e.g. contributing to the sentencing of the demagogue Cleophon [1] in 404, evading his …

(Ἀντίφιλος; Antíphilos). [German version] [1] Athenian strategos of hoplites (323/22 BC) The Athenian A. was elected Athenian strategos of hoplites ( Hoplites) after the death of Leosthenes 323/322 BC, whose successor he became. He took over the command of the land forces of the Hellenic League in the Lamian or Hellenic War and distinguished himself through military skills and courage (Plut. Phoc. 24,1-2; Diod. Sic. 18,13,6). He lifted the siege of  Antipater at  Lamia, in 322 defeated a Macedonian army under Le…

[German version] In Egyptian art, the illustration of historical events constitutes a rare exception; stylized motifs, such as the king slaying enemies, must be understood as timeless and are used as unchanging topoi over the centuries in various pictorial media. The insufficient material remains, art-theoretical texts and literature from ancient Greece relating to the painting of historical subjects do not permit a precise definition of ancient historical painting, in analogy to the modern term f…

[German version] A. Greece The lack of material records for ancient Greek painting also creates difficulties when attempting a definition and evaluation of this genre. However, based on today's knowledge of the monuments, it is fairly safe to assume that it cannot be equated with independent landscape painting (LP), as practised by the Dutch painters or during Romanticism, which forms the basis of the modern concept [4. 176]. Antiquity did not know a specific term for LP as we understand it [1. 190;…

[German version] (Παρράσιος/ Parrhásios). One of the most important Greek painters, from Ephesus, son of the sculptor (?) Evenor [1], active c. 440-380 BC. This versatile and productive (Plin. HN 35,69-72 alone records 16 paintings) contemporary of the equally famous Zeuxis lived in Athens; his spectacular and expensive works reached many areas of the Greek world and later, as booty, the Roman world. P. belonged to the second generation of artists from the 5th cent. BC, whose technical advances all…

[German version] (Νεάλκης; Neálkēs). Hellenistic representative of the Sicyonian school of painting, which has been famous since the Classical period. In the late 3rd cent. BC he was a respected and influential court painter for his friend Aratus [2]. Plin. HN 35, 141f. refers to pictures of an Aphrodite, of a snorting and foaming horse along with its tamer, as well as one of a naval battle between Persians and Egyptians on the Nile. We have no details of N.'s style, but his craftsmanship is emphasized in an anecdote which is also often told about other artists (Plin. HN 35, 103f.). Hoesch, Nic…

(Κυδίας; Kydías). [German version] [1] Erotic poet Erotic poet, quotes from Pl. Chrm. 155d, mentioned by Plut. Mor. 931e. He was obviously popular in Athens as he is depicted as a komast on a red-figured dish (Munich 2614) and on a psykter (London, BM E767) from c. 500 BC [1. 12-13]. He may perhaps be identical with Cydidas of Hermione referred to by Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 967 [2. 215]. Possibly (rather improbable) he is the dithyramb poet Cedeides/Ceceides mentioned by Aristoph. Nub. 985 (with schol.) [3]. Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) Bibliography 1 K. Friis Johansen, Eine Dithyrambos-A…

[German version] Interior or exterior painting of funerary architecture built from stone or carved into rock existed in antiquity and throughout the entire Mediterranean region, also images on wood and stone steles; sarcophagi rarely bore paintings. Each region and period had its own particular programmes of pictures, which are interpreted as realistic or symbolic, and referring to this or the next world depending on the state of research. Due to the perishable nature of the genre, much has been lost. However, significant new finds have also been made in recent years. Grave paintings …

[German version] (Πλεισταίνετος; Pleistaínetos). A Greek painter mentioned solely in Plut. De gloria Atheniensium 2,346; his life span can be dated to the middle of the 5th cent. BC only through chronological inference. He is said to have been a brother of the sculptor Phidias and to have created paintings of battle scenes with victorious commanders, as well as images of heroes. Several scholars believe that Pliny (Plin. HN 35, 54) had mistakenly written Panaenus instead of P., however the assumpti…

[German version] (Greek σκηνογραφία/ skēnographía, Latin scaenographia). There is controversial criticism of the development and appearance of this genre, surviving only in ancient literature and in pictorial secondary sources (cf. also Painting), and they remain unclear, despite various synopses of the results of different branches of study of the form and development of Greek theatre and its performing places. Changes in architecture and forms of staging also moulded the character of scenography. In…

