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[German version] (ἄωρος; áōros). ‘Untimely’, used as adjective and noun, known in the magical papyri as a designation of a soul that died before its time (ἄωρος). Ahoros in this usage also appears in literary texts (Aesch. Eum. 956; Eur. Or. 1030); ahoros or synonyms (πρόμοιρος, ἀωρόμορος) are also found in grave inscriptions of all periods [1. 14; 2]. In general ahoros relates to death before puberty, marriage or childbirth ([1. 47-83]; cf. Od. 11,36-41; Verg. Aen. 6,426-29; Pl. Resp. 615c; PGM IV 2732-5). Living people could command the ahoros to carry out various tasks, includi…

[German version] The term Oracula Chaldaica describes those Greek poems in dactylic hexameters which were allegedly uttered by Hecate and possibly also other deities, either directly to a man known by the name of Julian [4] the Chaldean, who had invoked them, or via a divinely possessed medium acting for Julian. The poems were written in archaizing style which imitated both Homer and other older oracles. Although they date from the late 2nd or early 3rd cent. AD, the name Oracula Chaldaica was not…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia Mesopotamia did not develop a generic term for demons. A large number of immortal beings was known that each had their own name and acted as servants of the gods and as enemies or helpers of humans. They did not have cults of their own. Since demons were only able to exercise their limited powers, which manifested themselves in physical and psychological illnesses, with the approval of the gods, they were part of the existing world order. Thus, in the Babylonian tale …

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[German version] The three most important Greek deities associated with gates (for Rome see  Ianus,  Carna) were  Hecate (and  Artemis, who was closely associated with her),  Hermes and  Hercules. Hecataea (small statues or shrines to Hecate) were to be found in front of the gates of private houses and in front of city gates (Aeschyl. TrGF 388; Aristoph. Vesp. 804, Hsch. s. v. προπύλαια). Corresponding with this is the association between Hecate and additional liminal places, particularly road-forks ( tríhodoi), which is in turn connected with her role as protector from t…

[German version] (Μέγαιρα/Mégaira, ‘the envious one’, Lat. Megaera). Name of one of the Erinyes ( Erinys; Apollod. 1,3f.; Cornutus 10; Verg. Aen. 12,845-847; Lucan. 1,572-577, 6,730; Stat. Theb. 1,712; more in [1. 123]), perhaps also a name for the destructive power of personified en…

[German version] (Μορμώ/ Mormṓ). A female spirit, principally used to frighten children (Theocr…

(Ἰφιγένεια; Iphigéneia). [German version] A. Myth Daughter of  Agamemnon and  Clytaemnestra (Procl. Cypriorum enarratio, 55-62 EpGF S.32; Aesch. Ag.; but cf. Stesich. fr. 191 PMGF and Nicander fr. 58 = Antoninus Liberalis 27, where Theseus and Helena are her parents and Clytaemnestra merely adopts I.), sister of  Orestes,  Chrysothemis [2] and  Electra [4]. Although she was promised to marry Achilles [1], Agamemnon, on the advice of Calchas, sacrificed her to Artemis to allow the Greeks' departure for Troy, which had been delayed by an unnatural calm. Aulis is most commonly referred to as the place of the sacrifice (Procl. loc. cit. 55; Eur. IA; Lucr. 1,84; Phanodemus fr. 10; 11 FHG, etc.), but Brauron (Euphorion fr. 91 CollAlex), Megara (where she had a grave: Paus. 1,43,1) and perhaps also Aegira and Hermione (where I. was worshipped: Paus. 7,26,5; 2,35,1f.) also lay claim to it. This suggests that I. may merely be one name of the archetypal dying girl who became better known than others because she found her way into the Panhellenic Myth a…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia Myths, Epics, Prayers and Rituals of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, describe the location and nature of the Underworld, along with the circumstances under which its inhabitants live. This domain, located beneath the surface of the earth and surrounded by the primeval ocean called Apsȗ, is known in Akkadian as erṣetu (Sumerian: ki), a term that can refer both to the surface of the earth and to the Underworld. There are other terms for certain characteristics of this region. The Underworld contains gates and buildings, including the palace of Ereškigal ('mistress of the great place'), queen of the Underworld. Deities and spirits of the dead live there in a hierarchical society, and the spirits probably occupy the same social position as they did in their mortal lives. Although written sources offer a relatively uniform depiction of the Underworld, their descriptions of the paths leading to it differ dramatically. The idea of gaining access by crossing a river is documented as early as the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Ladders were believed to lead down from the surface of the earth; fourteen, or in some accounts seven, gates guarded by gatekeepers marked the path taken either on foot, as by the goddess Ištar, or by chariot, as by King Urnamma. Mount Mašu, where the sun god begins and ends his journey of 12 'double-hours' through the Underworld, is considered to be the entrance and exit to that real…

