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[German version] For the whole of antiquity there are numerous reports of natural catastrophes (NC). Especially in the eastern Mediterranean, but also in Italy, tectonic conditions resulted in an extraordinary susceptibility for frequently disastrous seismic activity (earthquakes and resulting tsunami, volcanic eruptions). The ancient perception was that phenomena such as storms, epidemics, rains of stones, comets (Cic. Nat. deor. 2,14) and solar and lunar eclipses (e.g. Plut. Nicias 23; Eclipses) were also in the category of NC. Earthquakes (cf. map) …

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Byzantium | Commerce | Hellenistic states | Asia Minor | Colonization | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Athletes | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Ῥόδος; Rhódos). [German version] I. Geography Island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, now part of the Dodecanese archipelago, with an area of 1400 km2. A good part of the ancient history of the island was shaped by its geographical situ…

[German version] (Μετεών; Meteṓn). Town of the Illyrian Labeates in the territory of Labeatis (Pol. 29,3; Liv. 44,23,3; 32,3), near modern Podgorica (Montenegro). M. achieved political significance in 168 BC as the meeting place of Pantauchus, an emissary of the Macedonian king Perseus, and the Illyrian prince Genthius (Pol. loc.cit.; Liv. loc.cit.). Towers of the 3rd-cent. BC town walls are preserved; no systematic excavations. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia, 1969, 26f., 166.

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Natural catastrophes | Pompeius | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Κῶς; Kôs, Lat. Cos). [German version] I. Geography and settlement Island in the eastern Aegean, off the south-west coast of Asia Minor, the second largest of the Doric islands (298 km2). A fertile plain in the north contrasts with a barren, sparsely populated mountainous area in the south (highest elevation the Oromedon, 850 m; in the south-west the Latra, 425 m). In the Neolithic period (finds in a cav…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (τὰ Φαλάσαρνα; tà Phalásarna). Port city in the NW of Crete (Str. 10,4,2; Plin. HN 4,59) with topographically striking, steep acropolis, present-day Koutri. Historical reports start with an alliance treaty concluded with the neighbouring polis Polyrrhenia as a result of mediation by Sparta at the beginning of the 3rd cent. BC [1. no. 1, pp. 179-181]. At the behest of the Romans, P. regained its previously lost autonomy from Cydonia (Pol. 22,1…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Venetic | | Coloniae A city on the western coast of Histria, the modern Poreč. Illyrian settlement is attested as early as the late Bronze Age. In the wake of the Roman occupation in the 2nd cent. BC, a castrum was built on the coastal road. P. later became one of the oppida Histriae civium Romanorum (Plin. HN 3,129). Raised by the future Augustus to the status of a municipium, P. became colonia Iulia Parentium, tribus Lemonia under Tiberius (AD 14-37). P. developed into an important trading centre, and also had fertil…

[German version] (ἡ ἔρημος/ érēmos, ἡ ἐρημία/ erēmía, τὰ ἔρημα/ érēma; Lat. deserta, regio deserta). In geographical terms the arid desert zones were part of the marginal areas of the Ancient World (North Africa, the Middle East with Syria, Palestine, Arabia). Politically and to a greater extent economically they, had close relationships to the Graeco-Roman cultural sphere. A large part of the east-west trade devolved over long-distance routes across the Arabian deserts. Desert towns such as Ḥatra [1], Palmyr…

[German version] (Λισσήν; Lissḗn). Locality on Crete with uncertain geographical position primarily because of unclear information from the scholiasts ad Hom. Od. 3,293, probably modern Cape Lithinos. Affiliation with Phaestus in Str. 10,4,4 (only by conjecture) and Steph. Byz. s.v. Φαιστός. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography P. Faure, La Crète aux cents villes, in: Kretika Chronika 13, 1959, 190.

(Μαρσύας; Marsýas). [German version] [1] Phrygian rivergod and Celaenae's god of protection Phrygian river god and Celaenae's god of protection, represented as satyr or silenus. The name is derived from a toponym that can be found repeatedly throughout Asia Minor and Syria; the river, at the source of which Celaenae lies, also carries this name (M. [5]). M. was considered the discoverer of flute playing ( aulós), the inventor of the bandage used for flute playing ( phorbeiá) and of songs for the worship of the goddess Cybele. According to the myth, the possibility to pla…

[German version] Region around the town of  Capua that the Romans confiscated in the Second Punic War in 211 BC, because Capua had gone over to Hannibal (Liv. 23,7). Since then   ager publicus populi Romani (Liv. 26,16,8), covering a total area of about 500 km2 [1. 36-38]. Rome thus gained control over one of Italy's most fertile areas (Liv. 26,26,7). In 209 BC, it was leased out by the censors (Liv. 27,11,8). In order to refill the Roman public purse after the strains of war, parts of the AC were sold off in 205 and in 199 BC (from the fossa Graeca to  Cyme: Liv. 28,46,4, or rather the area at…

