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[German version] I. General Literary communication is communication by means of texts - stabilized, coherent and substantial statements. These may be written or eventually put down in writing, but they may also remain oral ( Literacy). Since for earlier societies as a rule only written texts can be studied, the term ‘literature’ focusses on such sedimented media of literary communication. Nevertheless, particularly for ancient societies the mainly oral character of literary communication must be emp…

[German version] Rhetor in the Augustan period; came from Asia (Sen. Controv. 9,6,16). In the twenties BC, at the latest, he probably taught in Rome, more often in Greek than in Latin (Sen. Suas. 4,5). Amongst his outstanding students were  …

[German version] (ἡμερολόγιον; hēmerológion) is a text arranged according to the days of the year. The ancient spectrum of meaning ranges from  calendar (Plut. Caesar 59) to diary (Cosmas Indicopleustes, Topographia christiana PG 88,276A, 6th cent. AD) and is still used in the specialized Latin of the 19th cent. in this way. In modern scientific language hemerologion is used to describe two quite different objects. In Egyptology and the study of the Ancient Orient, hemerologion refers to lists with a divinatory (and as a corresponding frame of reference - cosmologic…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In the Ancient Orient, Akkadian scribes acted as grammarians, adding Sumerian translations to Akkadian flective forms, or who provided abstract grammatical explanations for Sumerian syllables. Grammatical texts took the form of a two-columned list; there were no grammatical rules expressed in sentence form. In order to achieve congruence between the non-isomorphic languages of Sumeria and Akkadia, grammarians made up artificial Sumerian forms, neglected morpho-synta…

[German version] (ἐπίδειξις; epídeixis). One of the three   genera causarum . Aristotle determined the epideixis as the type of a speech that does not elicit the listener's judgement or decision, but simply places him into the role of spectator ( theōrós): the speech itself is what is being tested (Rh. 1358b). It is not a necessary, but a plausible consequence that the function of directing the attention towards the speech itself is supported by certain topics, that is, topics of praise or reprimand, thus givi…

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[German version] (παράπηγμα; parápēgma) in ancient usage describes a peg calendar, which permitted the tracking of calendar dates (e.g. the 'Fasti Guidizzolenses' for the whole year, InscrIt 13,2,234, but probably also weekday calendars) by the (usually daily) movement of pegs. This form of calendrical orientation by means of individual pegging was particularly interesting where it permitted keeping track of calendar systems which deviated from 'civil' calendars of the time, i.e. for phases of the moon in the Julianic calendar, in t…

Name of an old patrician family, which was said to have immigrated to Rome under King T. Tatius with V. [I 10] (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,46). The name, derived from the old personal name Valesus/ Valerus, was originally Valesios (cf. V. [I 7]; CIL XII p. 298g: Valesies; Fest. 22; Varro, Rerum divinarum fr. 66 Cardauns [4; 5]); the censor App. Claudius [I 2] introduced the new spelling in 312 BC (cf. Dig. 1,2, 2,36). Because in Antiquity the name was derived (etymologically correct…

Roman nomen gentile, recorded from the 2nd cent. BC onwards (AE 1997,283; Schulze, 160). [German version] [1] Recitator, 2nd cent. BC Roman recitator of the 2nd cent. BC, who recited the Annales of Ennius [1] to large crowds on particular days (Suet. Gramm. 2) and who was understood in later times as a grammarian. Obtaining a textual edition from the Anecdoton Parisinum (GL 7,534) by conjecture on the name is problematic. Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt) Bibliography HLL 1, § 38. …

Chronological periodicity, typically 4-10 days, linked with particular public activities (religious, political, commercial), often in the form of market days ( nundinae ) [1]. [German version] I. Types Two different forms of 'week' were known in antiquity. (1) The type corresponding to the modern week, of fixed length and ignoring the monthly calendar, only took hold gradually,…

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[German version] [1] V. Cerialis Amicus of Pliny the Younger (Plin. Ep. 4,21). Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [2] D. V. …

Name of a Roman plebeian family probably deriving from the Italic praenomen Pompo, tracing back, like the Aemilii, Calpurnii and Pinarii, to one of the sons of Numa Pompilius (Plut. Numa 21,2; cf. Nep. Att. 1,1). In the 3rd century BC the Mathones (cf. P. [I 7-9]) achieved consulship, but later the family was insignificant. The most prominent member was a friend of Cicero, T. P. [I 5] Atticus. I. Republican Period …

I. Historical [German version] A. Youth and early career C. Iulius Caesar was born in 100 BC on the 13th of Quintilis (from 44 BC: Iulius/July); his mother was Aurelia, a daughter of L. Aurelius Cotta ( cos. 119 BC; [1. 327]). His father became praetor in 92 BC, and died 85 BC. Nothing is known of C.'s childhood and early youth. As it was the custom for the Roman aristocracy, C., too, presumably spent his first years in the care of his mother, followed between the ages of 7 and 15 by elementary schooling and grammatical tuition (Greek and Latin literature, basic rhetorics). His private tutor was M. Anto…

[German version] [1] P., C. Roman teacher of rhetoric and orator, 2nd cent. BC A Roman distinguished by his education (Lucil. 592-596 Marx; Cic. Fin. 1,7; Plin. HN pr. 7), who was believed by some contemporaries to have written the speech De sociis et nomine latino (against C. Sempronius Gracchus' policies concerning the allies) for C. Fannius [I 1] in 122 BC, a speech which far outshone Fannius' other speeches in terms of rhetoric (C…

Roman family name, frequently attested in inscriptions, also in the form Cavius [1. 76f.]; in the Republican period its bearers are still politically insignificant; also a Faliscan praenomen [2. 103]. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] G., P. Crucified as a spy of Spartacus 72 BC from Compsa (Lower Italy), was captured and crucified in Sicily in 7…

[German version] I. Greek Gastronomical poetry (GP) may be considered a special stream of the parodistic poetry that  Hegemon of Thasos turned into a genuine literary genre in the late 5th cent. BC: light, jesting poetry (though resulting from artistic dedication) sings the delights of the stomach and the table. The lost Δεῖπνον ( Deîpnon, ‘Feast’) of Hegemon was the description…

[German version] Modern name for the chronologically organized collection of  Caesar's own commentarii or those reporting on his wars. Bks. 1-7 (58-52 BC) and 8 (52/51) of the Bellum Gallicum (BG), 3 bks. On the Bellum civile (49…

[German version] I. Old Testament …

[German version] (etymology ‘nine days’), Roman name for the market days or markets taking place every eight days (i.e. every ninth day), and thus also forming a kind of public and private measure of time. Market (II.B.); Week Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt)