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[German version] The Republican office of consul (Greek ὕπατος, hýpatos) apparently continued under Augustus and his successors, but de facto, until AD 541, only as an honorary title, that after 541 was reserved exclusively for the ruling (east Roman) emperor (until the 7th cent.). As early as from the 7th cent. hypatos is documented on Byzantine seals as a  court title, that no longer has anything in common with the old office of consul. It is a relatively lowly rank according to the catalogues of ranks of the 9th and 10th cents. and is subordinate to the titles ἀνθύπατος ( anthýpatos, procon…

[German version] (Σεβαστός/ Sebastós). Originally a Greek equivalent for the Latin title Augustus, was not introduced as a title in the Byzantine court until the 11th century AD; after 1081 it was conferred - also in combinations such as sebastokrátōr - by the Comnenian emperors predominantly on family members. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography A. Kazhdan, s.v. S., ODB 3, 1862 f.

(Λυδός; Lydós). [German version] [1] Mythological king of Lydia Mythological king of Lydia, son of Atys [1], brother of Tyrsenus ( Tyrrhenus). Eponym of the Lydian people ( Lydia) (formerly Maeon: Hom. Il. 2,864): Hdt. 1,94; Str. 5,219; Tac. Ann. 4,55. According to Hdt. 1,171 L., Mysus and Car were brothers, which expresses the tribal kinship of the Lydians, Carians and Mysians ( Carian, Mysia). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Attic black-figured vase painter (ὁ Λυδός/ ho Lydós, ‘the Lydian’). Attic black-figured vase painter, before 560-540/530 BC; a bit older t…

[German version] (παρακοιμώμενος / parakoimṓmenos, 'the one who sleeps nearby'). Senior imperial chamberlain, the highest-ranking court eunuch at Constantinople, probably succeeding the earlier praepositus sacri cubiculi; reliably attested only from AD 780; a highly influential office in the 9th-11th cents. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography ODB 3, 1584.

[German version] (πρωτοστράτωρ; prōtostrátōr). Byzantine term, 8th-15th cents. AD, for the superintendent of the imperial grooms ('marshal'), who accompanied the emperor when riding. It was an influential position close to the emperor and was considered favourable for further advancement. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography R. Guilland, Recherches sur les institutions byzantines, vol. 1, 1967, 478-497  ODB 3, 1748 f.

[German version] Byzantine statesman, Armenian, brother of Theodora, mother of Emperor Michael III (AD 842-867). Bearer of the highest court title Caesar (καῖσαρ) since 862. He promoted the mission to the Slavs, founded a school for scientific studies in the imperial palace, furthered the elevation of the learned  Photius to patriarch. B. was murdered by the parvenu  Basilius [5] I, the founder of the Macedonian dynasty, on 21.4.866. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography LMA 1, 1456 ODB 1, 255f. P. Speck, Die kaiserliche Universität von Konstantinopel, 1974.

(Λεόντιος; Leóntios). [German version] [1] Ptolemaic commander of Seleucid Pieria, late 3rd cent. BC Ptolemaic commander of Seleucea Pieria; in 219 BC, he surrendered the city to Antiochus [5] III after initial resistance in a hopeless position. Ameling, Walter (Jena) [German version] [2] General of peltasts, 3rd cent. BC Macedonian, named general of peltasts by Antigonus [3] Doson in his will. Together with Megaleas, L. opposed the pro-Achaean politics of Philippus V and his mentor Aratus [2]; after inciting the elite troops against the k…

Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) I. History (CT) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) The term Byzantium (B.) initially denoted the eastern part of the Roman Empire, from the foundation of Constantinople by the emperor Constantine the Great as a ‘second Rome’ on the extended territory of the town of Byzantion on the Bosporus in AD 330. After the end of empire in the western part of the Roman Empire in the late 5th cent., it designated the Roman Empire as it continued to exist in the East until 1453. The rediscovery of Classical Antiquity in the 18th and 19th cents. had as a result that …

