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(Τιμόθεος; Timótheos). [German version] [1] T. of Metapontum Greek physician, c. 400 BC Greek physician, fl. c. 400 BC. According to the Anonymus Londiniensis (8,8), T. believed that disease was the result of the blockage of passages through which residues would have been excreted. Residues that have risen up from the entire body are forced to remain in the head until they are transformed into a saline, acrid fluid. They then break out and cause a wide variety of disease, whose character is determined by the place or places to which they flow.. Humoral theory Nutton, Vivian (London) …

Hoffmann, Lars [German version] A. Founding of the City: Legend and History (CT) In comparison with most other urban centres in Italy, which exist in a clearly identifiable historical and cultural context linked with Roman or even Greek Antiquity that is also a part of their inhabitants' lore, Venice (V.) occupies a special place insofar as it can be drawn on both on behalf of  a continuity as well as discontinuity with Classical Antiquity. This becomes apparent when one considers the historically documented…

I. Mesopotamia [German version] A. Concept According to lexical texts (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC), the Sumerian term for proverbs was i-bi-lu. The Akkadian tēltu(m) is known primarily from the epistolary literature of Assyria and the city of Mari (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC) [7]. Both terms refer not only to proverbs in the modern sense, but also to the fable and anecdotes, riddles and witty sayings. Böck, Barbara (Madrid) [German version] B. Sources The earliest Sumerian sources of proverbs are collections of proverbs and so-called 'proverb-poems'. The pro…

[German version] (πατριάρχης/ patriárchēs). It is impossible to determine precisely when the term patriarch, originally an honorific, became an official title in the Christian Eastern Orthodox Church. It is first documented in the acts of the Synod of Constantinople (Concilium Constantinopolitanum 381, Canon 2). The concept was introduced into the administrative language of the church through the Greek church fathers (cf. Greg. Naz. Or. 43,37 = PG 36, 545C) and their exegesis of the Old Testament. In the ecclesiastical usage of Late Antiquity, patriárchēs referred to the honor…

I. Mesopotamia [German version] A. Concept and sources The is no accurate or systematic, zoological or botanical classification of the animal and plant kingdoms from the Ancient Orient. The main source is one of the most voluminous Mesopotamian lexical texts with 24 chapters, known from its initial line as ḪAR-ra =  ḫubullu ('(rate of) interest'). It is a catalogue of objects and living creatures, ordered acrographically (i.e. by the first cuneiform sign) according to semantic aspects (Science). This principle represented a mnemotechnic aid; th…

(Τιμόθεος). [English version] [1] T. von Metapontion griech. Arzt, um 400 v. Chr. Griech. Arzt um 400 v. Chr. Dem Anonymus Londiniensis zufolge (8,8) hielt T. Krankheiten für die Folge einer Verstopfung von Durchgängen, durch die normalerweise Ablagerungen ausgeschieden würden. Solche Überschüsse stiegen aus dem gesamten Körper zum Kopf auf, blieben dort, solange sie keinen Ausweg fänden, bis sie zu salziger und scharfer Flüssigkeit verwandelt seien. Dann brächen sie durch und verursachten die unterschiedlichsten Krankheiten, je nach ihrer Abflußrichtung. Säftelehre Nutton…

[English version] Bischof von Gabala (h. Ǧabla) in Syrien, trat ab 401 n. Chr. als Prediger in Konstantinopolis auf. Sein Name ist v. a. mit dem erbitterten Streit mit Iohannes [4] Chrysostomos nach dessen Ernennung zum ökumenischen Patriarchen verbunden. Beide galten als begnadete Prediger, wobei ihre durch gegenseitige Kränkungen und offenes Buhlen um die Gunst der Kaiserin Aelia [4] Eudoxia gekennzeichnete Rivalität letztlich zur Absetzung und Verbannung des Chrysostomos führte. Aufgrund der da…

[English version] (πατριάρχης). Historisch läßt sich nicht genau nachvollziehen, wann aus dem urspr. Würdetitel des P. ein Amtstitel der christl. Ostkirche wurde. Erstmals belegt ist er in den Akten der Synode von Konstantinopolis (Concilium Constantinopolitanum 381, Canon 2), wobei dieser Begriff über die griech. Kirchenväter (vgl. Greg. Naz. or. 43,37 = PG 36, 545C) und deren alttestamentarische Exegese in die kirchliche Verwaltungssprache eingeführt wurde. Im spätant.-kirchlichen Sprachgebrauch bezeichnete patriárchēs den Ehrenrang des Funktionärs, der an der…

Hoffmann, Lars [English version] A. Stadtgründung: Legende und Historie (RWG) Im Vergleich zu den meisten anderen städtischen Zentren Italiens, die in einem eindeutig erkennbaren, auch im Wissen ihrer Bewohner fest verankerten kulturgeschichtlichen Zusammenhang mit der röm. oder gar der griech. Ant. stehen, nimmt V. eine Sonderstellung ein, da es sowohl für eine Kontinuität als auch für eine Diskontinuität zur Ant. in Anspruch genommen werden kann. Dies ergibt sich bereits aus dem Datum für eine histor. …

[German Version] (also Cosmas of Maiuma, Cosmas Hagiopolites, Cosmas the Melodist, Cosmas the Younger; 2nd half of the 8th cent. – c. 760), ¶ one of the most important hymnographers of the Byzantine church. His Vita displays markedly legendary elements and the typical hagiographical topoi. According to it, he was adopted by the father of John of Damascus, was educated in rhetoric by a Sicilian monk named Cosmas before entering, along with his adoptive brother, into the famed Great Laura of St. Sabas (Bethlehem). Ther…