[German version] (Ἴμβρασος; Ímbrasos). River on Samos (Plin. HN 5,135), in ancient times also referred to as Parthenius (Str. 10,2,17), near the temple of Hera, modern Imvrasos. Ancient tradition holds that Hera was born under the lygos tree (chaste-tree) on the shore of the I. (Paus. 7,4,4; Apoll. Rhod. 1,187), a legend which repeatedly gave rise to cultic activities in the water of the I. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography E. Buschor, I., in: MDAI(A) 68, 1953 (1956), 1-10 H. J. Kienast, Zum heiligen Baum der Hera auf Samos, in: MDAI(A) 106, 1991, 71-80 G. Shipley, A History …

(Ἡράκλειον; Hērákleion). [German version] [1] Town on Crete's northern coast Town on Crete's northern coast, modern Iraklion. In a legal support agreement with Miletus (259/250 BC) H. appears as a sovereign town allied with  Knossos (Stv III 482 I) [1]. H. was in the 1st cent. BC, probably in succession to Amnisus, the port town of Knossos (Str. 10,4,7f.) and probably subject to it (cf. Str. 10,5,1). Based on Plin. HN 4,59, it was presumed that H. also bore the name Mation [2]. However, the consensus is that Pliny misunderstood his Greek source (πολισμάτιον Ἡ.; polismátion H., ‘the little…

[German version] After the conquest by Q. Caecilius Metellus (69-67 BC; Liv. per. 100; Plut. Pompey 29),  Crete was organized as a double province together with  Cyrenae (Roman province since 74 BC), ( C. et C.). A short-term separation between the two occurred as a result of M. Antonius' declaration of independence (43 BC). In 27 BC, Augustus re-established the old order (senatorial province). The seat of the government was  Gortyne. After the Diocletian reorganization, the double province was dissolved (Cyrenae went to Libya Pe…

This item can be found on the following maps: Pergamum | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine (Λέσβος; Lésbos, Lat. Lesbus; Hittite Lazba). [German version] A. Geography Island in the north-eastern Aegean, with an area extent of 1,630 km2 the third-largest Greek island after Crete and Euboea. Characteristic topographical features are two bays that extend deep into the interior of the island: in the south the Gulf of Hiero (modern Yera), in the west the Gulf of Pyrrha (modern Kalloni). The highest elevations are Lepetymnos (838 m) in the nor…

[German version] Spring (also ad caput Ferentinum, Liv. 2,38,1) in  Latium, probably on the southern slopes of   Mons Albanus , in the lucus Ferentinae (Liv. 1,50,1). Until the middle of the 4th cent. BC a place of assembly of the  Latini (Liv. 1,50,1; 2,38,1; 7,25,5; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,45; 51; 4,45; 5,61). According to Roman annalists (Liv. 1,51,9), Turnus Herdonius was drowned here at the instigation of Tarquinius Superbus. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 558 A. Alföldi, Das frühe Rom und die Latiner, 1977, 34-36.

[German version] Island off the coast of Campania in the southern part of the Gulf of Naples (today Capri). Verg. Aen. 7,735 provides a legendary link of an early Greek settlement with  Telon and the  Teleboae: Serv. Aen. 7,735; Tac. Ann. 4,67. The Greeks linked both settlement centres (modern Capri, Anacapri) by a flight of steps which, in parts, are still usable today (Scala Fenicia). In 29 BC, Augustus acquired C. from Neapolis in exchange for Aenaria ( Pithecussae; Suet. Aug. 92; Cass. Dio 52,…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete | Aegean Koine (Τυλισσός/ Tylissós). City in central Crete, 13 km to the southwest of Heracleum [1] at modern T.; settlement evidently of considerable size from the early Minoan period. From the late Minoan period, there are three richly furnished houses of at least two storeys which afford an impression of superior domestic comfort. There is also evidence of settlement continuity for the Mycenaean period. In the Archaic period, a sanctuary to…

(Δρέπανον; Drépanon). Name of several foothills; the external shape of the mountain may have given rise to the name D. (‘sickle’). [German version] [1] Vorgebirge an der Nordküste von Westkreta On the north coast of western Crete (Ptol. 3,15,5), known in antiquity and today as D. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Lienau, Cay (Münster) Bibliography M. Guarducci, Inscript. Cret. 2,10. [German version] [2] Nördlichster Vorsprung der Peloponnesos in den Korinth. Golf Northernmost outcrop of the Peloponnese into the Corinthian Gulf, 7 km north-east of Rhion (with which i…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre (also Herdonia: Str. 6,3,7; Sil. Pun. 8,567; App. Hann. 48; Ptol. 3,1,72; Herdonea: Liv. 25,21,1; 27,1,6). City in Apulia ( regio II: Plin. HN 3,105; CIL IX 689f.; 1156; It. Ant. 116,2), modern Ordona, on the via Minucia (Str. 6,3,7; Plin. HN 2,244), starting-point of the roads to Beneventum, Aeclanum, and Ausculum. After the battle of Cannae (216 BC), H. switched allegiance to Hannibal, and until 210 BC, it was frequently involved in the disputes of the Second Punic War. H…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Achaemenids | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Hellenistic states | Crete | Macedonia, Macedones | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Pompeius | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine (Κυδωνία; Kydonía). Town in north-western Crete, now Chania, according to Str. 10,4,7 the third biggest town on the island (cf. Flor. 1,42,4). According to legend, its establishment can be traced back to  Minos and his son Cydon (Diod. Sic. 5,78,2; Paus. 8,53,4). Th…