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(Λέρνος; Lérnos). [German version] [1] Aetolian Aetolian, father of Palaemonius the Argonaut, whose real father was considered to be Hephaestus (Apoll. Rhod. 1,202ff.). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Argive Argive, son of Proetus, father of Naubolus, Argonaut (Apoll. Rhod. 1,135). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [3] King in the region of Lerna In a euhemeristic interpretation of Heracles' Hydra adventure king in the region of Lerna, whose castle ‘Hydra’ was set on fire by the hero (Palaephatus 38). Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (Κόμβη; Kómbē, Lat. Combe). Daughter of the Phlian river-god Asopus and Metope; regarded since Hecataeus (FGrH 1 F 129), also called Chalcis, as the namesake of the eponymous city on Euboea (cf. Diod. Sic. 4,72; Zenob. 6,50). According to a tale recounted exclusively by Nonnus, C. was the mother of the seven Euboean Corybantes ( Couretes; Nonnus, Dion. 13,135ff.). With them she fled from her husband Socus to Crete, Phrygia, and finally Athens to  Cecrops, who killed Socus, thus enabl…

[German version] ('fear', 'terror'). Like Greek Phobos, the Latin personification of fear; its effect (often associated with Mars or the Erinyes/Erinys) is vividly embellished particularly by poets of the Imperial age (Ov. Met. 4,485f.; Stat. Theb. 3,424f.; Val. Fl. 2,204ff.). Seneca tells of the deification of P. by Tullus Hostilius [4] (fr. 33 Haase; cf. Liv. 1,27,7; Min. Fel. 25,8). Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (Ἰφικλῆς; Iphiklês, also Ἴφικλος; Íphiklos). Son of  Alcmene and  Amphitryon, twin (half-)brother of  Heracles, for whose godlike powers he is used as a foil. In their cot he flees from the snakes, which Hercules strangles (Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 69). I. participates in the Calydonian Hunt and in Hercules' Trojan campaign (Diod. Sic. 4,49,3). With Automedusa, daughter of Alcathous, he fathers  Iolaus. After the battle against Erginus, Hercules is married to Creon's older daughter Megara,…

[German version] (εὕρεσις, heúresis: invention, finding sc. of ideas). In the system of rhetoric, inventio denotes the first of five production stages in the compositon of a speech (  partes orationis ; apart from inventio,   dispositio ,   elocutio ,   memoria ,   pronuntiatio ). Within the separation of verbal realization ( verba) and ideas ( res), which permeates all rhetoric in antiquity and counteracts this quintuple division, the inventio together with the dispositio, to which it is inseparably linked, belong to the res that are conceded a peculiarly concrete status. The inventio s…

[German version] (ἀντίθετον, ἀντίθεσις; antítheton, antíthesis), contrapositum, contentio, assigned to the list of conceptual and verbal figures, but also part of rhetorical argumentation as such. It is therefore relevant for the theory of expression (rhetoric) as well as for the theory of cognition and contemplation (dialectics, e.g. in Heraclitus: war and peace as opposites). Antithesis creates a semantic broadening through a critically-dividing or a mediating juxtaposition of two (or more) words, wo…

(μεταφορά/ metaphorá, ‘transference’; Latin loan translation: translatio). [German version] A. Definition of the problem and its classification in the rhetorical system The discussion of metaphor and other forms of figurative speech, which today is taking place with great emphasis in various fields (linguistics, neurophysiology, psychology, and philosophy), has its origin in Aristotle, who dealt with metaphor in the ‘Poetics and ‘Rhetoric. In keeping with these origins, metaphor finds its place in the rhetorical sys…

[German version] Roman tragedy by an unknown author, handed down in the corpus of  Seneca's tragedies. This drama, the longest in antiquity (1996 v.), has been subject to highly controversial assessments, mostly depending on whether Seneca's authorship is accepted or rejected (extremes [1] and [2], mediating [3]). The subject, the events leading up to the death of Hercules and his apotheosis, is treated originally, despite artistic and intelligent  intertextuality with Soph. Trach., Ovid (Epist. 9 and Met. 9) and to Seneca's Hercules Furens. The stylization of Hercules as sav…

(Greek Κένταυρος, pl. Κένταυροι; Ἱπποκένταυροι; Κενταυρίδες; Kéntauros, pl. Kéntauroi; Hippokéntauroi; Kentaurídes). I. Mythology [German version] A. Definition Centaurs are four-legged  monsters consisting of man and horse, their homeland was seen as the Greek mainland, generally speaking the forested mountains of Thessaly, especially the Pholoe Range and Cape Malea. They often appear as an aggressive group of evil-doers, who cause offence especially by raping women. They challenge not only heroes (such as Hera…

[German version] In the macchia shrubland of Mediterranean countries the genus Arbutus L. of the Ericaceae family is represented by two of its total of 20 evergreen species, namely a) the ST Arbutus unedo L. (κόμαρος; kómaros) with its strawberry-like sour-tasting drupes ( arbuta Verg.  G. 3,301 and 4,181), which ripen in a year, and b) the andrachle, Arbutus andrachle L. (ἀνδράχνη; andráchn ē), spread from Greece to the east as far as the coast of the Black Sea, with small orange-yellow inedible fruits. The fruits of the arbutus, which grows as far west as the Atlantic coast of Ir…

