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(σφραγίς/ sphragís, literally  Seal). [German version] [1] Seal (stone) Seal (stone): precious or decorative stone with intaglio engraving, signet ring, seal (impression). On 2nd-4th cent. AD magical amulet gems from Roman Egypt there is often mention of the demon-averting seal of Solomon and, connected with Solomon motifs, the Seal of God ( sphragìs theoû). Gem-cutting Michel, Simone (Hamburg) Bibliography S. Michel, Die magischen Gemmen im Britischen Museum, 2001, 268 ff., pls. 64-66; 430-450. [German version] [2] see Seals ; Subscriptio See Seals; Subscriptio. Gärtner, Ha…

(Ἀπολλώνιος; Apollṓnnios). [German version] [1] Dioiketes of Ptolemy II (259-245 BC) Of Caria, possibly Ptolemaic o ikonomos there in 267 BC. Was dioiketes of Ptolemy II from April /May 259 until the end of 245; in 252 escorted Berenice to her wedding to Antiochus II. At a critical transition period A. found himself responsible for the economy of the kingdom of the Ptolemies, adapting the fiscal system to the monetary economy of the Lagids, for which purpose he was entrusted with the management of finances and the co…

[German version] (Συρίης/ Syríēs). Like Onesimus a gem-cutter of 'island stones' (second half of the 6th cent. BC), both probably working in Euboea. The inscription ΣΥΡΙΕΣ on a green steatite pseudo-scarab, with the reverse moulded as a Silen mask and an image of a citharode climbing on to a bêma (Rostrum) (London, BM), is considered to be the earliest master signature of a gem-cutter. Gem cutting Michel, Simone (Hamburg) Bibliography Zazoff, AG, 83 f., note 48 f., plate 19.

(Ἡρόφιλος; Hēróphilos) [1] From Chalcedon, Greek physician and medical author, approx. 330/20-260/50 BC [German version] A. Life Greek physician from Chalcedon, about 330/320 to 260/250 BC [5. 43-50]. Apart from his training with Praxagoras, with a Hippocratic orientation, he spent the majority of his active career under Ptolemy I and II in Alexandria. However, he does not appear to have worked in the  Mouseion, nor was he a court physician [5. 26f.]. Touwaide, Alain (Madrid) [German version] B. Work Of the eleven works attributed to H. six are almost certainly genuine: …

(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…

Michel, Simone (Hamburg) A. Research History (CT) [German version] 1. From the Middle Ages to the Late Renaissance (CT) During the early Middle Ages interest in cut gems had declined rapidly. Colourful gemstones were indeed used to decorate objects, but generally without figurative motifs. In the Carolingian and the Hohenstaufen periods (9th cent.; 12th/13th cents.), the cutting of cameos was once again taken up [2; 11. 2. fn. 3, 375. fn. 2 und 6, 380. fn. 30]. In the Middle Ages, gems and cameos from Antiquity w…

(Σκύλαξ; Skýlax). [German version] [1] From Caryanda, explorer 519/18 BC S. from Caryanda. Discoverer of shipping routes and geographer, in 519/512 BC [5. 78] in the service of Darius [1], he sailed  down the Indus [1] from Caspapyrus to the Indian coast, then - rounding the Arabian peninsula for the first time - through the Erythra Thalatta [1] to modern Suez (Hdt. 4,44) in 30 months [1. vol. 1, 33, 52 f.; 1. vol. 2, 14 f.; 2. 622 f.]. S. wrote about Heraclides of Mylasa (Suda s.v. Σ.), and therefore died after 480 BC ([2. 634 f.]). Seven fragments on India (FGrH 709) are ascribed to his Pe…

(Κλέων; Kléōn). [German version] [1] The most influential politician in Athens after 430 BC The most influential politician in Athens after 430 BC, as the operator of a tannery was the first important demagogue from the circle of tradesmen who were rising to political leadership. Sources paint a picture of a man who put his loyalty to the people ( dḗmos) before that to his friends, who cleverly exploited the moods prevalent among the people and procured a following for himself by promising material gains. C. opposed  Pericles at the beginning of the Pelo…

[German version] (Θαμύρας; Thamýras). Name on five gems. Only the 18th century paste on a reliquary in the Vienna treasury is verifiably a copy of a missing gem with a Nereid from the period of Augustus. T. is deemed to be the signature of a gem-cutter from the circle of Dioscorides [8]. The other four 'signatures' are modern additions to ancient stones or elements of forgeries, probably following the Viennese model. Gem-cutting Michel, Simone (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Zwierlein-Diehl, T.-Gemmen, in: H.-U. Cain et al. (eds.), Beiträge zur Ikonographie und Hermeneutik, Fests…

[German version] Father of  Aulus [2] and Quintus, probably a Campanian stone carvers' family during the Roman Republican period with their preferred subjects being of Aphrodisian-Dionysian character. A.'s signature is on only one cameo fragment with a marine animal (London, BM).  Gem and cameo cutters Michel, Simone (Hamburg) Bibliography Zazoff, AG, 286 annotation 113.

