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[German version] (Ἴφιτος; Íphitos). Son of  Eurytus [1] of Oechalia and Antiope (or Antioche) who was killed by Hercules because his father and brothers (except for I.: Apollod. 1,128) did not give Hercules  Iole as his wife, as had been promised to him as a prize for his winning at archery. The legend is told in Hom. Od. 21,14ff. (where the bow of Odysseus is a gift from I.), in the lost epic Oichalías hálōsis, and also in Soph. Trach. 225ff., Diod. Sic. 4,31,2ff. and Apollod. 2,127ff. According to another version, I. arrived at the stronghold of Tiryns searching for…

[German version] ἀλληγορία ( allēgoría; first documented as a rhetorical term in Cic. Att. 2,20,3), from ἀλληγορέω ( allēgoréō; ‘I say something other [than I mean]’); Lat. translatio, inversio, immutatio, permutatio. In rhetoric, allegory does not refer to a hermeneutical method ( Allegorical poetry,  Allegoresis). Instead, rhetoric deals with the production of allegories and with their effectiveness as a strategy of argumentation (  argumentatio ). However, the rhetorical treatment of allegory also faces fundamental questions of languag…

(Καῦνος; Kaûnos). [German version] [1] Eponym of the Carian town C. [2] Eponym of the Carian town C. [2], who gains contours chiefly in connection with his twin sister  Byblis. The myths depict various constellations of their incestuous relationship (Parthenius 11). Walde, Christine (Basle) Bibliography S. Jackson, Apollonius of Rhodes: the Cleite and Byblis Suicides, in: SIFC 14, 1997, 48-54. [German version] [2] Coastal town in the border areas between Caria and Lycia This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Lycii, Lycia | Pergamum | Pe…

[German version] (Πολύμνια/ Polýmnia, less often Πολυύμνια/ Polyýmnia, one 'with many songs' or 'polyphonic choral song'; cf. Diod. Sic. 4,7,2 ff.). One of the nine canonical Muses, seldom mentioned individually in verse (Ov. Fast. 5,9-54). Despite her unambiguous name, her sphere of activity is non-specific and multifaceted. In Horace (Carm. 1,1), P. is to be understood as a Muse who immortalizes great matters with great songs. She is known as the inventor of the lyre (schol. Apoll. Rhod. 3,1-5a) and …

[German version] (Latin 'old age'; Greek Γῆρας/ Gḗras). Daughter of Erebus and Nyx/Night (Cic. Nat. D. 3,17,44), personification of old age (Hor. Epod. 8,4), often mentioned in connection with illnesses and human suffering (cf. Sen. Epist. 108,28: “senectus enim morbus est”): Verg. Aen. 6,275; Sen. Herc. f. 696; Sil. Pun. 13,583 et passim. Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] Daughter of Hippomenes [2]. Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (Κέραμβος, Kérambos). Son of Euseirus (son of Poseidon) and the nymph Eidothea; a shepherd on the Othrys, he invents the panpipes and the lyre, and his playing sets the nymphs dancing. He does not follow Pan's advice to flee from the imminent, icy cold winter. C. and his flock freeze to death under the mass of snow. The nymphs transform him into a beetle with long feelers resembling a lyre (Antoninus Liberalis 22; Cerambyx: stag beetle; cf. Hsch. s.v. Κεράμβυξ). However Ovid in con…

[German version] (Κάμβλης; Kámblēs, also Κάμβης; Kámbēs). Mythological king of Lydia. His insatiable appetite (perhaps caused by poison given to him by his enemies) drives him to cannibalism. Driven mad by hunger, he devours even his own wife. Upon waking the next morning with the rest of her hand in his mouth and realizing what he had done, he kills himself (Xanthus, Lydiaca, fr. 12., FHG vol. I, 36ff.; Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 2 A 90 F 28; Ael. VH 1,27). Walde, Christine (Basle)