[German version] A. Definition Demonology is the philosophical doctrine of the daímones ( Demons) ─ intermediate beings between gods and men ─ that the Platonic Academy first systematically developed subsequent to the problem posed by the Socratic daimónion (δαιμόνιον). Baltes, Matthias (Münster) [German version] B. Preplatonic It is not possible to reconstruct a systematic Pre-platonic demonology although later ph…

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[German version] [1] Female spirit (Λάμια; Lámia). A female spirit who specialized in attacking children (Duris, FGrH 76 F 17; Diod. Sic. 20,41,3-5; Str. 1,2,8; [1. ch. 5]). In this function, L. was often confused with Gello, Mormo and the Strix. In later sources, L. also seduces and destroys attractive men (Philostr. VA 4,25; cf. Apul. Met. 1,17). Her name is etymologically related to laimós (‘maw’), which is an expression of her all-consuming hunger (cf. Hor. Ars P. 340; Hom. Od. 10,81-117 on Lamus, the king of the cannibalistic Laestrygones; lamía is also a designation for ‘shark’: Aristot. Hist. an. 540b 18; Plin. HN 9,78). In general L. could be used as the name for any ugly and monstrous woman; in references from comedy, she is depicted as an obscene hermaphrodite (Aristoph. Vesp. 1035; 1177; cf. [1. ch. 5], [4]). She was the focal point of at least one satyr play and was also the speaker of the prologue in Euripides' …

(πάρεδρος/ páredros, plural πάρεδροι/ páredroi, 'assessor' of political office-holders or deities). A. Politics [German version] 1. Athens (a) In the 5th and 4th cents. BC two …

Epithet of many gentilicia [1]. Famous persons: the jurist Salvius I. [1]; the doctor I. [2]; the emperor I. [11], called ‘Apostata’; the bishops I. [16] of Aeclanum and I. [21] of Toledo. [German version] [1] L. Octavius Cornelius P. Salvius I. Aemilianus Roman jurist, 2nd cent. AD Jurist, born about AD 100 in North Africa, died about AD 170; he was a student of  Iavolenus [2] Priscus (Dig. 40,2,5) and the last head of the Sabinian law school (Dig. 1,2,2,53). I., whose succession of offices is preserved in the inscription from Pupput, provi…

[German version] (Ἑκάτη; Hekátē). Into the modern age, the goddess H. has been known as the mistress of ghosts, as the demonic mediator par excellence…

[German version] (Νεκυδαίμων; Nekydaímōn). Nekydaímōn is used in magic papyri and defixiones as a technical term to describe the spirit ( daímōn; Demons) of a dead person (Greek  nékys) providing services to the living. It was primarily the spirits of people who had not received a ritual burial ( átaphoi), or who had died violently ( biaiothánatoi) or prematurely ( áhōros ) that were threatened with the fate of being forced into service as a n ekydaímōn.  (PGM V 304-369; [1. 46-63, 71-81, 100-123; 3. 273]). The word nekydaímon is not found other than in papyri and defixiones, but they are alluded to by ritual prescriptions and literary sources (SEG 9,72 = LSCG, Suppl 115; Apul. Met. 9,29).…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. G…

(ἴυγξ; íynx). [German version] [1] Demon related to the genesis of the world Iynx (‘sounding’, cf. ἰύζω/ iýzō) refers to 1. a bird, 2. a humming wheel used in magical rites, and 3. a demon in  theurgy who is associated with the origin of the world and mediates between humans and gods. In myth the bird is transformed from a seductive nymph, the daughter of Echo or Peitho and perhaps  Pan (Callim. Fr. 685; Phot. and Suda, s.v. I.), or from a woman who competed with the Muses in singing (Nicander in Antoninus Liberalis 9). The wheel and the bird were important in the Greek love-spell in myth…

[German version] (Ἐρινύς; Erinýs). Etymology uncertain (Chantraine 2,371, cf. [1; 2. 83-4]). E. is already me…