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[German version] L. Iulius Aurelius Septimius V. Athenodorus, son of Odaenathus [2] and Zenobia, perhaps identical to the Timolaos [5] mentioned in the Historia Augusta (SHA Gall. 13,2; SHA Tyr. Trig. 15,2 et passim; but cf. SHA Aur. 38,1). He was still a child when his father was murdered (in AD 267), so that his career was guided by Zenobia: V. appears after 267 as rex regum and corrector totius orientis (CIS II 3971), was later imperator and dux Romanorum [1] and Augustus in the spring of 272 (ILS 8924). Coins from Alexandria showing both Aurelianus [3] and V. should n…

[German version] (German Roderich, Spanish Rodrigo, Arabic Luḏrīq). Last king of the Visigoths. The so-called Crónica Mozárabe (in Spanish) of AD 754, which provides information about the end of the West Gothic empire, reveals that R. was initially provincial governor (of Hispania Baetica ?) and in 710, after the death of Witiza, was elected king, an election which did not go unopposed. At the very time the Muslims invaded Spain in April/May 711, R. was fighting the Basques; yet he managed to deploy an approxim…

[German version] Commander of Sapor [2] II, entrusted with the defence of the Persian western frontier. He spoke in favour of peace negotiations with Rome in AD 357 (Amm. Marc. 16,9,3 f.; 17,5). When the Persian War flared up again in 359, T. and Nohodares successfully led small, highly manoeuvrable divisions against the Romans (Amm. Marc. 18,8,3; 19,9,7; cf. Them. Or. 4,57). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

Roman nomen gentile of Sabine origin. Its members begin to appear in the sources late in the 3rd cent. BC. Politically the most important branch was that of the Terentii Varrones which attained the ranks of the nobility with T. [I 14] Varro, consul in 216 BC. From the mid-2nd cent., several families of this branch were in simultaneous and unconnected existence. Cognomina showing geographical origins are widespread among the Terentii (Afer, Lucanus, Massaliota). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] As people's tribune in 54 BC, T. prevented…

(Ἐρατώ; Eratṓ). [German version] [1] One of the nine Muses One of the nine  Muses; daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Hes. Theog. 78; Apollod. 1,13). Attribution of a sphere of activity, as in the case of the other Muses, emerged only gradually. Plato i.a. assigns her to the sphere of the erotic, on account of her name (Phdr. 259d); but she is above all the Muse of love-lyric, and is appealed to in this connection by poets (cf. Verg. Aen. 7,37; Ov. Ars am. 2,16; 425). She is portrayed i.a. on the François Vase (570 BC) and on the Basle lekythos (together with  Thamyris and  Klio). Bloch, René (Berne) Bibl…

(Ὀρώδης; Orṓdēs). [German version] [1] O. I Parthian king, 1st cent. BC Parthian king around 81/80-76/5 BC who is mentioned under the name Uruda only in cuneiform texts [1. 517, 1162f., 1165, 1170f., 1174, 1446]. He was probably a son of Artabanus [4] I and therefore a brother of the kings Mithridates [13] II and Gotarzes I who ruled before him and Sanatruces who ruled after him. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography 1 T.G. Pinches, J.N. Strassmaier, A. J. Sachs, Late Babylonian Astronomical and Related Texts, 1955. J. Oelsner, Randbemerkungen zur arsakidischen Geschichte …

(Σόαιμος/ Sóaimos, Σόεμος/ Sóemos). [German version] [1] Ituraean, under Herodes [1] the Great, executed in 29 BC Ituraean (Ituraea), in a position of trust under Herodes [1] the Great, who in 30 BC gave him the duty of guarding him and, should he not return from his visit to Octavianus [1], of killing his wife Mariamme [1] and mother-in-law Alexandra. S. revealed the order to them and in 29 was executed by Herod (Jos. Ant. Iud. 15,185; 204-229). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] Tetrarch of the Ituraeans, 1st cent. AD Tetrarch of the Ituraeans (Ituraea) AD 38-49,…

(Isdigerdes). [German version] [1] Y. I Persian great king 399-420/1. His rule represents a high point of good relations with the Roman East (otherwise: Claud. in Eutropium 2,475f.). This was expressed e.g. in the dying Arcadius' [1] request of Y. to take on the guardianship of his under-age son Theodosius [3] II (Procop. Pers 1,2,7-10; Theophanes A. 5900; uncertainty in Agathias 4,26,3-7), but, above all, Y. appeared so tolerant to Christians that Western accounts even ascribe to him the intention of…

[German version] [1] A. I, founder of the Sassanid empire, died 242 AD A. I, the founder of the Sassanid empire, whose background and beginnings are partially obscure. It seems certain that he was the son of Papak, a minor Persian ruler under Parthian supremacy. But it is difficult to situate his ancestor Sasan in his genealogy, even though, by tradition, Sasan is seen as the high priest of the temple of Anahita near Istachr (Fars) and as Papak's father. Even during Papak's lifetime, A. began to extend his d…

(Κλεοπάτρα; Kleopátra, Lat. Cleopatra). I. Mythology [German version] [I 1] Daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia Daughter of  Boreas and  Oreithyia, first wife of  Phineus. C. was rejected in favour of  Idaea [3], whom Phineus married as his second wife; her sons were blinded (Apollod. 3.200; Hyg. Fab. 18). Prescendi, Francesca (Geneva) [German version] [I 2] Daughter of Idas and Marpessa Daughter of  Idas and  Marpessa, wife of  Meleager. After her abduction by Apollo she was also called ‘Alcyone’ after her mother's …