Name of a widely-branched Roman plebeian family who became well known from the beginning of the 2nd cent. BC on, but only achieved the consulate for the first time at the end of the cent. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] R. Lupus, P. Consul in 90 BC Praetor no later than 93 BC; consul in 90. During the Social War [3], he received the command of the northern army; against the advice of his legate C. Marius [I 1], he was lured into an ambush by the Marsi and was killed in the valley of the Tolnus (modern Turano; Liv. Per. 73; App. B Civ. 1,191-194; Oros. 5,18,11 f.). MRR 2,25. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig…

Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] A. Definition and Historical Overview of the Development of the Genres of Speech (CT) Already in the epics of Homer, the Attic tragedies, among historiographers and in philosophy, the prominent areas of public speech become crystallised in reflection, however sublimated, of socio-cultural reality: speeches of advice, defence and accusation, epitaphs and encomia. Yet it was Aristotle, in his Rhetoric (Book I), who created the first reference text, influential to this day, of a canonic threefold division of the genres of speech (Greek: génē …

[German version] (Κέλμις, Kélmis; older form evidently Σκέλμις in Callim. Fr. 100,1 Pf. and Nonnus, Dion. 14,39; 37,164). One of the  Daktyloi Idaioi skilled in the blacksmith's craft. Proverbially, C. ἐν σιδήρῳ (Zenob. 4,80) according to a passage in the Sophoclean satyr play Kōphoí (TGF, fr. 337 N.2) is used to describe excessively power-conscious persons. C., who is the playmate of the boy Zeus in Ovid (Met. 4,281f.), is transformed into steel because he reviles Rhea. Walde, Christine (Basle)

(Ἴων; Íōn). [German version] [1] Hero of the Ionians Eponymous hero of the Ionians ( Iones). Several traditions of his ancestry emphasizing Athens' political primacy are extant. The earliest and most influential versions present I. as the son of  Xuthus and Creusa, thus as the grandson of  Hellen, progenitor of the Hellenes, and of the Athenian king  Erechtheus (Str. 8,383; Paus. 7,1,2). I.'s brother is Achaeus [1], progenitor of the Achaeans, his paternal uncles are  Aeolus [1] and  Dorus. With his wife…

[German version] ('Lack of clarity' sc. of expression); corresponds with the Greek noun σκότος ( skótos, 'darkness') with the adjective σκοτεινός ( skoteinós); ἀσάφεια ( asápheia, 'unclearness'). Obscuritas is a central term in ancient rhetorical and literary-aesthetic discussions. For the Greeks, obscuritas has a positive connotation in the context of solemn inspirational mantic art and oracles in particular, but as a quality of the language of poetry , it is a matter of controversy. In the Frogs of Aristophanes, the archaic-obscure Aeschylus and the modern-perspicuous …

(Θάλεια/ Tháleia, Θαλία/ Thalía, Lat. Thalia; related to the Greek θάλλειν/ thállein, ‘to sprout, grow, thrive’, esp. in reference to fruit trees; cf. Diod. Sic. 4,7). Hesiod counts T. among (1) the Muses, (2) the Nereids and (3) the Charites; generally, she is related to the realm of fertility. Later literary references show a deliberately vague distinction between Muses and Charites. [German version] [1] Muse One of the Muses (Hes. Theog. 77), associated with comedies (e.g. Anth. Pal. 9,504; attribute: comic theatre mask; ‘the light muse’, cf. T.-Theater, Hamburg) as well as mi…

(λαβύρινθος; labýrinthos, labyrinthus). [German version] A. The concept The term ‘labyrinth’ denotes in current usage either the labyrinth in the narrow sense; or in the broad sense, any maze or confusing, large building (especially since the Hellenistic period as a motif in literature or in the pictorial arts); or else in a figurative sense, it is used as a metaphor or allegory for the vagaries and deceptions of human life. This last sense can increasingly be observed after the 3rd cent. AD. Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] B. The labyrinth in the narrow sense The labyrinth in …