10th century. Byzantium. Pseudo-Symeon is an anonymous universal chronicle apparently based on Symeon Magistros & Logothete. The text runs from Creation to 963, but often it is sparser than its model. For the years to 812, sources include Theophanes Confessor and Georgios monachos. Thereafter the author obviously made use of the so-called Scriptor Incertus de Leone Armenio and of Ioseph Genesios, but he also has some information, for example on the character of emperor Leo V (813-20) or on building activities at Constantinople, which we do not get from other sources, as Markopoulos has…

[Chronicle of Cambridge] 11th century. Sicily. A short text in Greekabout the history of Arab Sicily, which remarkably is known also in an Arabic translation.From the manuscript tradition we can tentatively reconstruct the Greek title, Χρονογράφιον ἀφ᾽ οὗ εἰσῆλθον οἱ Σαρακηνοὶ ἐν Σικελίᾳ (Chronicle beginning at the point when the Saracens had entered Sicily). The misleading title Chronicle of Cambridge refers to the location of the Arabic manuscript, as this was known to scholarship before the Greek original.The text consists of 64 brief notes on the Arab rule in Sicily …

[Anonymus Sathas, Synopsis Sathas] 13th century. Byzantium. A high Byzantine cleric and confident of the Emperors Theodorus II Doucas Lascaris (1254-58) and Michael VIII Palaeologus (1259-82), and author of a universal chronicle in Greek prose. After Constantinople was recaptured in 1261, Skoutariotes was appointed counsellor ( dikaiophylax) and economist ( tou sakelliou) of the patriarchate. In the 1270s he became metropolitan of Cyzicus (now in the Turkish province Balıkesir). During the negations of church unification between Latins and Greeks which were instigated by Micha…

ca 950/1013. Byzantium. A high-ranking bureaucrat in the position of a logothetes bearing the title of a magistros. Beyond his name, rank and office there is little certainty in what we know about the author. Earlier scholars identified him with Symeon Metaphrastes, but this no longer finds support. Since Symeon Logothetes in his original text seems to offer an encomiastic description of the regency of Romanos I Lekapenos it is commonly assumed that he held office at Romanos's court and was commissioned to assemble an official history of that emperor's reign,…

1401 - post-1476/77. Byzantium. Greek imperial official and ambassador, and author of the so-called Chronicon minus in medieval Greek prose. George Sphrantzes was born in Constantinople on 30th August 1401. He originated from a distinguished and prosperous family from Lemnos. In 1424, after the death of his parents (1416/17), he entered the service of the emperor Manuel II, on whose behalf he undertook negotiations with the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. After Manuel's death his son and successor John VIII wanted to keep him in Constantinople, but Sphrantzes chose instead the …

9th century. Byzantine Sicily. Author of a letter recounting siege of Syracuse. Theodosius must have been a member of the Byzantine upper-class of Syracuse. He was a g rammaticus, which should be understood as a kind of notary, and a monk and clergyman. The letter is entitled Θεοδοσίου μοναχοῦ τοῦ καὶ γραμματικοῦ ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Λέοντα ἀρχιδιάκονον περὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως Συρακούσης (The letter of the monk and grammaticus Theodosius to the archdeacon Leon about the sack of Syracuse); the addressee Leo is otherwise unknown.Syracuse was besieged in 878 by the Aghlabid Arabs from Tunis. …

500-570/80. Greece. Petros Patrikios, a high-ranking official as well as a man of letters of the sixth century, was born in Thessalonica. After a schooling in rhetoric he spent some years as lawyer at Constantinople, then from 534 he served Emperor Justinian I (527-65) several times on foreign diplomatic missions. Returning in 537 from Italy, where he had been held in captivity for three years, he was appointed to the office of the magister militum, which at that time was connected with the honorary title patricius. During the next three decades Justinian regularly called on him…

ca 1130 - after 1159. Byzantium. Michael Glykas is one of those Byzantine authors of the 12th century who attempted to compose a traditional universal chronicle. There is some evidence to identify him with Michael Sikidites, who is mentioned in the History of Niketas Choniates although modern scholars still have some doubts in equating the two characters. Glykas was probably born on the Island of Corfu, and served as a grammatikos (secretary) at the court of Emperor Manuel I Komnenus (1143-80) in Constantinople. Because of his participation in the revolt of Theodoros Styppeio…

[Epirotica; Chronicle of Epirus] 15th century. Greece. A chronicle of the Epirus region in Northern Greece. About five fragments of this work survive, though it must once have been considerably more extensive. The first fragment incorporates the beginning of the chronicle of Ephraem of Ainus. The second, entitled Ἱστορία Πρελούμπου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Δεσπότων τῶν Ἰωαννίνων, ἀπὸ τῆς ἁλώσεως αὐτῶν παρὰ τῶν Σερβῶν ἕως τῆς παραδόσεως εἰς Τούρκους (The history of Preljubović and of the other Despots of Ioannina from the Serbian capture of the city up to its capitulation in the fac…

ca 1155 - 1216/17. Byzantium. The chronicle of Niketas Choniates should be hailed as one of the most significant and perfect productions of the Byzantine, if not of the entire medieval historiographical tradition. It bears the title: Χρονικὴ διήγησις τοῦ κὺρ Χωνιάτου Νικήτα ἀρχομένη ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλείας Ἰωάννου τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ καὶ λήγουσα μέχρι τῆς ἁλώσεως τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως (Chronicle narration of Niketas Choniates beginning with the reign of Ioannes Komnenus up to the sack of Constantinople).Niketas was born about 1155, probably at Constantinople. His family originate…