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[German version] Versified handbook of popular ethics from the 3rd cent. (cf. Carm. epigr. 1988, 51; [1. LXXIII]); widely known by the end of the 4th cent. at the latest. The text, of which the Dutch philologist M. Boas made a lifelong study [1. LXXXff.], exists in version Y (or V) with 306 vv. and in a more extensive version F, with 331 vv. but altered by interpolations and recasting, aside from the Barberini recension [1. XXXVIff.]. The title of Y runs Marci Catonis ad filium libri, where F (Codex Verona cap. 163) has Dicta M. Catonis ad filium suum [1. LXVff.; 2. 30ff.], since Erasmus …

[German version] Roman grammarian, especially commentator. His partial commentary on Terence ( Adelphoe and Eunuchus) is …

[German version] Latin epic in 541 hexameters about  Scylla betraying her native city Megara to the Cretan king Minos and being transformed into a bird. The plot assumes knowledge of the mythical tradition and neglects narrative continuity and logic for the sake of individual scenes and profiling the heroine's emotions. This is characteristic of the epyllium in the elegiac tradition. Contrary to an ascription from late antiquity, Virgil (cf. Donat. Vita Verg. 17) has been ruled out as the author. …

Roman writer of tragedies in the Republican period, of Oscan-Messapian origin, nephew of Ennius (Plin. HN 35,19). [German version] A. Biography Born in 220 BC (cf. Cic. Brut. 229) in Brundisium (Jer. Chron. p. 142 H.), died shortly before 130 BC in Tarentum. Apart from this chronology, which comes from Accius' Didascalica and Varro’s De poetis [18. 48f., 53, 62] and has been preserved in works from Sueton’s De poetis [17. 36] to Jerome, there are traces of another tradition, which was perhaps shaped by Cornelius Nepos’ [2] Chronica. [2. 8, 5], which P.took up a generation later (…

[German version] Author of a liber prodigiorum, which for the years 190-11 BC, i.e. at the end of Livy's [III 2] Roman history, arranges accounts of portents ( Prodigium ) of salient historical events by and alongside their dates. The title of the edition princeps of the work [4] shows that it was begun in 249 BC (for the significance of the starting date cf. [5. 76f.; 10. 158ff.], and that therefore the portents for 249-191 have been lost. O. evidently relates Rome's success to its observance of divine signs, whose expiation averts thre…

[German version] The grammarian A., most likely from the late 2nd cent. AD, sums up the tension between archaistic and classical tendencies of the school canon in the 2nd cent. with his explanations of  Terentius,  Vergilius and  Sallustius. In his exegesis, the interest in historical-linguistic detailed phenomena takes second place to textual criticism, stylistics and the comparison with Greek classics. In late antiquity, he together with  Probus and  Terentius Scaurus constitutes a triad of gram…

[German version] Anonymous Latin poem in 93 trochaic tetrameters, purporting to be a processional song sung on the eve of a Venus festival in Hybla, Sicily. A refrain appearing at the beginning and end of the poem and at irregular intervals within it isolates a series of short sections, which add up to three major parts: 1. praise of spring and announcement of the festival (vv. 2-26); 2. vizualisation of the festival, place of the action (28-56); 3. praise of the power of Venus (59-79); the final part (81-92) culminates in a melancholy reflection by the poet. The poem, which raises a numbe…

[German version] Song of the soldiers, whose parade concluded a triumphal procession. There is evidence to show that in the carmina triumphalia, the triumphant general received both praise (Liv. …

[German version] A medieval Latin MS. (Parisinus Latinus 4884) contains the translation ( c. AD 700) of the Alexandrian version of a Christian world chronicle, which, because of its Vulgar Latin language, has been known as the ‘E.B.’ since J. J. Scaliger; it is based on a Greek version from the 5th cent. AD. The extant text, which ends in 387, is divi…