[German version] (Αἷμος; Haîmos). Mountain range in Thrace, the Balkan mountains (Turkish Balkan, Bulgarian Stara Planina. The name is probably Thracian). The H. stretches from Timacus to Pontus and represents a distinctive watershed. According to ancient opinion the H. began at the Adriatic (Str. 7, fr. 10). As it is not very high but hard to cross it was often also an ethnic and political border. The first mention is in Hecataeus (FGrH 1 F 169). Numerous myths are connected with the H. (Apollod. 1,6,3; Ps.-Plut. De fluviis 11,3; Serv. Aen. 1,317; 321; Steph. Byz. s.v. Αἷ.). Ovid gives th…

(Κάπυς; Kápys; Lat. Capys). [German version] [1] Vater des Anchises Trojan, descendant of Dardanus ( Dardanidae), father of  Anchises (Hom. Il. 20.239). According to some myths, his grandson Aeneas [1] founded the Arcadian Kap(h)yae (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.49.1; Steph. Byz. s.v. Καφύαι), his great-grandson Rhomus founded Capua (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.73.3) and named it after him. Stoevesandt, Magdalene (Basle) [German version] [2] Founder of Capua In Virgil and others (Verg. Aen. 10.145 with Servius ad loc.), a Trojan of the same name from the generation of Ae…

[German version] (Greek Κύκλωπες; Kýklōpes, singular Κύκλωψ; Kýklōps, Latin Cyclopes, singular Cyclops; etymology see below). C. is the term used to describe about 18 groups or individual figures in Greek myth who differ not just in their descent and location but also in their outward form and characteristics. As early as antiquity, Hellanicus (FGrH 4 F 88) was the first to undertake systematization and to attempt to trace them back to a single ancestor, Cyclops, son of  Uranus and/or the king of Thrace (Schol. Eur. Or. 965). People distinguished in particular between: 1. the C. w…

Terminology: Greek μεταμόρφωσις ( metamórphōsis; ‘transformation’); Latin transfiguratio, mutatio, with the verbs mutare, refigurari, transformare. [German version] A. Definition Metamorphoses are specific types of myths, particularly widespread in Ancient Greece, whence they found their way into Roman literature. Two types may be distinguished: (1) temporary transformations of gods (for instance Zeus in various erotic adventures), magicians, or tricksters for deceptive purposes, etc.; (2) lasting transformations …

[German version] (Greek Κλείω; Kleíō, Latin Clio; on the etymology from κλεός, ‘fame’ cf. Diod. Sic. 4,19; Plut. Symp. 9,14; Cornutus 14). One of the Muses ( Muses; Hes. Theog. 77); as a nymph of the springs (Plut. De Pyth. or. 17,402c-d) or an  Oceanid (Verg. G. 4,341), C. is also a goddess of the waters, which is frequently associated with poetic inspiration [1]. Since Pindar (e.g., Pind. Nem. 3, 1-2; Pind. Ep. 3,3; 12,1-29; Pind. Ol. 2,1-2; cf. Hor. Carm. 1,12,2) and Bacchyl. (3,1-3; 12,1-3; 13,9,2…

[German version] (Ἰφιάνειρα; Iphiáneira). Name of two different Greek heroines: of one, the daughter of the Argive king Megapenthes, the same story is told as of  Iphianassa [1] (Diod. Sic. 4,68,4); the other is the sister of  Amphiaraus (Diod. Sic. 4,68,5). Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (Κοδρατίων/ Kodratíōn). Orator of the 2nd cent. AD, student of Favorinus, teacher of the sophist Varus of Perge (Philostr. VS 2,6 p. 250 K.), friend of P. Aelius Aristides [3] (47,22; 50,63 ff. K.). Probably identical with L. Statius Quadratus ( cos. 142). Walde, Christine (Basle)

[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 …

(Lat. figura; Greek σχῆμα/ schêma; French figure). [German version] A. Overview Figures are formal phenomena of language beyond the grammatical primary structure. In rhetoric they are treated in the context of   elocutio under the category ornatus (decoration) and are mostly defined as deviations from normal language usage; if they are few in number, it is considered as paucity of expression (Quint. Inst. 9,3,3). The theory of figures assumes that there is a raw framework of arguments in simple words that has to be clad and orname…