[German version] (Πισσούθνης/ Pissoúthnēs), son of one Hystaspes, may have been related to the Achaimenidai [1. 174 and note 3]. As satrap of Sardis in 440 BC he supported the oligarchs of Samos in their (unsuccessful) rebellion against Athens (Thuc. 1,115; cf. Plut. Pericles 25). Between 430 and 427 P. sent Arcadian and native mercenaries to help the Greeks of Colophon, but they failed (Thuc. 3,34). When the Lesbians and other Ionian Greeks formed contacts with Sparta in 427, they held out to the …

(Ὀρόντης/ Oróntēs, MSS; Ὀρόντας/ Oróntas, OGIS 264,4; Ἀροάνδης/ Aroándēs, OGIS 390ff.). Armenian satraps and kings: O. [1-6]; the river O. [7]. [German version] [1] Relative of the Armenian royal family Relative of the royal family. After initial antagonism with Cyrus [3] the Younger, O. became his follower, and was subsequently convicted of treason and executed (Xen. An. 1,6; 9,29). Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel) [German version] [2] O. I Persian governor of Armenia Son of the Bactrian Artasyras. As the Persian governor of Armenia, he married Rhodogune, the daughter of…

[German version] (Ζαβεργάνης/ Zabergánēs). In 531 the Persian diplomat Z. succeeded in annihilating his rival Mebodes (Procop. BP 1,23,25 f.). In 540 he took part in the conquest of Antioch [1] (Procop. Pers. 2,8,30-32), and shortly afterwards he received a letter from the empress Theodora [2] with a request to mediate peace (Procop. Arc. 2,32-35). In 544 he led negotiations with citizens from Edessa [2], which was under siege (Procop. Pers. 2,26,16-19). PLRE 3B, 1410. Sassanids Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

(Ξέρξης/ Xérxēs; Old Persian Xšayāršā, 'ruling over heroes'). [German version] [1] X. I Achaemenid great king (486-465 BC), son of Darius [1] I and Atossa [1]. 'Born in the purple', X. was designated by his father as his successor (XPf 31 ff. = [6. 81-85]; Hdt. 7,2 f.; Porphyrogénnētos ). At the beginning of his reign he defeated an uprising in Egypt (Hdt. 7,3), an…

[German version] Son of the Parthian king Pacorus, who was made king of Armenia in about AD 110 by his father. When Osroes ousted Pacorus, A. also lost his throne to his own brother Parthamasiris. During the subsequent period, he seems to have made efforts to prevent contact being made between Parthamasiris and his Roman sovereign  Trajanus and, in so doing, to gain some recognition for himself. He was unsuccessful in this respect.…

[German version] [1] Commander serving under the Armenian king Arsaces II (mid-4th cent. AD) Commander serving under the Armenian king Arsaces II, who fled to Shapur II and was later appointed, together with  Cylaces, as the governor of Armenia. Both soon went over to the side of Arsaces' son  Pap, who first found refuge with the Romans, but was assigned to Armenia by  Valens at the request of A. and Cylaces. During a renewed Persian attack, A. and Cylaces along with Pap fled to the mountains. A. then receive…

[German version] The Arian (Arianism) of Harudic descent was the duke of Brixia when he succeeded Arioald as king of the Langobardi in AD 636. Under his rule, the Ligurian coast from the city of Luna [3] up to the Frankish border and Opitergium in Venetia were captured. A campaign against the exarchate of Ravenna (late 643) was stalled following a battle on the river Scultenna (Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum 4,42; 45; 47). On 22 November 643, R. decreed the Edictus R. , a collection of Langobardic legal conventions. R. died in 652. PLRE, 3B, 1096. Schottky, Ma…

(Persian Šāpūr, Greek Σαπώρης/ Sapṓrēs). [German version] [1] I Son of Ardashir [1] and Great King of Persia AD 240/242-272, of the dynasty of the Sassanids. The main source for his reign is the trilingual inscription (Middle Persian, Parthian, Greek) discovered in 1936-1939 on the Kaba-ye Zardošt in Naqš-e Rostam (near Persepolis), the so-called Res Gestae Divi Saporis (= RGDS; [1. 284-371]; Trilingual inscriptions). S. defeated Gordianus [3] III in 244 at Misichē (Pirisabora) in Assyria; Gordianus died under suspicious circumstances. S. compelled the new emperor Philippus [II 2] Arabs to accept a peace unfavourable to the Romans. In 252, the Persians conquered Armenia followed by additional Caucasian regions. A Persian onslaught against Syria began in the spring of 253, during which a Roman army was defeated at Barbalissus…

Nomen gentile, probably originally Etruscan, occurred at Rome only from the 1st cent. BC onwards. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] A certain S. from Cam…

(Ἀριαράθης/ Ariaráthēs). Name of kings of Cappadocia. [German version] [1] A. I A. I, b. 405/4 BC, became satrap of Northern Cappadocia under Artaxerxes [3] III, and retained the position under the latter's successors and during the Macedonian conquest (v. Alexander [4] the Great). In 322 BC, he was defeated by Perdiccas [4], who had him executed. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [2] A. II Son of Orophernes [1], nephew and adoptive son of A. [1], defeated the Seleucid strategos Amyntas around 280 BC [1. 93 f.] with the assistance of Orontes [4…