[German version] [1] Society A collegium is a group of people coming together for religious, professional and social reasons. The legal basis for the collegia is set out in the Law of Twelve Tables (8,27 = Gaius Dig. 47,22,4): his (sodalibus) potestatem facit lex, pactionem quam velint sibi ferre, dum ne quid ex publica lege corrumpant; sed haec lex videtur ex lege Solonis translata esse. In terms of their internal organization, the collegium followed the model of the civic municipalities with magistrates, a council and plebs. The financial assets of the collegium included the income …

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I. Greek [German version] A. The ancient concept of ‘Glosses’ Glosses (γλῶσσαι; glôssai) are words that are rare and difficult to explain. The Greeks' interest in such words dates back to the earliest periods: even in works of archaic and classical poets, glosses were accompanied by more common synonyms (‘glossarial synonymity’); this kind of ‘self-exegesis’ is perhaps already evident in the first two verses of the Odyssey (Hom. Od. 1.1-2).  Antisthenes [1] and the Sophists saw the exact interpretation of words as the root of all teaching (παίδευσις, paídeusis). For that reason, glosses attracted special attention;  Prodicus in particular studied subtle differences in semantics and regionally variant expressions of the same meaning. Alongside Prodicus, Democritus' treatise on Περὶ Ὁμήρου ἢ ὀρθοεπείης καὶ γλωσσέων apparently constituted an investigation into Homer, distinguishing between ‘terms used in the exact sense of their m…

[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 …

(Κροῖσος; Kroîsos, Latin Croesus). [German version] A. Historic person Lydian king ( c. 560-547 BC), last of the Mermnad dynasty ( Mermnadae). The most important source remains  Herodotus' Lydian Logos (Hdt. 1,6-94), even though he preserved little that is Ancient Anatolian. C.'s mother was Carian ( Caria), that of his brother Pantaleon Ionian (Hdt. 1,92). A queen is never mentioned. …

[German version] [1] (M. Ulpius) C. Athenagoras Official, 2nd cent. AD Proconsul of Lycia-Pamphylia, cos. suff. possibly under Commodus [1. 151]. The family came from Attuda (for his relatives: EOS 2, 633). Eck, Werner (Cologne)…

[German version] [1] L. (Baebius or Manius), dictator Latinus L. (Baebius or Manius) Egerius [2] had the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis (Cato fr. 58 Peter) dedicated in his capacity as dictator Latinus. Prescendi, Francesca (Geneva) Bibliography C. Ampolo, Ricerche sulla lega latina, II. La dedica di Egerius Baebius, in: PdP 212, 1983, 321-326. [German version] [2] Probably the first lyric love poet of Rome, 2nd or early 1st cent. BC Probably the first lyric love poet of Rome, 2nd (cf. [8]) or early 1st cent. BC (for example, according to [2. 118]), and in the latter case probabl…

[1] Christian Theologist and apologist, c. 250-325 …

I. Greece …

[German version] A. Types of letter In addition to the few texts on letter theory and letter writers ( Epistolography), the ancient genre of …

(Ἐκλογή; eklogḗ, ‘excerpt’, ‘selection’). [German version] Ecloga [1] Varro (in Charisius, gramm. p. 154 B.) uses the foreign term in its literal meaning (‘selection’). It is unclear how the meaning has developed into the usage we encounter from the end of the 1st cent. AD on: Ecloga may refer to individual lyrical poems (Stat. Silv. 3, pr. 23 = 3,5; 4, pr. 21 = 4,8, later in a similar way Auson. 8 Peiper) and in the plural form Eclogae to the entire collection (Plin. Ep. 4,14,9). The term is used in particular for  Horatius (Suet. Vita: Epist. 2,1; Sid. Apoll. Epist. 9,1…

[German version] I. Life and Work a) A philologist and polymath of the Augustan era from Spain or Alexandria; a freedman of Augustus who served as the prefect of the Palatine library after 28 BC while simultaneously engaging in extensive teaching activities (for biography, cf. Suet. Gram. 20). Nevertheless, he had to be supported his whole life by Clodius [II 6] Licinus and died in poverty. Ov. Tr. 3,14 is addressed to him. His substantial œuvre includes works of philology (comm. to the Propempticon Pollionis of  Helvius [I 3] Cinna; discussi…

