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(ἡ Πελοπόννησος/ hē Pelopónnēsos, Doric Πελοπόννασος/ Pelopónnasos). [German version] I. Geography Peninsula in southern Greece (21,439 km²), connected to the mainland (Attica, Boeotia) by the Isthmus of Corinth. It is predominantly mountainous (cf. Cyllene [1], Erymanthus [1], Lycaeum, western Messenian massif with Ithome [1], Taygetus, Parnon) and highly fragmented (cf. the numerous small rivers, particularly in Achaea, e.g. Alpheus [1], Pamisus, Eurotas, Inachus [2]; also the many small coastal plains a…

[German version] (Κοκκύγιον ὄρος; Kokkýgion ŕos). ‘Cuckoo mountain’, another name for the mountain Thornax, west of  Hermion(e) on the Argolid headland, with sanctuaries of Zeus and Apollo; today's Hagios Elias. References: Paus. 2,36,1f.; schol. Theoc. 15,64. Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography A. Foley, The Argolid 800-600 B.C., 1988, 184.

[German version] (Dibio). An important centre where trade routes crossed at the confluence of the Saône and the Ouche, on the boundary between the civitates of the Lingones and the Aedui, now Dijon. The castrum Divionense described by Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks 3,19 was built in the 3rd cent. near the road from Lyons to the Rhine frontier. Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography E. Frézouls, Les villes antiques de la France II, 1, 1988, 179-274 C. Rolley, s.v. D., PE, 278.

(Ἀμύκλαι; Amýklai). [German version] [1] Pre-Greek settlement This item can be found on the following maps: Sparta | Dark Ages | Aegean Koine Pre-Greek settlement on and at the foot of the hills bearing the chapel of Agia Kyriaki, inhabited from the early Helladic to the imperial Roman period (Paus. 3,18,6-19,6; IG V 1, 515), c. 5 km south of  Sparta near the modern Tsausi. In historical times, it was a ὠβή ( ōbḗ) of Sparta with its own ephors and other officials (cf. Syll.3 932). The region seems to have reached its peak in the 7th/6th cent. BC. From the late Mycenaean period, it housed a sa…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Doric Migration | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Achaeans, Achaea | Apollo | Macedonia, Macedones | Macedonia, Macedones | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Natural catastrophes | Oracles | Peloponnesian War | Athletes | Delian League | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Ἄργος; Árgos). I. Mythical characters [German version] [I 1] Son of Zeus and Niobe The son of Zeus and Niobe, brother of Pelasgus (Acusilaus FGrH 2 F 25), husband of Evadne, father of Epidaurus i.a. (Hes. fr. 247), or Pei…

[German version] Celtic tribe in southwestern Gaul (Caes. B Gall. 1,10,1; 11,6; 3,11,5; Mela 3,23; It. Ant. 459,3; Str. 4,2,1; 6,11: Σάντονοι/ Sántonoi; Ptol. 2,7,7: Σάντονες/ Sántones), in the modern Saintonge (Dépt. Charente-Maritime, partially Dépt. Charente [1]). The S. participated in the rebellion of Vercingetorix in 52 BC (Caes. B Gall. 7,75,3). Under Roman rule, they formed a civitas of the province of Aquitania (Plin. HN 4,108: S. liberi) with their capital at Mediolan(i)um [4] Santonum (Gallia, with map). Under Diocletianus, this was added to the provi…

[German version] The name N. was given in 27 BC to the Roman provincia Transalpina, which was formed from Gaulish areas either side of the Rhodanus (moder Rhone). It had been occupied by the Romans between 125 and 118 BC after a call for help from Massalia in the dispute with the Salluvii tribe. The boundaries of the province were the Mediterranean coast from the Varus (Var) as far as the Pyrenees, the Alps, Lacus Lemanus (Lake Geneva), the upper reaches of the Rhodanus (excluding Lugdunum), the foothills of …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Macedonia, Macedones (Παλλάντειον/ Pallánteion, lit. Παλλάντιον/ Pallántion). City on the western edge of the eastern Arcadian plain, 7 km south of Tripoli, with a few remains on a hill that juts out from the Kravari mountain range (earlier Boreion), today P. again (formerly Berbati). Remains of the acropolis wall and of four temples from the Archaic and Classical periods [1] are preserved. P. was an independent city in the 4th and 2nd cents. BC despite its incorporation in the synoikismós of Megalopol…

[German version] [1] Capital of the Suessiones This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Coloniae | Gallia/Gaul | Oppidum Capital of the Suessiones, occupied by Caesar in 57 BC (Caes. B Gall. 2,12). N. can be identified with the oppidum of Pommiers (west of Soisson, De partement of Aisne). This was abandoned at the latest under Augustus, by about 50 BC a new one had come into being in the plain near Villeneuve-Saint-Germain [1; 2]. With the founding of the Gallo-Roman capital civitas of Augusta Suessionum in about 20 BC other settlement came to an end. Schön, Franz (Regens…

[German version] (Μελαινεαί/ Melaineaí, Latin Melaenae). Town in western Arcadia, north of the river Alpheius, 40 stadia ( c. 7 km) west of Buphagium, abandoned by Pausanias's time (Paus. 5,7,1; 8,3,3; 26,8), perhaps near modern Kokkora, south of Kakouraeika (Kakouraei). There are some remains of an estate from the Roman period. Evidence: Plin. HN 4,20; Tab. Peut. 7,5; Steph. Byz. s.v. Μελαιναί. Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography Jost, 74-77 E. Meyer, Peloponnesische Wanderungen, 1939, 101-106.