(Ἀγλαοφῶν; Aglaophôn) Two Greek painters of the same name. [German version] [1] the Elder From Thasos, father and teacher of  Polygnotus [1] from Thasos, father and teacher of  Polygnotus [1], probably active since the end of the 6th cent. BC. According to Quint. Inst. 12,10,3, he was appreciated for the ‘archaism’ and the plain colouring of his paintings. There is not enough evidence of their style, but it was probably rather plain according to the opinion of classicistic rhetoricians. Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) [German version] [2] the Younger Possibly grandson of [1] possibly grandson…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Numerous Ancient Oriental temples, palaces and private residences were painted inside, but due to the a secco-technique, only traces of the paintings still remain. Each colour has its own symbolism. Red, the colour of life and strength, was used as early as the 10th millennium BC for painting the walls and floors of houses (e.g. Ain Mallaha, Israel). Clay or lime plaster served as the base [1; 2]. The oldest and best-preserved figural wall paintings (WP) are found in the houses of…

[German version] (Παύσων; Paúsōn). Greek painter from Athens (?), whose creative period towards the end of the 5th cent. BC can only be indirectly inferred. The atrocious judgment of the content of his paintings in the written sources of the 4th cent. BC - e.g. in Aristotle and Aristophanes - has a conservative ring and evaluates them primarily from a moral point of view. It seems to have been shaped by a similar verdict on his character (or vice versa?). We can only assume that new types of themes…

(Κλεάνθης; Kleánthēs). [German version] [1] Painter from Corinth One of the earliest painters from Corinth, mentioned in Plin. HN 35,15f.; his name stands for the origin of the genera ( prima pictura). C. was considered the inventor of line art, creating his work from outlines and filling them in. Stylistic comparisons with vase painting of the early 7th cent. date his work to the same period. Also only known from the literature (Str. 8,343; Athen. 8,346 BC) are his tableaus in a sanctuary near Olympia: the fall of Troy, the birth of Athena, also Poseidon handing Zeus a tuna. Hoesch, Nicola (…

(Ἀπελλῆς; Apellês). [German version] [1] Macedonian Politician, died 218 BC Macedonian, influential confidant of  Antigonus [3] Doson, from 222 BC guardian of  Philippus V. In 219/8, as ‘ traditionalist’, he criticized the Adriatic policy of the king and his pro-Achaean leanings under the influence of  Aratus, against whom he intrigued together with  Leontius and  Megaleas (Pol. 4,76; 82-87). In 218 their plot against Philip V was discovered and A. was executed in Corinth (Pol. 5,2,8; 16; 26-28; Plut. Arat. 48) [1. 167-170]. Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) [German version] [2] Mace…

(Ἀριστείδης; Aristeídēs). [German version] [1] Athenian politician and srategos (beginning of the 5th cent. BC) Of Athens, son of Lysimachus. He was one of the most prominent politicians and strategoi of Athens at the time of the Persian Wars. In the battle of Marathon, he probably served as a strategos. In 489/488 BC, he was the eponymous archon (Plut. Aristides 1,2, cf. IG I3 1031). In 482 BC, he was ostrazised ( Ostraka) (Hdt. 8,79; Aristot. Ath. Pol. 22,7; Plut. Aristides 7,1 ff.). His rivalry with  Themistocles, documented already in Herodotus (8,79), …

(Ζεῦξις/ Zeûxis). [German version] [1] Greek painter and sculptor, c. 435/25-390 BC Greek painter and sculptor, active between c. 435/25 and 390 BC. He was one of the pioneers of the great era of Greek painting which would retain its high standards for over a century. 'Heraclea', which Plin. HN 35,61 gives as his place of origin, seems more likely to be the Sicilian Heraclea [9] Minoa ([1. 382]; but [2]: Heraclea [7] Pontica?) than Heraclea [10] in Lucania [3. 60], since Z. was the pupil of an otherwise unknown ma…

[German version] Greek painter from Athens, mid 4th cent. BC, celebrated by Plut. as an important representative of the Attic school of painters (Mor. 345f-346a). According to Plin. HN 35,80, his colleagues admired the particular strength and balance of composition in his paintings, achieved by proportionate spatial arrangement of motifs in two dimensions, in order to create the impression of spatial perspective. A. wrote a theoretical text on a compositional method perhaps relying on grids. The h…