[German version] [1] see Musical instruments Aulos, see  Musical instruments Michel, Simone (Hamburg) [German version] [2] Stonemason of the 1st cent. BC Stonemason of the 1st cent. BC, son of  Alexas, brother of Quintus. Signed works: Eros bound to tropaion (amethyst, London, BM), nailing down butterfly (hyacinth, The Hague, MK), bound (cameo, lost), with Aphrodite (carnelian, London, BM); satyr head (intaglio, lost); Maenad busts (hyacinth, erstwhile Collection Ludovisi); athlete (carnelian, Paris, CM); Poseidon and Amymone (white …

(Ὀνάτας; Onátas). [German version] [1] Bronze sculptor from Aegina, 5th cent. BC Bronze sculptor from Aegina, son of Micon. O. was a contemporary of Hegias [1] and Ageladas and one of the most important masters of the Severe Style. None of his numerous works is extant or secured in the form of copies. His signature is found on a pedestal of a bronze horse on the Athenian Acropolis and a pedestal in Olympia, both from the early 5th cent. BC. In Olympia, O. sculpted a votive offering ( anáthēma ) for the Achaeans in around 470-460 BC with Nestor and nine Trojan h…

(Διοσκουρίδης; Dioskourídēs). [German version] [1] Son of Polemaeus, naval commander in 314-313 BC Son of Polemaeus, nephew of  Antigonus [1] Monophthalmus. Led the fleet to a few victories as naval commander in 314-13 BC. Nothing further is known about his life. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliography R. A. Billows, Antigonus the One-Eyed, 1990, 381f. [German version] [2] Polyhistor of the 4th and 3rd cents. BC Polyhistor of the 4th and 3rd cents. BC, pupil of Isocrates (Ath. 1,18,11 A). Of his works, the following titles are known (cf. FGrH 3 B 594): 1. Apomnēmoneúmata (‘Memorabil…

(Ὕλλος; Hýllos). [German version] [1] Son of Heracles and Deianira Son of  Heracles and  Deianira; brother of Macaria. Ctesippus, Glenos and Oneites (Hes. fr. 25,19 M-W; Apollod. 2,165 Wagner) or Gleneus and Odites (Diod. Sic. 4,37,1) have been named as his brothers and Euaichme (Hes. fr. 251b M-W) as his daughter. Heracles asks him to burn his body on a pyre on Mount Oeta and to marry Iole (Soph. Trach. 1179-1258; (Ps.-)Sen. Hercules Oetaeus 1481-1491). After his father's death, he and the other Heraclid…

[German version] Glyptographer/gem engraver of the Roman republic, signatures on a sardonyx with the theft of the palladion (Diomedes at the altar, Collection of the Duke of Devonshire), amethyst with a portrait of the young M. Antonius (Ionides Collection) and a hyacinth with a copy of the Polycletic encaser (formerly the Marlborough Collection, lost). A characteristic of G. is the slanted positioning of attributes behind a bust, e.g., an aquamarine of Hercules with a club ( c. 20 BC, London, BM) and a cornelian of a queen with a scepter (New York, MMA).  Gem cutting Michel, Simone (Hamb…

[German version] [1] Commentator on Aristotle Commentator on Aristotle, 1st half of the 2nd cent. AD; teacher of  Herminus. His works were read in the school of Plotinus (Porph. Vita Plotini 14). A.' commentary on the ‘Nicomachean Ethics [1] is the earliest surviving extended commentary on an Aristotelian text, and influenced the treatment of the ‘common books’ 5-7 as Nicomachean; although the theory in [2. 29-36] that he was responsible for the inclusion of these books has been questioned by the ‘Eud…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient see  Seals Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] II. Phoenician Phoenician and Punic gem cutting (GC) (= glyptography) is known almost exclusively through stamp seals in the form of scarabees ( Scarabee) or scaraboids that were very widespread in the ancient world; the body of the beetle is graphically linear in the Phoenician east, whilst in the Punic west ─ under the Ionian-Etruscan influence ─ it is structured much more three-dimensionally. Here Greek motifs (He…

[German version] [1] Gem cutter, 1st cent. BC Gem cutter (1st cent. BC), signed the famous ‘Agathangelus cameo’ with the portrait of a man (carnelian, Berlin, SM) -- it has been debated since the 18th cent. as to whether this is Sextus Pompeius. Michel, Simone (Hamburg) Bibliography Zazoff, AG, 12, 281-283, pl. 79,1. [German version] [2] Secretary to the king of the Arsacides,  Tiridates IV Secretary to the king of the Arsacides,  Tiridates IV (AD 239-281). In the ‘History’ attributed to A., he is described as a ‘reliable witness’. The text deals with the Ch…

(Ἀθηνίων; Athēníōn). [German version] [1] Peripatetic rhetorician in Athens Peripatetic rhetorician in Athens (different from  Aristion [1. 341-343]), only known from the polemic party of  Posidonius (FGrH 87 fr. 36). Sent from Athens to  Mithridates VI in 88 BC, taken up by him among his φίλοι ( phíloi, friends), he won the support of the people with Mithridates' support and had as στρατηγὸς ἐπὶ τὰ ὅπλα ( strategòs epì tà hópla) a decisive influence on Athenian politics (‘tyrant’). A failed raid on Delos seems to have ended his political career. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliogra…

(Βόηθος; Bóēthos). I. Political figures [German version] [1] Ptolemaean civil servant, 136/5 BC Son of Nicostratus from Caria; in the service of the Ptolemies well before 149 BC, he occupied various administrative positions before becoming epistrategos of Thebes. Founded two cities in Lower Nubia. Ameling, Walter (Jena) Bibliography K. Vandorpe, Der früheste Beleg eines Strategen der Thebais als Epistrategen, in: ZPE 73, 1988, 47-50. II. Philosophers and writers [German version] [2] Of Sidon Stoic Philosopher, 2nd cent. BC Stoic philosopher of the 2nd cent. BC; he wrote…