[German version] (Ἴλλος/ Íllos or Ἰλλοῦς/ Illoûs). Isaurian, high-ranking official and general in the East Roman Empire. In February AD 474, together with  Verina, widow of  Leo(n) [4], he supported the elevation of his compatriot  Zeno to the position of emperor, but as early as 475 he joined forces with Verina and the usurper  Basiliscus. After the defeat of Basiliscus in 476 he soon sided with Zeno again and in 477 became magister officiorum and patricius. At his instigation Verina, who together with Epinicus [2] had attempted to get rid of I. in 478, was exiled to …

[German version] Illyrian. In AD 544, with the rank of ἄρχων ( árchōn; dux?) per Illyricum under Vitalis he was the defender of Bononia (Bologna) against the Goths, and in 551 took part in action against plundering by the Slavs in the Balkan peninsula. PLRE 3, 936f. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

[German version] Leader of a Thracian troupe of horsemen under  Belisarius against the Persians in AD 530. Since about 539, together with him magister militum per Orientem, he undertook the campaigns against the Persians in 541 and 542. According to Procopius, Historia arcana (reliable source?), he was recalled in 542 supposedly because of high treason, and was incarcerated for more than two years. In 554, he saved an army under general Bessas in Lazica (Colchis) from annihilation by the Persians. It is highly likely that he is identica…

(πρόεδρος/ pró(h)edros, pl. πρόεδροι/ pró(h)edroi) denotes that person who (in a leading position) 'sits in front' ('chairman' or 'president'). [German version] I. Greece in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods In early 4th cent. BC Athens, the duty of the chairman of the council ( boulḗ ) and the people's assembly ( ekklēsía ) was passed from the prytaneis to a newly created collegium of nine pró(h)edroi. The pró(h)edroi were summoned each for one day, one from each phyle of the council, excepting the prytany conducting business at just that time. One could be pró(h)edros only once du…

(Νικηφόρος; Nikēphóros). [German version] [1] Patriarch of Constantinople, died 828 Patriarch. N. was born around AD 750 or 758 in Constantinople; he embarked on a magistrate's career at the imperial court which he represented in 787 at the Council of Nicaea. Around 797 he became a monk and ran a poorhouse in Constantinople. In 806 he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople and failed to end the so-called ‘Moechian controversy’ between Theodoros Studites and the government. In 815 he had to resign at th…

[German version] [1] M. Daia Roman emperor, AD 305-313 Roman emperor, AD 305-313. The son of Galerius' [5] sister and like Galerius born in Dacia ripensis, possibly in Šarkamen (modern Serbia), he rose from protector to tribunus (Lactant. De mort. pers. 19,6); as Galerius' adoptive son he became Caesar in the change of rulers of 305 (thereafter: Galerius Valerius Maximinus). As co-ruler over the diocese Oriens he continued the persecutions of Christians (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 8,14,9). Like Constantinus [1] not content with the title …

I Greek [German version] [I 1] Greek rhetor, prob. late 3rd/4th cent. (Τιβέριος/ Tibérios). Greek rhetor, probably of the late 3rd or 4th cents. AD, author of a small surviving treatise on figures (Περὶ τῶν παρὰ Δημοσθένει σχημάτων, Perì tòn parà Demosthénei schēmáton, 'On the figures in Demosthenes'), which uses Apsines as its main source. The latter's dates (1st half of 3rd cent. AD) are thus the only point of reference for dating T. The treatise deals separately with figures of thought (1-22) and figures of speech (23-42; Figures). E…

[German version] [1] M. Valerius M. The poet Martial, epigrammatist in the 1st cent. the Roman poet Martial. Lausberg, Marion (Augsburg) [German version] A. Biography The epigrammatist M. was born between AD 38 and 41 (cf. Mart. 10,24: 57th birthday) in Bilbilis in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. Around 64, he came to Rome (10,103), where he was probably at first promoted in the circle of Seneca. His poetic production does not become tangible for us until much later, when he celebrated the inauguration of the amphitheatrum Flavianum ( Colosseum) in 80 with a book of epigrams ( De spe…

[German version] (πρωτασηκρήτις/ prōtasēkrḗtis). Byzantine term for the office of chief of the imperial secretaries (singular ἀσηκρήτις/ asēkrḗtis, from Latin a secretis), used in the 6th-12th centuries AD. ODB 3, 1742. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

[German version] (Ἑλικώνιος; Helikṓnios). From Byzantium, chronicler, known only from the Suda, wrote a χρονικὴ ἐπιτομή ( chronikḕ epitomḗ) from Adam up to emperor Theodosius I (Suda E 851). The Suda (A 3215 and 3868) quotes one note each from the chronicle on the lives of Apion and Arrian. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography PLRE 1, 411 [Heliconius] G. Wirth, Helikonios der Sophist, in: Historia 13, 1964, 506-509.