[German version] [1] Roman orator, Augustan period One of the leading orators of the Augustan period (Sen. Controv. 2,5,17), died in 9 BC (Jer. Chron. p. 167 H.), a friend of the Elder Seneca (Sen. Controv. 3, pref. 10). Nothing survives of his speeches, but Seneca quotes highlights from his declamations, whose aridity app…

I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Poet and critic of Virgil, Augustean period Supposedly a poet (Porph. in Hor. Sat. 2,3,239) of the Augustean period, brother of Bavius, with whom he allegedly quarreled over a woman (Domitius Marsus fr. 1 M.). M was a critic of Virgil (Serv. Georg. 1,210), which made the poets of the circle around Maecenas count him among their opponents (Verg. Ecl. 3,90; Hor. Epod. 10; Domitius Marsus fr. 5 M.). Some notes may have been obtained from Suet. De poetis via the life of Domitius [III 2] Marsus. The possibility of guild banter can not be excluded. Schmidt, P…

[German version] [1] Writer of the Justinian period (6th cent. AD) Writer of the Justinian period (6th cent. AD), a German, probably of Gothic descent, grandson of Paria (secretary to the Prince of the Alani Candac), son of Alanoviamuth. Probably born in the late 5th cent. AD, I. also served as secretary to Cantac's nephew Gunthigis (Iord. Get. 265). Following his conversio (from Arianism to Orthodoxy?, from a secular to a clerical position?), in Constantinople in 551 (Iord. Rom. 4. 363; cf. Iord. Get. 104) he was asked by a friend named Vigilius (unlik…

[German version] [1] Matius, C. Friend of Cicero and Caesar, who sought to mediate between them in 53 BC. Contemporary and friend of Cicero (Cic. Fam. 11,27f.) and Caesar, who played a kind of mediat…

[German version] [1] Equestrian military tribune in the Syrian army (1st cent. AD) Equestrian military tribune in the Syrian army, sent by the governor of Syria, Cestius [II 3] Gallus, against the rebellious Jews in AD 66. From 67, he served under Vespasian (Vespasianus) in the same capacity, fighting the Jewish military commander Flavius Iosephus [4] on several occasions, the last in 67, when the city of Iotapata was conquered (Jos. BI 3,144; 323-326). The last reference to him is from  68, when he subjugated Transjordanian Perea (Jos. BI 4,419-439). PIR2 P 437. Eck, Werner (Cologne) …

Roman cognomen (‘blond’, ‘radiant’, with ablaut, related to flavus [1]), in the Republican period epithet of C. Aquilius [I 11] F. and L. Mestius F. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] P. Annius F. Lat. poet and writer, 1st/2nd cent. AD Under the cognomen Florus (in conjunction with the family name Annius or Ann(a)eus and the first name P. or L.) four works or groups of works are known: 1. the introduction to a dialogue Vergilius orator an poeta (P. Annius F.), 2. and 3. fragment of a correspondence (Charisius, Gramm. 66,10f.; 157,21f. B.) and an exchange o…

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Plebeian nomen gentile of Etruscan origin, more frequent references only towards the end of the Republic. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] L. Military tribune 258 BC Military tribune during the First Punic War, in 258 BC he secured the retreat of consul A. Atilius [I 14] Calatinus (Claudius Quadrigarius fr. 42 HRR) near Camarina. All 400 legionaries of L. were killed, he himself survived badly wounded, but nevertheless was celebrated as ‘The Leonidas of Rome’ (Gell. NA 3,7,21). Other war heroes mentioned are: Q. Caedici…

N. (also Nonnius, Nunnius), Italic nomen gentile derived from the numeral praenomen Nonus (evidence: [3. 229; 424]). Several families are attested since the 1st cent. BC, among which the - probably Picene [1. 925] - Nonii Asprenates stand out. I. Republican Period [German version] …

