[German version] (Νότου κέρας; Nótou kéras). Modern Ras Guardafui or Ras el-Kheil in East Africa [2]. Artemidorus [3] (1st half of the 1st cent. BC) followed geographical knowledge of the time when he called the eastern point of Africa ‘the horn of the south’, that is the southern end of the known world. Ptolemaeus (Ptol. 4,7,11) acted accordingly in the 2nd cent. AD, obviously referring to modern Ras el-Kheil by NK after terms like Ἀρωμάτων ἀκρωτήριον ( Arōmátōn akrōtḗrion) or the like had come into use for the former NK [2]. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 J. Desanges, Reche…

[German version] The world inhabited by Graeco-Roman Antiquity was essentially determined by its geographical centre, the Mare Nostrum and the large adjacent seas, the Ionios Kolpos, the Aigaion Pelagos, and the Pontos Euxeinos; the peripheral seas - Mare Germanicum, Mare Suebicum, Caspian Sea, Erythra Thalatta and the adjacent seas Arabios Kolpos (the modern Red Sea), the Persian Gulf, and the Oceanus - formed fundamentally different worlds (particularly the Persian Gulf at the time of the Near E…

[German version] (μεγάλη θάλασσα/ megálē thálassa, Mediterranean). Because of various earth movements that are still ongoing (rising, sinking; formation of numerous islands, e.g. the archipelago between Greece and Anatolia and Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands; still active volcanoes and earthquakes) the appearance of the Mare Nostrum (MN) changed constantly (connections to the various adjoining seas, e.g. the Atlantic, the Miocene seas in the northern foothills of the Al…

[German version] [1] Z. Regia City in Africa Proconsularis This item can be found on the following maps: Coloniae | Punic Wars City in Africa proconsularis, probably modern Seba Biar [1. 416 f.; 2. 321-326; 3. 325 f.; 4; 5. 251 f.; 6. 42 f.]. It was near Z. - at Naraggara - that the decisive battle between Hannibal [4] and P. Cornelius [I 71] Scipio was fought in 202 BC [1. 417-420] (Punic Wars II). In the war with Iugurtha (111-105 BC), Z. was attacked by Q. Caecilius [I 30] Metellus (Sall. Iug. 56 f.). No later tha…

(Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς/ Megálē Hellás, ‘Great Greece’). I. Geography and history [German version] A. Definition From a geographical point of view, the concept of Magna Graecia (MG) is superimposed on Italia without being identical with it. In the 5th cent. BC, it referred to the outermost part of Italia, surrounded by the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas from Laus [2] to Metapontium. Later MG was used for the whole part of Southern Italy that had been settled by Greeks, from Taras to Cyme [2]. The term Megálē Hellás was already widespread around the middle of the 5th cent. BC. There seem to be…

[German version] [1] Pylae Gadeirides The Straits of Gibralter (Πύλαι Γαδειρίδες; Pýlai Gadeirídes). The Straits of Gibraltar; the sound (saddle depth 286 m), which is about 60 km long and at its narrowest point 13 km wide, lies between the southern tip of the Spanish Peninsula and the continent of Africa, and between the Mediterranean (Mare nostrum) in the east and Oceanus in the west. The ancient names for the straits are based on Gades (Plin. HN 3,3; 5; 74; 4,93: Gaditanum fretum; Plut. Sertorius 8,1: Γαδειραῖος πορθμός/ Gadeiraîos porthmós), on the temple of Heracles in Gades ('…

(Σικελία/ Sikelía, Sicily). The largest island in the Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum; cf. Str. 2,5,19; differently Hdt. 1,170 and Timaeus FGrH 566 F 65): 25,460 km2, including the offshore islands such as the Insulae Aegates, Ustica, the Aeoli Insulae, Cossura, Lopadusa (present-day Lampedusa), Aethusa (present-day Linosa) and Melite [7] 25,953 km2. [German version] I. Name The island was originally called Trinacria (Τρινακρία/ Trinakría, Hellanicus FGrH 51 F 79b), later Sicania (Σικανίη/ Sikaníē, Hdt. 7,170; Σικανία/ Sikanía, Thuc. 6,2,2) and only then Sicelia (Σικελία)…

I. Archaeology and urban studies [German version] A. Definition and Function Latin term for market, market place; rarely also the forecourt of a tomb (in the meaning of Greek drómos, e.g. Cic. Leg. 2,61) or part of a wine press (Varro, Rust. 1,54; Columella 11,2,71). As the mercantile and administrative centre of a Roman city ( Town/City), the forum, which took the form of a large open space framed by buildings, was essentially the equivalent of the Greek  agora. A location at the intersection of the   decumanus and   cardo in the city centre is the rule in …

I. Geography and history [German version] A. Name Since the 1st cent. AD, H. has referred more and more to the entire Iberian Peninsula. Although the name Hispania is only attested since the time of the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BC; Liv. 21,2; Enn. Ann. 503), it is the oldest of all, because it is derived from Phoenician í-shephanním, ‘rabbit coast’ (according to a new interpretation ‘land of metal plates’). A further name was Ophioussa (‘land of the snakes’; Avien. 148; 152; 172; 196), which was probably coined by the Phocaeans when they came into contact with some reg…

[German version] I. General In the religious and administrative theory of the land surveyors, the Latin word limes denoted the path marking the boundary between two pieces of land, while in military and political usage (Tac. Ann. 1,50; Frontin. Str. 1,3,10) it meant the border between Roman and non-Roman territory (SHA Hadr. 12). Over recent years, research has led the military connotation of the term limes, which has been used almost exclusively from the 19th cent., to be expanded to comprehend also the historico-geographical and socio-economic fields. Where the limites were origin…

(Νέα πόλις/ Néa pólis, Νεάπολις/ Neápolis, ‘New City’). [German version] [1] Town on the northern coast of the Aegean This item can be found on the following maps: | Macedonia, Macedones | Moesi, Moesia Town on the northern coast of the Aegean to the west of the mouth of the Nestus river, across from the island of Thasos, modern Kavalla (Str. 7a,1,36; Ps.-Scyl. 67), probably a Thasian colony but the exact period of foundation is unknown. Early in the 6th cent. BC, autonomous silver coinage modelled on that of Eretria [1] (HN 196…

(Φοῖνιξ/ Phoînix, Latin Phoenix). Persons P. [1-4], the mythical P. bird [5], the date palm P. [6], geographical locations P. [7-9]. [German version] [1] Mythical king of Sidon or Tyrus Mythical king of Sidon or Tyrus, son of Agenor [1] and Telephassa (Apollod. 3,2-4), brother of Europe [2],  Cadmus [1] and Cilix, according to others also their father (Hom. Il. 14, 321); other children: Phineus (Apoll. Rhod. 2, 178), Carne (Antoninus Liberalis 40). Eponym of the Phoenicians and the Poeni ( Poeni; cf. Phoenicians, Poeni). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Son of Amyntor Son of Amyn…