(Ἰωάννης; Iōánnēs). Well-known persons i.a.: I. [1] the Evangelist, I. [4] Chrysostomos, bishop of Constantinople and Homilet, I. [18] Malalas, author of the world chronicle, I. [25] of Gaza, rhetor and poet, I. [33] of Damascus, the theologian, I. [39] Baptistes. [1] I. the Evangelist [German version] A. Tradition and criticism According to the inscriptions, the author of a  Gospel (Jo), of three letters and the Apocalypse in the NT is called I. (= J.; the name appears only in Apc. 1:1; 1:4; 1:9; 22:8). Since the end of the 2nd cent. (Iren. adv…

[German version] A. Roman Republic and Imperial period Comes (from com- and ire, ‘to go with’) in its wider sense is a companion, trusted friend, or one entrusted with duties of aid and protection towards another (Dig. 47,10,1; 47,11,1,2). In public life, already in the Republican period comes means a member of the retinue of a travelling official, especially a provincial magistrate (Gr. ε̃πόμενος; hepómenos); the comes himself may be an official, a personal friend, slave, freedmen, client or even a high dignitary (Suet. Iul. 42; Dig. 1,18,16). In its special sense, from the beginn…

[German version] [1] Byz. general under Justin I Son of a sister of Justin I, cousin of Justinian I, Byzantine general, as magister militum per Thracias under Justin I he conquered the people of the Anti who had invaded the Empire from the lower Danube. As patricius and primus magister militum praesentalis, he successfully combated the military revolt of Stotzas in North Africa in 536-537, on the orders of Justinian I. In a deployment in 540 against the first assault by Chosroes [5] I after the ‘eternal peace’ of 532, a shortage of troops preven…

[German version] Mētrópolis (μητρόπολις) in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt; in AD 640, it was defended by the dux Domentianus who was attacked by Amr, the commander of the Arabian-Islamic troops, in the spring of 641. He fled and his army was wiped out at N. PLRE 3, 408f. (Domentianus). Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

[German version] Isaurian, East Roman general, honorary consul AD 484; fought against the Vandals in 468; he followed Illus to Antioch in 481, and died in 484 having taken part in Illus' uprising against Emperor Zeno. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography PLRE 2, 728f. Nr. 2 Stein, Spätröm. R. 1, 577f.

(Φαρασμάνης; Pharasmánēs). [German version] [1] Ph. I. King in the Caucasus (1st cent. AD) Son of Mithridates [19] and king of Iberia [1] (Caucasus). From AD 35, as an ally of Rome, P. had been supporting the Armenian kingdom of his brother Mithridates [20] (Tac. Ann. 6,32-35; 11,8-9) and, after AD 51, that of his own son Radamistus (Tac. Ann. 12,44-47). His relatives’ failure as client kings to Rome (cf. Tac. Ann. 13,37) and the acceptance of the Arsacid Tiridates I. as king of Armenia must have affected him…

(Βασιλεῖος; Basileîos). [German version] [1] Basil the Great Theologian and bishop of Caesarea/Cappadocia. Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) [German version] A. Biography B. (born around 329/330 as the son of a Christian senatorial family who owned large estates) together with his younger brother  Gregorius of Nyssa and his friend  Gregorius of Nazianze were called the three great Cappadocians. His grandmother gave him his first introduction to the Bible and theology along the lines of Origenism. His education contin…

[German version] [1] Roman pope 352-377 Roman pope 352-366. L.'s pontificate was burdened by the difficult dispute over Arianism. Emperor Constantius II banished L. to Beroea in 355, because he would not recant in Milan his support for the condemned bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, who was hostile to Arianism, whereupon Felix had himself appointed and ordained counter-bishop ( Felix [5] II.). The anguish of exile, reflected by the four letters of the spring of 357 recorded by Hilarius of Poitiers led…

[German version] B.I, born in AD 850/53, margrave of Friaul, grandson of Louis the Pious. Following Charles III's deposition in Tribur by Arnulf of Carinthia, B.I was installed as King of Italy in January of 888 in Pavia, but struggled for years with rivals (Wido and Lambert of Spoleto; Louis of Provence). In 915, he was crowned emperor by the Pope in agreement with Byzantium; in 924 he was murdered in Verona. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography LMA 1, 1933 R. Hiestand, Byzanz und das Regnum Italicum, 1964

[German version] (σιλεντιάριοι; silentiárioi). Guards at the Imperial Roman courts instituted by Constantine (Constantinus [1]  I) that were named after the ceremonial silence surrounding the emperor. They were subordinate to the imperial chamberlain ( praepositus sacri cubiculi). From AD 437, 30 silentiarii are documented under three decuriones at the court of Constantinople. Their rank within the court hierarchy continued to rise until the 6th cent. after which their importance decreased. The last of the silentiarii are mentioned in sources from as late as the 12th cent. Tinnef…

[German version] One of several terms (others are e.g. adscriptio, extraordinaria munera) for special taxes levied by imperial decree in the Roman and Byzantine Empires to offset extraordinary expenses, e.g. in times of crisis, either from all or only from rich landowners. As unanticipated burdens, they were universally detested. Taxes Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography J. Karayannopulos, Das Finanzwesen des frühbyzantinischen Staates, 1958, 138-141  N. Oikonomides, s.v. Secondary Taxes, ODB 3, 1863f.

[German version] (Ζωή; Zōḗ). Empress regnant of Byzantium 21 March - 12 June AD 1042 (born 978), as the daughter of Constantinus [10] VIII (1025-1028) a descendant of the Macedonian dynasty, therefore she also legitimated the emperorship of her three husbands [2; 4]. She was presumably the bride from Byzantium intended for Otto III who did not arrive in Italy until shortly after his death on 24 January 1002. By having her first husband Romanos [4] III, imposed on her by her dying father in 1028, mu…

[German version] (Σαββάτιος/ Sabbátios). Father of the emperor Iustinianus [1] I, Illyrian, mentioned only in passing in Procop. Arc. 12,18 and Theophanes p. 183,9 de Boor. PLRE 2, 966. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

[German version] [1] Student of Libanius, consularis Palaestinae primae 360/1 AD Student of  Libanius, from whom he received letters (Lib. Ep. 137; 157; 158). In AD 360/361 he was consularis Palaestinae primae (Lib. Ep. 156; 159). PLRE 1, 447 (H.us 1). Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [2] Flavius H. Brother of empress Eusebia, consul 359 AD Brother of empress  Eusebia. Together with his brother Fl. Eusebius he was consul in AD 359 (Amm. Marc. 18,1,1). In 363 he was possibly vicarius urbis Romae (Cod. Theod. 3,5,8). He was sentenced along with his brother in a trial …

[German version] Revolt against Iustinianus [1] I in Constantinople, AD 13-18. 1. 532, named after the cry of níka (νίκα, ‘be victorious!’) of the rebels in the Hippodrome. The outward reason was the decisive action of the city prefect Eudaemon against rampaging members of the so-called circus parties (‘green’ and ‘blue’, factiones ), the real cause, however, was the strict rule of the emperor, particularly his fiscalism occasioned by expensive war campaigns. The growing unrest among the citizens, further stirred up by oppositi…

(Αὐτοκράτωρ; Autokrátōr). [German version] A. Greek The meaning ‘exercising control over oneself’ expresses the opposite of subjugation to the will of another. The Thebans used this argument to claim that their support of the Persians in 480 was attributable to a ruling   dynasteia , not to the whole city, which acted as its own autocrator (Thuc. 3,62,3-4). Envoys and officials are often described as autokratores when entitled to more power than is usual in these positions. This background is evident, for example, when the Athenians declare the leaders of th…

[German version] Silentiarius at the court of Justinian I, Armenian, son of the proconsul of Armenia I Arsacius, who was murdered in AD 539. Participant in campaigns against the Persians, in 542 under  Belisarius, whom he supported through tactical manoeuvres at the conquest of Callinicus on the Euphrates, in 543 under Martinus, after whose defeat at Anglon in Armenia he was killed while fleeing (Proc. Pers. 2,3; 21; 24 f.). Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography Rubin 1, 340-43.