[German version] Roman orator from the Early Imperial Period whose origin and life are obscure. Seneca the Elder, to whom we owe the few testimonies (Sen. Controv. 5,2; 7,5,10; 9,2,28; Sen. Suas. 2,18) denounces him as 'crazy', 'feeble-minded' and 'vulgar'. Allowing for personal animosity on Seneca's part, it still seems that S. preferred abstruse and non-pertinent arguments. Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (Καρύα; Karúa). Daughter of the Laconian King Dion, beloved of Dionysus. Her sisters, Orphe and Lyko, who lock up C., are struck with insanity by Dionysus and transformed into the cliffs of Taygetus; however C. is transformed into a walnut tree (Serv. Ecl. 8,29). According to epic poet Pherenicus, C. is, like other Hamadryads, a daughter of Oxylus and his sister Hamadryas (Ath. 3,78b). Walde, Christine (Basle)

(Σίβυλλα/ Síbylla, Latin Sibylla). [German version] A. General Seer inspired by the gods from birth In Greco-Roman culture Sibyls are an unspecified number of seers, inspired by the gods from birth, who retain their virginity throughout their life, grow very old, but are not immortal. They are sometimes mentioned in the same context as Apollo and in this show certain similarities to other prophetesses, such as Cassandra or the Pythia [1]. The Sibyls function as mediators between gods and men but do not act as part of an institutionalized oracle; their prophecies ar…

[German version] The term travel literature (TL) refers to a heterogeneous group of literary products that belong to categories such as travel report, travel description (travel guide, travel handbooks) or travel novel, categories that in themselves are not clearly defined. Precursors of modern travel guides and handbooks are, for instance, the Greek peri(h)ēgḗseis (Periegetes, cf. e.g. Pausanias [8], Heraclides [18]) as well as sea maps with descriptions of coasts (Periplous). Strictly speaking, a travel report - without judging its aesthetic quality - is the rep…

[German version] [1] L. Annaeus S. The Elder, Latin rhetor and historian, first years of Principate (Seneca the Elder, Seneca Rhetor). Calboli, Gualtiero (Bologna) [German version] I. Life Latin orator, born at Corduba (modern Córdoba) between 61 and 55, probably 55 BC (it was only because of the civil war that he was unable to hear Cicero, Sen. Controv. 1 praef. 11). He came from a wealthy equestrian family, and owned estates (wine, olives) in the same region [8. 6]. He made two lengthy sojourns at Rome (Sen. Controv. 4 p…

(Οὐρανία/ Ouranía, Latin Urania). [German version] [1] Muse who surveys the course of the world One of the Muses (Hes. Theog. 78), mother of Linus (father Apollo: Excerpta ex Hygino 174 Rose) and Hymenaeus [1] (Catull. 61,2). From remarks in Plato (Phaed. 259d) and from the time of Aratus [4] onwards, U. can clearly be identified as patron of Astronomy/Astrology (pictorial representations with globe, pointer; [1]), the natural sciences and - because of her cosmic dimension (U. brings light into the darkness) -…

(Ἰφιμέδεια; Iphimédeia). [German version] [1] Lover of Poseidon Daughter of Triops, wife of Aloeus, lover of Poseidon, father of her children, the  Aloads Otus and Ephialtes (Hom. Od. 11,304; Pind. Pyth. 4,89; Apollod. 1,53; Hyg. Fab. 28). I. and her daughter Pancratis (Pancrato) play a part in the prehistory of Naxos (Diod. Sic. 5,50f.; Parthenius 19): the Aloads pursue the Thracians, who have abducted their mother and sister to Naxos, and free I., but Pancratis loses her life. Pausanias attests I.'s g…

