Brill’s New Pauly Supplements II - Volume 7 : Figures of Antiquity and their Reception in Art, Literature and Music

( Sabinae) A. Historical dimension The Sabines (Latin Sabini) were a people in Central Italy, with whom, according to ancient historians, the Romans came into conflict soon after the foundation of the city. Many ancient texts (Cic. Rep. 27; Liv. 1,9–13; Ov. Ars am. 1,90–134; Ov. Fast. 2,267–474; 3,199–228; Plut. Rom. 14; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,30; Verg. Aen. 8, 635–641; Varro, Ling. 5,46 and Ennius' lost tragedy  Sabinae) tell of the  raptus ('abduction', though traditionally 'rape' ) of the S.W. Romulus, himself along with his twin brother Remus born of Mars' rape…

(Ψάπφω/ Psápphō or Σαπφώ/ Sapphṓ; Latin Sappho) A. Historical dimension S. ( c. 600 BC) was and is the most famous female poet of Antiquity. Like her countryman and contemporary Alcaeus, she wrote in the Aeolian dialect of Greek, but in both metre and language (neologisms, composite words) she was particularly versatile and inventive. Terminological and thematic elements of her surviving work show that she was well-versed in the epic tradition (Homer, Hesiod; Homer) and earlier poetry (esp. Archilochus). H…

( Gaius Mucius Cordus Scaevola; Greek Γάϊος Μούκιος Κόρδος/ Gáïos Moúkios Kórdos) A. Historical dimension C. Mucius Scaevola is a figure from the early history of Rome. Livy (2,12 f.) reports that during the siege of Rome by the Etruscan King Lars Porsenna in 507 BC, he slipped into the enemy camp and stabbed to death not, as intended, the king, but a scribe. His motive was the fear that a monarchy might be reestablished at Rome following the expulsion of the Tarquins. S. was arrested, but he esca…

( Publius Cornelius Scipio; Greek Πόπλιος Σκιπίων/ Póplios Skipíōn) A. Historical dimension P. Cornelius S. the Elder ( c. 235–183 BC), who acquired the honorific byname 'Africanus' for his military successes against Carthage in the Second Punic War and was regarded as one of the greatest heroes and generals of the Roman Republic, was born into one of the most illustrious patrician families in Rome. He earned his first fame, although it remains disputed to this day, in his contribution to the Battle of Ticinus a…

(Σεμίραμις/ Semíramis; Latin Semiramis, also Sameramis) A. Historical dimension S. (Šammu-ramat), a figure steeped in legend, was an Assyrian queen, the wife of King Šamšī-Adad V ( c. 823–811 BC) and mother of his successor Adad-nirārī III (811–783 BC). She is merely mentioned in the Histories of Herodotus (1,184) before being presented in more detail in the 1st cent. BC by Diodorus Siculus (2,4–20). The latter relied in turn on the Persian History (preserved in fragments) of the Greek physician and historian Ctesias of Cnidus ( c. 400 BC). According to Diodorus, S. was beli…

( Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also Seneca Minor, Seneca Philosophus; Greek Σενέκας/ Senékas)  A. Historical dimension The Roman philosopher, poet and politician S. the Younger ( c. 4 BC–AD 65) was born in Corduba in Hispania Baetica (modern Córdoba). His father, S. the Elder – also called S. Rhetor to distinguish him – was a wealth Roman equestrian, and S. portrays his mother Helvia as an educated woman ( Consolatio ad Helviam, c. AD 42). S. arrived in Rome as a child and was educated there. At first, he followed the ascetic prescriptions of the Neopythagorean philosoph…