[German version] With around 30 different species, oaks are by far the most common deciduous trees in the natural vegetation of the countries around the Mediterranean. As such, the Greeks gave them the collective Indogermanic name for a tree δρῦς ( drŷs) which was already documented in linear B, as well as special names to distinguish between them. Thus the name for the sacred oak oracle of Zeus in Dodona varies between δρῦς and φηγός ( phēgós), whilst in Latin it is consistently called quercus. This refers to the ‘Trojan oak’, Q uercus troiana [1. 385-391]. The most detailed and reliab…

[German version] I. Ancient East and Egypt A range of archaeological and textual sources from varied walks of life bear eloquent testimony to the intensity of the attempts of coming to term with death in ancient eastern cultures ( Burial and mourning rituals and the related cult of the  dead), as displayed in forms of  funerary architecture, burial objects and the extensive  funerary literature. As is evident from textual sources, this struggle occupied a large part of everyday human existence [5]. On …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Dreams and their interpretation were a popular topic in the written tradition of the Ancient Orient and Egypt since the 22nd cent. BC. Both spontaneously experienced dreams as well as dream incubation are attested. Preserved dreams relate divine messages (in the form of theophanies). Though usually contained in literary texts [3; 5. 746; 6], they also occur in letters [1]. Dreams also contained ethical maxims and wisdom for life reflecting personal experience and st…

(Κέφαλος, Képhalos). [German version] [1] Athenian hero Athenian hero, eponym of the Attic deme  Cephale (north-west of Thoricus) and founding father of the Cephalid lineage (Pherecydes, FGrH 3 F 34; Hsch. s.v. Κεφαλίδαι). C. is regarded a) as the son of the Athenian king  Pandarus (Pandium) or of  Hermes and Herse, the daughter of Cecrops; or b) as the son of the Phocian king Deion(eus) and Diomede, the daughter of Xuthus, whereby he becomes the brother of Aenetus, Phylacus, Actor and Asteropeia. C. is an exceptional hunter with breathtaking beauty. When hunting on the slope…

(Ἰδαία; Idaía). [German version] [1] Epithet of Cybele One of many epithets of the mother of gods ( Cybele), named after her cult on the Phrygian  Ida [2] (e.g. Eur. Or. 1453; Str. 10,469). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Nymph of the Ida mountains Nymph of Ida [2] in Phrygia, wife of the river god Scamander, mother of  Teucer, the first king in the Troad, after whom the people of the Teucri are named (Apollod. 3,139; Diod. Sic. 4,75). Zingg, Reto (Basle) [German version] [3] Daughter of Dardanus Daughter of Dardanus, great-granddaughter of [2], second wife of  Phineu…

[German version] [1] Bishop of Gabala/Syria, c. 400 The bishop of Gabala (present-day Ǧabla) in Syria who appeared from AD 401 as a preacher in  Constantinopolis. His name is primarily tied to the acrimonious conflict with Iohannes [4] Chrysostomus after the latter was nominated as ecumenical patriarch. Both were regarded as gifted preachers, and their rivalry, characterised by reciprocal slights and their open competition for the favour of Empress Aelia [4] Eudoxia, finally led to the deposition and ex…

Roman cognomen; see also Ateius, Fonteius. [German version] [1] Orator of the Augustan period Orator of the Augustan period, praised by  Seneca the Elder because of his ability -- in contrast with  Cassius [III 2] Severus -- to distinguish clearly between the demands of declamations as opposed to those of legal speeches, with regards to their tone and presentation. According to Seneca's assessment, C.'s best orations were in no way inferior to those of the tetrad of the great declamators  Latro,  Fuscus,  Alb…

(Greek εἰρωνεία, eirōneía, orig. ‘dissimulation’, Lat. simulatio, dissimulatio, illusio). [German version] I. Rhetoric Like e.g. metaphor ( Comparison), irony is classed in the rhetorical system among the tropes ( Figures) (Rhet. Her. 4,46 assigns it to allegory). While metaphor works through the similarity between what is said and what is meant, irony is characterized by a relationship of contrast ( contrarium) (Anaximen. Ars Rhetorica = [Arist.] Rh. Al. 21,1,1434a, 17f.; Quint. Inst. 8,6,54-56; Aquila Rhetor 7 p. 24,21f. H). Irony is context dependen…

[German version] [1] C., Ti. Teacher of Latin rhetoric and orator, 2nd cent. AD Teacher of Latin rhetoric and orator of high-flown speeches at the time of Antonines who was even listened to by  Gellius (13,22); befriended by  Fronto (ep. ad am. 2,2), highly regarded by  Hadrianus because of his fine education and moral attitudes. C. favoured the reading of Republican authors (Sallust, Metellus Numidicus, C. Gracchus: Gell. NA 2,27; 1,6; 11,13) is linked with the revival of old Roman virtues: Stylistic and moral judgment go hand in hand in the spirit of Cato's vir bonus, peritus dicendi; C. …

[German version] [1] A Muse (Greek Καλλιόπη, Καλλιόπεια; Kalliópē, Kalliópeia; Lat. Calliopa; on the etymology Diod. Sic. 4.3). Of the nine  Muses (Hes. Theog. 79), C. is mentioned most often and is particularly depicted on an individual level. She was originally the Muse of epic poetry honouring warfare, but later, in a paradoxical turnaround, of the ‘peaceful’ Roman love elegy (Prop. 3.3) or of lofty poetry in general (Ov. Tr. 2, 568). C. is considered the patroness of poetry and, among others, is appe…