(Ἀλέξαδρος; Aléxandros). Famous personalities:  Alexander the Great [4] (III.); the Philosopher Alexander [26] of Aphrodisias. I. Myth [German version] [1] see Paris see  Paris. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) II. Associated Hellenistic ruling families [German version] [2] A. I. Macedonian king, 1st half of the 5th cent. BC Son of  Amyntas [1] and his negotiator with  Darius. As Macedonian king he supported  Xerxes' invasion of Greece, but pretended to be a friend of the Greeks (later called ‘Philhellen’). Herodotus has subtly shown his ambigu…

[German version] (Greek ἡ Κήρ; hē Kḗr). From Homer, two meanings are attested for the name K.: 1. as ‘pest’, ‘malignant spirit’, ‘ruin’ and ‘death’ (Hom. Il. 2,302; 12,326-327; Od. 22,66). 2. as ‘an individual's fate’. The first kind of Ker, which appears alone, but mostly in large numbers ( Kêres), are female malignant spirits that act in various ways. Whilst Homer describes them as, amongst other things, ‘black’ (Hom. Il. 3,454) and ‘bringing disaster’ (ibid. 13,665), Hesiod offers a description of the outward appearance and the genealogy of …

[German version] (ἠθοποιία/ ēthopoiía; Lat. ethopoeia, notatio). Ethopoeia means the representation of the character (  êthos ) of an orator or another person by (imitative) speech (  mímēsis ), which may be effected as speech without dialogue,  dialogue or  monologue. In ancient rhetorical theory, ethopoeia has been included from Aristotle as a reproducible quality among technical means of persuasion with which the speaker may introduce himself as an insightful, virtuous and benevolent person. Roman rhetoric introduced further refinement…

[German version] (Ἴμβριος; Ímbrios). Son of Mentor from Pedaeum. Married to Priamus' daughter Medesicaste, he lived at his father-in-law's house from the beginning of the Trojan War. He was killed in the battle for the ships of  Teucer (Hom. Il. 13,170ff.; Paus. 10,25,9). Walde, Christine (Basle)

[German version] (Κέρκωπες, Kérkōpes; regarding κέρκος, ‘tail’: ‘those with tails’; used also as a swear word, cf. Diog. Laert. 9, 114). The number and names of these sons of  Theia and  Oceanus (Suda s.v. Κέρκωπες) vary; they usually appear as a pair (e.g. Olus and Eurybatus; Acmon/Aclemon and Passalus; Sillus and Tribalus). In Asia Minor their home is given as Ephesus, or on the Greek mainland as Thermopylae. The C. are elf-like proverbial scoundrels and good-for-nothings, who are very closely as…

[German version] (Κίλιξ; Kílix). Son of Telephassa and  Agenor [1], who sent him, with his brothers on the (futile) search for the kidnapped  Europa [2]. C. becomes the founder and eponym of Cilicia (Hyg. Fab. 178). C. also gains a part of Lycia, by helping Sarpedon in time of war (Apollod. 3,2ff.; Hdt. 7,91). In a later version Sarpedon, searching for his sister, is killed by his uncle C. who does not recognize him (vita Theclae PG 85, 478ff.; cf. the Song of Hildebrand). Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2,178, citing various sources, calls C. the son of Phoenix and uncle of Agenor. Walde, Christine (Basl…

[German version] (Μνήμη/ Mnḗmē, lat. Memoria). In literary sources, starting with the Hellenistic period, personified memory, with Lethe as its counterpart (Anth. Pal. 10,67). M. is largely identical to Mnemosyne (Phil. De plantatione 129 Wendland), but is rarely more than an abstraction (cf. relief of Homer  by Archelaus [9] of Priene, where she is portrayed next to Physis, Arete, Pistis and Sophia [1]). In Ascra, the cult association of the Aloads worshipped her, together with Melete (‘diligence’)…

[German version] (Νυκτοφύλαξ/ Nyktophýlax, ‘night guard’). A nyktophýlax was a Greek daemon that appeared in the night. Altars and statues were erected to him because of his ability to cure diseases. According to Lucian's De morte Peregrini 27ff., Peregrinus (Proteus) sought to become a nyktophýlax through self-immolation. Walde, Christine (Basle)

(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)