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Demandt, Alexander (Berlin RWG) I. Ancient History (CT) [German version] A. Definitions and Scope (CT) By Altertum ('Antiquity'“)”, Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, newly revised since 1890 by Georg Wissowa, understands the culture of the 'Classical' peoples of the Greeks and Romans, with the additions of the Ancient Orient, inclusive of Egypt, insofar as it has connecting links to the former; of the ancient peripheral cultures (Arabs, Germanic tribes, Jews, Carthaginians, Celts, Numidia…

Kuhlmann, Peter (Düsseldorf/Gießen RWG) [German version] A. History of the Concept (CT) The term antiquity originated as a borrowing from the French adjective antique. It came to designate, after a fairly lengthy semantic development, a historical period ( Epochs, concept of) that, since the 18th cent. is synonymous with the German substantive ‘Altertum ’(ancient times) that had been used for centuries to denote Greco-Roman Antiquity. The adjective antique (from the Latin antiquus) was introduced into French in the 16th cent. by the Humanists and at first meant ‘ol…

Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) I. Classical Archaeology (CT) [German version] A. Comparative Chronology (CT) Before any artefacts can be placed within an historical time scale, it makes sense to determine their relationship to each other (comparative chronology) by means of stratigraphy and by observing how morphological changes in objects take place. The basic principles of stratigraphy were established by geologists during the first half of the 19th cent. In 1847, J. Boucher de Perthes applied the observations made about the layers of the earth …