[German version] (λογοθέτης; logothétēs). Byzantine term for an office attested from the 6th cent. AD, initially for more lowly finance officers (tax collectors in the province or pay administrators in the army), and from the 7th/8th cents. for the following high offices: 1) logothetes genikoú (‘general logothetes’, i.e. logothetes of the state treasury), initially still subordinate to the sakellários but soon the highest finance officer in the empire corresponding to the earlier comes sacrarum largitionum ( comes ), 2) logothetes idikoú, successor of the comes rerum privatarum, …

[German version] I Greek (Θεοδόσιος/ Theodósios). [German version] [I 1] Greek mathematician and astronomer, 2nd/1st cent. BC Greek mathematician and astronomer. Folkerts, Menso (Munich) [German version] I. Life and works According to Str. 12,4,9, T. was one of the most important men in Bithynia; the birthplace Tripoli given in the Suda (s. v. Θ.) may relate to another T. As Strabo also names T.’ sons as important mathematicians, T. must belong in the 2nd half of the 2nd cent. BC, or, at the latest, the 1st half of the 1st. …

(Τιμόστρατος/ Timóstratos). [German version] [1] Tragic poet, 4th cent. BC Greek tragedian, successful at the Lenaea in c. 350 BC (TrGF I 83). Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) [German version] [2] Athenian comedy writer, beginning of the 2nd cent. BC Athenian comedian, who came sixth at the Dionysia in 188 BC with his Λυτρούμενος ( Lytroúmenos, 'The ransomed [prisoner]') [1. test. 1] and fourth in 183 with his Φιλοικεῖος ( Philoikeîos, 'He who loves his relatives') [1. test. 2]; a third place in c. 177 with an Ἀντευεργετῶν ( Anteuergetṓn, 'He who repays good deeds') is uncertain [1…

[German version] [1] I. I Eastern Roman general AD 518-527 (AD 518-527), emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, born a farmer's son around 450 in Bederiana (like  Iustinianus [1] I.), he came to Constantinople with  Leo I and was soon a member of the palace guard; under  Anastasius I he was comes rei militaris and from 515 comes excubitorum. In the dispute over the succession to Anastasius, who died without an heir, a majority in the Senate supported his candidacy and eventually he was also acclaimed by the army and the people, and was crowned on 10 Jul…

[German version] (Ἡρακλωνᾶς; Hēraklōnâs). Son of the emperor  Heraclius [7] and his second wife Martina, born c. AD 626. After his father's death in 641, he was to assume the succession as a minor represented by his mother together with Heraclius' oldest son Constantinus III, but was already deposed and exiled with his mother in Sept. 641 at the instigation of the Senate. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography PLRE 3, 587f. ODB 2, 918.

[German version] [1] Trajan, Roman Emperor, AD 98-117 Roman emperor, AD 98-117. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] I. Career up to accession T. was probably born in 53, the son of the consular (of the same name), M. Ulpius [12] Traianus, and probably a certain Marcia, perhaps a daughter of Marcius [II 3] Barea. The family came from Italica in Hispania Baetica. Little is known of T.' senatorial career. He served as a tribunus [4] militum under his father in Syria (but certainly not for ten stipendia ('campaigns'), as alleged in Plin. Pan. 15,3). After his praetorship (before 84…

(στρατηγός/ stratēgós, 'army leader'; pl. strategoi). In many Greek states the formal title for a military commander. [German version] I. Classical Greece In Athens, strategoi are occasionally mentioned earlier (e.g. Peisistratus [4] as strategos; Hdt. 1,59,4; [Aristot.] Ath. pol. 17,2), but it was only after the tribal reorganization of Cleisthenes [2], probably first in 501/0 BC, that a regular board of strategoi was appointed: one from each of the 10 phylai, elected annually by the assembly (but candidates may have been pre-selected in the phylai, see [2]), and eligible for …

