Search

(Ἀγαθοκλῆς; Agathoklês) [German version] [1] of Athens Archon 357/56 BC Archon 357/56 BC (Dem. Or. 47,44; Diod. Sic. 16,9). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Tyrant King of Syracuse (316-288 BC) Later king of Syracuse, born 361/0 BC in Thermae in Sicily. Son of Carcinus, who had been banned from Rhegium, and who under  Timoleon had received citizenship in Syracuse and had a pottery manufactory. A. had an adventurous youth, participated in several martial undertakings and early on fostered broad-reaching politica…

[German version] (Ἐρατοκλῆς; Eratoklês). Head of a school of harmonics opposed on three occasions by Aristoxenus (5f. Meibom). Zaminer, Frieder (Berlin) Bibliography A. D. Barker, Hoi kaloumenoi harmonikoi: the predecessors of Aristoxenus, in: PCPhS 24, 1978, 1-21.

[German version] I. Ancient Near East …

(Ἰσμηνίας; Ismēnías or Ἱσμηνίας; Ismēnías). [German version] [1] Prominent Theban politician, 5th/4th cent. BC Prominent Theban politician, famous for his wealth (Pl. Men. 90a). After the end of the Peloponnese War (431-404 BC), I., with  Androclidas, came to the fore as leaders of a Hetaeria which opposed the pro-Spartan politics of  Leontiades. The goals were to push back the Leontiades faction and to bring about a new orientation in international politics towards Athens (Hell. Oxy. 12,1f.; 13,1; Xen. Hell. 3,5,1-6) [1]. Under his rule, Thebes concluded an alliance with Athens in 395 BC and (supplied w…

…

(Διονύσιος; Dionýsios). Famous personalities: D. [1], the tyrant of Syracuse; the historian D. [18] of Halicarnassus. Dionysios (month),  Months, names of the. The chronicle of Ps.-D. by Tell Maḥre see D. [23]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] D. I. Notorious tyrant in Syracuse c. 400 BC of Syracuse, son of Hermocritus, born in c. 430 BC, died in 367 BC. Founder of the ‘greatest and longest tyrannical rule in history’ (Diod. Sic. 13,96,4; appearance: Timaeus FGrH 566 F 29). Possessing a sophist education (Cic. Tusc. 5,63), D. had enormous ambitions a…

(Ἀριστόξενος; Aristóxenos). [German version] [1] Musician, Musical theoretician, philosopher, biographer, from Tarentum from Tarentum, musician, musical theorist, philosopher, biographer, known as μουσικός. According to Suda son of Mnesias or of the musician Spintharus, pupil of his father, of a certain Lamprus of Erythrae, of the Pythagorean Xenophilus and finally of Aristotle. In Mantinea A. turned to philosophy. Claims to have hea…

[German version] (κόρδαξ; kórdax). Typical comedy dance (κωμικὴ ὄρχησις; kōmikḕ orchēsis; the word kordax appears first in Aristoph. Nub. 540). Usually connected with drunkenness, the kordax was a boisterous, burlesque, and rude dance. It was never described in detail, thus it cannot be identified clearly on vase paintings. The kordax also occurred outside of the theatre as a hyporchematic dance (Ath. 14,630e) or as a solo dance with instrumental accompaniment during banquets (Lucian Icaromenippus 27). Zaminer, Frieder (Berlin) Bibliography K. Latte, De saltationibus Graeco…

[German version] (not Chalcidius). Christian philosopher; his dates are disputed: he either lived from the second half of the 3rd to the first half of the 4th cent. AD [1] or from the first half to the middle of 4th cent. [2]. Assigning his commentary on Plato's …

(Ἐρατοσθένης; Eratosthénēs). [German version] [1] Athenian, active in the Peloponnesian War An Athenian of rich family. In 411 BC he was serving as a trierarch in the Hellespont, but left his ship in order to support the oligarchs in Athens (Lys. 12,42). After the capitulation of Athens in the Peloponnesian War (404 BC), E. belonged to an action group ─ the five ephors ─ working for a…

[German version] I. Preliminary remark Originally sung poetry, often accompanied by dance, metric literature was obviously subject to other formative conditions than poetry intended from the outset for spoken presentation or for reading. Texts of such kinds still show traces of their earlier sound form ( Music). Accordingly the form ranged from simple ‘melodic lines of sound’, as can be presumed for the ancient Orient and Israel ( parallelismus membrorum, strophic poetry, sometimes with rhythmic accent order, congruence of form and language s…