[German version] (Μεθύδριον/ Methýdrion, locally Μετίδριον/ Metídrion). City in northern Arcadia with a small number of ruins near the modern M. (formerly Nemnitsa), south of Vytina (at a height of approximately 1000 m). Originally independent, M. belonged to Orchomenus, probably from 400/368 BC, and to Megale Polis from 369/360 BC (?). Border inscription: [5. 664; 1; 2]. Remains of a circular wall dating from the 4th cent. BC. [3]. M. was several times temporarily independent (Syll.3 490,18ff., c. 234/3 BC; Syll.3 559,61; coins). The place is mentioned in Theoph. FGrH 115 …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Caesar | Christianity | Wine | | Coloniae | Gallia/Gaul | Commerce | Limes | Pilgrimage | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome City in Gallia Narbonensis on the right bank of the lower Atax in the territory of the Volcae Arecomici (Strab. 4,1,12), modern Narbonne. In the pre-Roman period there was a settlement here on the mythical road of Heracles from Spain to the Rhône. From the 6th cent. BC, 4 km from N., there was an oppidum on the Montlaurès Hill, which was known by the name of Naro (Avien. 587; [1]). The lagoon between…

[German version] [1] River in central Greece (Κηφισ(σ)ός; Kēphis(s)ós). Main river of central Greece (Pind. Ol. 14,1; Pind. Pyth. 4,46). Its perennial main source is in  Lilaea (Phocis) at Mount Parnassus (Hom. Il. 2,523; Str. 9,2,19; Paus. 9,24,1; 10,33,4f.; Plin. HN 4,27; around the spring was an important sanctuary whose priests were eponymous for Lilaea: FdD 3,4,2, p. 206-209, no. 132-135); further non-permanent sources were in Doris. The C. passes through Phocis and Boeotia, and flows at Orchomenus…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity City of the  Vulgientes;   colonia (CIL XII 1005; 1116; 1118; It. Ant. 343,3 cf. 388,4; Sid. Apoll. Epist. 9,9,1); civitas Aptensium (Pol. Silv. 16,3); possessed the   ius Latii (Plin. HN 3,36), situated on the road from  Mediolanum to  Arelate. Today Apt (Vaucluse) on the Coulon, which joins the Durance from the north (near to its confluence with the  Rhodanus). In the 6th cent. AD most of the inhabitants left the city to seek refuge on the nearby heights. Lafond, Yves (Bochum)

[German version] Celtic-Ligurian oppidum, main location of the Salluvii, 3 km north of Aix-en-Provence. In c. 2nd cent. BC two residential estates, the second of which surrounds the first without having destroyed it, proves the development of the town formation, which was stopped by the Romans between 124 and 90 BC. Ancient remains: town wall, roads, sanctuary (heroon?), sculptures, coins from Massalia, numerous crafts products. Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography P. Arcelin et al., Voyage en Massalie, 1990, 101-106 F. Benoît, Entremont, capitale celto-ligure des Salyens…

(Πύλος/ Pýlos). [German version] [1] Homeric P. Kingdom of Nestor In Homer, P. can designate both the domain and residence of Nestor [1] [3. 119-126]. The geographic information on the location of the palace - however concretely verifiable in the actual topography - given in Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey each lead to different locations. In the tale of Nestor, the so-called Nestorís in the 11th book of the Iliad (cf. [2. 296-298] on Hom. Il. 11,670-762), the information clearly points to a place south of the Alpheius [1]. In the Odyssey, on the other h…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Achaeans, Achaea | Macedonia, Macedones | Persian Wars | Arcadians, Arcadia | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Τεγέα/ Tegéa). [1] Town in the eastern Arcadian plateau [German version] I. Location Important town in the south of the eastern Arcadian plateau (Arcadians, Arcadia, with map; Str. 8,8,2; Paus. 8,44,1-53,11; Ptol. 3,16,19; Plin. HN. 4,20.; [1]), whose vast area lay between the present-day villages of Hagios Sostis, Episkopi and Alea. The rich, fertile, loamy …

[German version] Powerful Celtic people (Pol. 2,17,4; Str. 5,1,6; according to Liv. 5,34,9 the district of the Haedui), of a simple lifestyle (Pol. loc. cit.), in Upper Italy to the east of the Salassi (Ptol. 3,1,34) and Libici (Ptol. 3,1,36) and west of the  Cenomanni [3] (Ptol. 3,1,33; Pol. 2,17,4; Str. 5,1,9) and the river Clusius (Κλούσιος, Pol. 2,32,4) with their main settlement at Mediolan(i)um (Liv. 5,34,9; Plin. HN 3,124; Str. 5,1,6). Other towns of the Insubres (Ptol. 3,1,33): Comum, Tici…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Coloniae | Doric Migration | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Commerce | Achaeans, Achaea | Colonization | Macedonia, Macedones | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Rome | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Κόρινθος; Kórinthos, Corinthus, the modern Corinth). [German version] I. Position The city lies on the second and third terraces above the coastal plain (40-95 m above sea level), c. 2 km from the coast; its original location was presumably on a delta originating from the time c. …

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Achaeans, Achaea | Macedonia, Macedones | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Athletes | Education / Culture (Ἐπίδαυρος; Epídauros). [German version] A. Location City in the Argolic Acte on the southern coast of the Saronic Gulf. The city's large territory extended to the Argolic Gulf, with a good land-connection to the Argolic plain. The ancient city was located on a bay with a shallow beach and a small coastal plain, situated on a rocky hill …