A popular cognomen in the Imperial Age, attested with certainty from the 1st cent. AD (ThlL, Onom. 2,133ff.). [German version] [1] Christian in AD 200 Christian in c. AD 200, author of various lost treatise about the Hexaemeron (Eus. HE 5,27; Jer. vir. ill. 48). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] A follower of the Gnostic Valentinianus, 3rd cent. AD A follower of the Gnostic Valentinianus; in c. AD 230, he had a public dispute with  Origen, who accused him of retrospectively falsifying the records (Rufin. Apol. Orig. epil. = PG 17,625; Hier. Adv. Ru…

(Διογένης; Diogénēs). Known personalities: the Cynic D. [14] of Sinope, the philosophical historian D. [17] Laertius. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] Macedonian troop commander in Attica since 233 BC Athenian (?) [1. 341,1], Macedonian troop commander in Attica since 233 BC, who is supposed to have demanded Corinth from the Achaeans (Plut. Arat. 34,1-4) [2. 168,63] at the rumour of the death of  Aratus [2]; after the death of  Demetrius [3] II in 229, he facilitated the liberation of Athens from Maced…

[German version] (πρωτονοτάριος, Latin protonotarius). Superintendent of notarii (Greek notárioi) in Byzantine public authorities, primarily as 'state secretary' of the logothétēs toû drómou ( Logothétēs ), 9th-12th centuries. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography R. Guilland, Les logothètes, in: REByz 29, 1971, 5-115, esp. 38-40 ODB 3, 1746.

[German version] (κουροπαλάτης; kouropalátēs; from Lat. cura palatii). Initially a term for an official responsible for palace business, used for the first time by Justinianus [1] I as a higher court title for his successor Iustinus [4] II. In the period following it was mainly reserved for members of the imperial family or for foreign princes. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography ODB 2,1157 R. Guilland, Titres et fonctions de l'Empire byzantin, 1976, III.

[German version] [1] C. I. The Great, Roman Emperor AD 306-337 ‘the Great’, Roman emperor from AD 306-337. Born c. 275 (Euseb. Vita Const. 4,53; Aur. Vict. Caes. 41,16; [Aur. Vict.] Epit. Caes. 41,15, differently Euseb. Vita Const. 2,51) at Naïssus (Anon. Vales. 2) the son of Constantius [1] I and of Helena. After his father was made Caesar, Constantine served on the staff of  Diocletian and of  Galerius (Pan. Lat. 7[6] 5,3; Lactant. De mort. pers. 18,10; Anon. Vales. 2). In 305 he left the court of Galerius to jo…

(Φωκᾶς; Phōkâs). [German version] [1] Martyr around AD 305 Martyr († around AD 305 in Sinope; Fest: 22. 9.). He lived in Sinope as a gardener and suffered martyrdom by beheading. As early as the 4th cent. a church is said to have existed above his grave in Sinope. From there his cult spread throughout the entire Mediterranean area. He is depicted as a gardener. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography J. Bollandus, G. Henschenius et al. (eds.), Acta sanctorum, vols. 1ff., 1643ff.; 6, 293-299; 7.3, 629-632  PG 60, 36ff. [German version] [2] P. Diaconus Poet A poet of unknown date who is …

[German version] (καθολικός; katholikós). In the early 4th cent. AD the designation of a financial supervisor in an imperial diocese, later used only in the ecclesiastical sense: in the Byzantine world, used of an abbot in charge of several monasteries, in the Christian East used of bishops and above all for ecclesiastical leaders of whole countries (Armenia, Georgia). ODB 2, 1116. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

Roman praenomen ( P. Iulius, a contemporary of Romulus [1]), and secondarily a cognomen. Depending on the form, a diminutive (older * prokelo-) of the stem * proko- (~ classical procus 'wooer, suitor'), it originally perhaps meant 'the one who demands or claims (the inheritance?)'. Proca (King of Alba Longa) can also be regarded as etymologically connected. The praenomen, which had already become rare at an early time, survived in derivatives, the gentilician names Procilius and Proculeius. Steinbauer, Dieter (Regensburg) [German version] [1] Roman jurist, 1st cent. The jurist fro…