[English version] Although affects were themes in Classical philosophy and rhetoric, incidentally also in the ethical doctrine of music ( Music), there was no specific theory of musical affects. That melodies and rhythms affected different souls in different manners had been demonstrated by Boethius inst. mus. 1,1) as a transmitter of the idea (Pythagoras, Plato rep. 3,398-401). After the 11th cent., the attempt was made to link the Musical theory of keys in Gregorian chant with the ethical doctr…

[German version] A. Life Flavius Magnus Aurelius C., a senator, born c. AD 490, came from a family of the senatorial aristocracy -- probably of Syrian origin (the name refers to the Syrian Zeus Kasios), but for generations settled in Scylacium (Squillace in Calabria) -- which was very influential in Bruttium and Sicily ( primatus: Cassiod. Var. 1,4,14) and carried out important political tasks (PLRE 2, 263f., C. 1 and 2). As a comes sacr. larg. of Odoacer, C.'s father (PLRE 2, 264f.) went over to Theoderic at the right time (AD 490), handed Sicily over to him without a fight, and attained the…

[German version] A. Concept Χορός ( Chorós), ‘Ring dance, troupe of dancers, dance floor, chorus of singers’ (‘original meaning not ascertainable with any certainty’ Frisk). Ring or group dance associated with singing; in the narrower sense the chorus trained for the performance of choral lyrics and songs in Attic drama. Surviving evidence (texts of choral lyrics, pictorial representations, descriptions) provides scarcely more than sketchy impressions of the lively whole. The loss of song meant that…

(Γαυδέντιος; Gaudéntios). [German version] [1] G. …

[German version] A. Life Son of the consul for 487, B. was born around 480. After his father's early death he was adopted into the household of  Symmachus, whose daughter, Rusticiana, he married. Given an excellent education, he was as familiar with the writings of Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists, especially Porphyry and the Athenian School, as with Augustine, and he soon acquired a reputation as a scholar. In 510 he became consul sine collega, and in 522 his two sons, not fully grown-up, obtained the consulate. Probably in the same year he became …

[German version] I. Terminology In Greek Antiquity, ῥυθμική, sc. τέχνη ( rhythmikḗ, sc. téchnē) was, from Aristoxenus [1] on, the theory of rhythm. The original meaning of ῥυθμός ( rhythmós), long controversial, seems to have been ‘flowing’, ‘a stream’ [12]. Rhythmós referred to bodily and tonal movements, but also to immobile bodies and statues (Arist. Quint. 31 Meibom). R …

(Ἡρακλείδης; Hērakleídēs). Famous persons: the politician and writer H. [19] Lembus, the philosopher H. [16] Ponticus the Younger, the doctor H. [27] of Tarentum. I. Political figures [German version] [1] Spokesman on behalf of Athens at the Persian court, end of 5th cent. BC H. of Clazomenae (cf. Pl. Ion 541d) was in the service of the Persians and probably called basileús for that reason. Thus, he was able to perform valuable services for Athens at the Persian court in 423 BC for which he received Attic citizenship soon after moving there (after 400, Syll.3 118). To move the Athenians to stronger participation in the ekklesia, he had the payment to each participant increased from one obol to two (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 41,3), which was in Aristotle's opinion a (radical) democratic measure (Aristot. Pol. 1297a 35-38). Högemann, Peter (Tübingen) Bibliography …

[German version] I. Preliminary remarks Musical instruments that have been preserved or graphically represented in a clear manner can eas…

(Ἀρχέστρατος; Archéstratos). [German version] [1] Actor and Tragedian With his tragedy Antaios, an unknown actor triumphed at the Soteria in Delphi between 267 and 219 BC (DID B 11, 5). He is probably not to be identified with the A. mentioned in Plut. Aristides 1,3 (318e). Pressler, Frank (Heidelberg) Bibliography Mette, 198 TrGF 75. [German version] [2] Author of a gastronomic poem from Gela, 4th cent. BC Citizen of Gela who lived in the 2nd half of the 4th cent. BC. 62 fragments (more than 300 verses) of his gastronomic poem, written c. AD 330, have been preserved by Athenaeus. Its …