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[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Greco-Roman Antiquity – III. New Testament – IV. Dogmatics and Ethics – V. Practical Theology I. History of Religion The original meaning of the word, (divine) “joint knowledge, knowledge, consciousness, and self-consciousness” (Gk syneídēsis, Lat. conscientia), had already changed in antiquity to refer to an evaluative consciousness of one's own actions. Western philosophical and theological discourse formed various metaphors: the internal; the inner voiced ( daimónion; daimon), also interpreted as the voice …

[German Version] I. Study and History of Religion – II. Philosophy of Religion I. Study and History of Religion Greek ὕβρις, “pride, infringement, maltreatment, outrage.” The etymology of hybris is obscure (the second syllable may be related to βριαρός/ briarós, “strong”). The popular etymological derivation from ὑπέρ/ hypér, “exceeding (the correct amount),” common since the time of Homer, may not be correct for phonetic reasons. Hubris is the basic mental attitude that causes people to “go too far” when pursuing their own interests, and …

[German Version] I. Term and Genre – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Liturgical Studies I. Term and Genre The Greek word ὕμνος/ hýmnos, whose etymology is obscure, originally meant, quite unspecifically, simply “song” (the verb ὑμνεῖν/ hymneín, “ to sing”; cf. Hes. Theog. 11.33; Hom. Hym. 3.178, etc.). Yet, from the ¶ 5th/4th century bce at the latest, it meant “song for a god” (cf. Plato, Leges 700 b 1–2; Xenophanes 21 B 1.13 DK; Xenophon, Cyrupaideia 18.1.23) and thence became the general term for “religious song,” and finally for “festival song,” “song o…

[German Version] from Greek εὐδαιμονία, meaning “happiness, bliss” (Lat. beatitudo). Originally a religious concept ( eudaímōn, “having a good daimon,” “blessed by God”; cf. Euripides, Orestes 667), it was often used in the sense of having great material wealth, and only entered the vocabulary of philosophical ethics in the 6th/5th century bce. The pre-Socratics were the first to strip the term of its material connotations and used the concept of eudaimonía to describe a good inner disposition of the human soul (cf. Democritus in: Vorsokratiker 68 B 77, …

[German Version] was a Hellenistic Jew, presumably from Alexandria, who authored a Greek tragedy, Exagoge ( The Exodus, i.e. from Egypt) following Exod 1–15 (LXX) sometime after 240 bce but surely before 100 ce. The extant fragments (a total of 269 verses) represent the largest ¶ preserved portion of Greek tragedy after Euripides and, simultaneously, the largest preserved portion of Judeo-Hellenistic poetry. The following scenes have been preserved: 1. Moses reports about his fate to this poin…

[German Version] (c. 700 bce), the oldest Greek poet of whom there is authentic information concerning his person. His father, a merchant, was forced to leave the Aeolian city of Cyme and settled down in Boeotian Ascra (Hes. Erga kai hemerai [ Erga] 635–640). After his death, an inheritance dispute broke out between Hesiod and his brother Perses ( Erga 35–39). A first prize in a poetry contest in Chalcis is also documented ( Erga 650–659). Tradition attributes the following works to Hesiod's authorship: Theogonia ( Theogony), Erga kai hemerai ( Works and Days), and the Aspis ( Shield). Signi…

[German Version] A Stoic philosopher and Egyptian priest of the 1st century ce, Chaeremon was probably a grammar teacher in Alexandria before becoming the tutor of the later emperor Nero in 49 ce. Chaeremon is the author of a grammatical essay on hieroglyphs ( Hieroglyphica), of an astrological treatise, and of a stoicizing work on Egyptian history ( Aigyptiakḗ historía). The latter was less a historical account than a mytholo¶ gizing description of the ancient Egyptian priesthood as the perfect embodiment of Stoic ideals. Lutz Käppel Bibliography Fragments: F. Jacoby, ed., Die Fragme…

[German Version] Greek δαίμων, may be etymologically related to δαίω “disperse” (i.e. the fateless?); originally “divine being, divine power” (= ϑεός, “god”) (Hom. Iliad 1.222 etc.), but already in Hes. Erga 121–126 it referred to the “soul of a deceased person.” The two concepts fuse in the image of daimons as punishing avengers (souls of the ¶ murdered execute vengeance as daimons). The concept of the “personal” daimon that influences the fate of the individual appeared from the 6th century bce (Theognis 161–164, Heraclitus 22 B 119 D.-K., Pindarus, Olympia 13.28, 105, Sophoc. Trachin…

[German Version] (c. 485/484 bce, Salamis – 407/406, Pella). With Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides was the third great tragedian of classical Greece. Historically reliable information about his life is scanty. He was probably the son of a landowner and a mother from a distinguished family. In Athens he is said to have been a pupil of the Sophists Anaxagoras, Prodicus, and Protagoras, as well as being a friend of Socrates. He first appeared as a tragedian in 455 bce. He went on to produce 92 plays. In his old age, he finally left Athens for the co…

[German version] (Φημονόη/ Phēmonóē). Daughter of Apollo; she was his first seer (Pythia) in Delphi and invented the hexameter verse; the maxim 'know yourself'(γνῶθι σεαυτόν/ gnôthi seautón) is supposed to have come from her (Paus. 10,5,4; 10,6,3; 10,12,5; Str. 9,3,5). Her name is also widely used to mean a prophetess (Luc. 5,126. 185; Stat. Silv. 2,2,39). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel)

[German version] (Μάντιος; Mántios). Son of the seer Melampus, brother of Antiphates, father of Cleitus [1] and of the seer Polypheides (Hom. Od. 15,242ff.), according to Paus. 6,17,6 also of Oïcles (who in Hom. ibid. is his nephew), grandfather of Theoclymenus. Käppel, Lutz (Kiel)

[German version] As repeatedly mentioned in royal epithets and authentications of power, it was one of the paramount tasks of Assyrian kings to secure fertility and prosperity in the country. The palace gardens of Assyrian residences, in which from the 11th century BC onward foreign types of trees and shrubs were cultivated and animals of conquered regions were kept, and which certainly owed their origin to an interest in horticulture and exotica, can also be understood - in addition to their func…

(Οἰνώνη; Oinṓnē). [German version] [1] Poetic term for the island of Aegina Poetic term for the island of Aegina (Pind. N. 4,46; 5,16; 8,7; Pind. I. 5,34; cf. Ov. Met. 7,474). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Nymph from the Troad Nymph from the Troad, daughter of the river god Cebren, sister of Asterope (Apollod. 3,154f.; according to Tzetz. on Lycophr. 57 daughter of Oeneus), mother of Corythus (Parthenius 34; Ov. Met. 7,361). Paris, exposed in the Idaean mountains, becomes her lover and spends his first love with her, but the…

(Μνήμων; Mnḗmōn). [German version] [1] Slave of Achilles Slave of Achilles [1] whose sole responsibility it was to warn his master not to kill any of Apollo's offspring as he was predestined to die soon thereafter. He forgets to issue the warning when Achilles is fighting Cycnus [2] and Tennes and is consequently put to death (Lycoph. 240-242 with schol. ad loc.; Plut. Quaest. Graec. 28). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] see Artaxerxes [2] II see Artaxerxes [2] II

(Νικόστρατος; Nikóstratos). [German version] [1] Son of Menelaus [1] and Helen Son of Menelaus [1] and Helen [1]. According to  Hom. Il. 3,175 and Hom. Od. 4,12, Menelaus and Helen had only a daughter (Hermione, cf. Eur. Andr. 898; Lycoph. 851), but in another tradition they also had a son (Hes. Fr. 175,2 M.-W.; Soph. El. 539). Later authors tried to resolve this discrepancy by making N. the son of a slave (Paus. 2,18,6). In Amyclae, N. and Megapenthes [2] were portrayed on horseback, as a counterpart to t…

(Φύλακος; Phýlakos). [German version] [1] Mythical founder and eponym of Phylacia Mythical founder and eponym of Phylacia (in Attica), also of Phylace [1]. Son of Deïon(eus) [1] and Diomede, the daughter of Xuthus (Apollod. 1,51; 86), father of Iphiclus (Hom. Il. 2,705; 13,698) and Alcimede (Apoll. Rhod. 1,47). P. caused the infertility of his son by threatening him with a knife bloody from castrating rams. After Melampus [1] heals Iphiclus in the course of his brother Bias [1]'s battle for Iphiclus's oxen…

[German version] [1] Wife of Numa Pompilius Wife of Numa Pompilius, mother of Pompilia, grandmother of Ancus Marcius [I 3] (Plut. Numa 21,2). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Wife of Collatinus Wife of Collatinus. Raped by the Roman prince Sex. Tarquinius, she commits her husband with L. Iunius [I 4] Brutus and P. Valerius to revenge and kills herself. This incident initiates the expulsion of the Tarquinians from Rome and with it the fall of rule by kings (Liv. 1,57-60 [1]; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,64,4-67,4; Ov. Fast.…

[German version] (Μανερῶς; Manerôs Hdt. 2,79; Μανέρως; Manérōs Plut. Is. 17,367 etc.). According to Hdt. l.c. M. is the only son of the first king of Egypt who, after his early death, is honoured by a dirge ‘M., which is said to correspond to the Greek Linus song. M. means either Egyptian mniw-r‘gooseherd (Cerny) or r jmntt r jmntt‘westward! westward! (Lloyd), a cry heard at funerals. It is not clear which Egyptian name or which sequence of Egyptian words was garbled to form Greek M. [1. 338]. Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) Bibliography 1 A. B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book 2. Commentary 1-98, 1976.

(Πλεισθένης; Pleisthénēs). [German version] [1] Son of Pelops or Atreus, father of Agamemnon and Menelaus Mythical figure from the family of Pelops, often also named as the family's eponym (Aesch. Ag. 1569 etc.): either the son of Pelops and Hippodameia [1] (with Atreus, Thyestes and Pittheus as brothers; schol. Pind. O. 1,144), or the son of Atreus and Cleola born in exile in Macestus (Triphylia), father of Agamemnon and Menelaus [1] (schol. Eur. Or. 4), or husband of Aërope and father by her of Agamemnon and…

(Φιλύρα/Philýra, literally 'lime-tree'). [German version] [1] Oceanid Oceanid, already in Hesiod (Theog. 1002) the mother of the centaur Chiron, in whose cave she lived according to Pindar (N. 3,43). The Hesiodic, Aeolic spelling Phillyrídēs for Chiron points to an archaic stratum of the myth (West on Hes. Theog. 1002). She was loved by Kronos who, being surprised by Rhea while making love to her, turned himself and P. into horses. Their child was the centaur Chiron, whose monstrous shape so horrified the mother that she prayed…