[German version] [2] Roman wall painter, late 4th cent. AD Roman wall painter of late…

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Rare Italic surname, derived from luscus, ‘one-eyed, squinting’ (early examples: CIL I2 182-184; AE 1992, 586). I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] L., L. Centorio under Sulla Centurion under Sulla, enriched himself during the Proscriptions in 82 BC and was condemned in 64 for triple murder (Ascon. 90 C). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] L. Lanuvinus Writer of fabula palliata, rival of Terentius As a writer of palliata , a rival of Terentius (Donat. Andria 7), author of a Phasma (‘The Ghost’; according to Menander) and of a Thesaurus (‘The Treasure’; content in Don…

(Αἴτνη; Aítnē). [German version] [3] Latin  didactic poem to explain volcanism, most likely from Neronian times, perhaps by Seneca's penfriend Lucilius (cf. Sen. Epist. 79). The author distances himself not only from the (mythological) epic (vv. 9-23), but also in his own genre -- with polemics against  Manilius -- from cosmological…

Nomen gentile of Etruscan origin; the family, which belonged to Rome's equestrian class, came from northern Picenum (Cic. Rab. perd. 22; Caes. B Civ. 1,15,2). [German version] …

Roman nomen gentile of Etruscan origin ( pumple). King Numa Pompilius was considered as the first ancestor of the family. The known bearers of the name are historically insignificant. …

Name of a Latin family which belonged to the upper class in Puteoli (Schulze 480). I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] Duumvir of Puteoli 78 BC As duumvir of Puteoli, he entered into a dispute with Cornelius [I 90]  Sulla in 78 BC, who was so upset that he died (Val.Max. 9,3,8; Plut. Sulla 37,3). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] G., Q. Public crier and auctioneer Public crier and auctioneer ( praeco) in the late Republican period (Cicero claims to have known him, Brut. 172). Many anecdotes about his wit and repartee (Cic. De or. 2,244; 281ff.; Att. 6,3,7; Planc. 33) circulated, such as in connection with P. Cornelius [I 85] Scipio Nasica ( cos. 1…

Roman plebeian family name, attested from the 4th cent. BC onwards (ThlL, Onom. 3,217-227). The most important families into the 1st cent. AD are the Ahenobarbi [I 1-8] and the Calvini [I 9-12]. Identification of some members of the family in the 2nd cent. BC is uncertain. I. Republican period [German version] Domitii Ahenobarbi Family history in Suet. Ner. 1-5. Legend of the origin of the cognomen (ThlL, 1,135; in manuscript also Aenobarbus) ‘Red-beard’, ‘Bronze-beard’ in Suet. Ner. 1,1; Plut. Aem. 25. The family was probably accorded patrician status in 29 BC by Octavian (Suet. Ner. 1,2; [1. 72f.]). Related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty via L.D. [II 2] Ahenobarbus ( cos. 16 BC); his grandson of the same name, later  Nero, was adopted by Claudius in AD 50. The family tomb of the D. was on the Pincio (Suet. Ner. 50). Praenomina: Cn. and L. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig…

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[German version] I. Greek (Φαῖδρος; Phaîdros). [German version] [I 1] 5th cent. BC Son of Pythocles, from the Attic deme of Myrrhinus, born probably c. 450 BC. Accused of participation in the profanation of the Eleusinian Mysteria and the mutilatation of the herms, P. went into exile in 415 BC. His property was confiscated (And. 1,15; ML 79,112-115). By 404 BC at the latest, he had returned to Athens; he subsequently married a cousin (Lys. 19,15). Died before 393. Participant in the meeting in Plato's Protagoras (315c), interlocutor of Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus and first speaker in his Sy…

[German version] [1] Imperator Caesar M. Aurelius Probus Augustus Roman emperor AD 276-282 Roman emperor 276-282 AD. Born on 19 August 232 AD in Sirmium; the information about his father in SHA Probus 3,2 and in [Aur. Vict.] epit. Caes. 37,1 is probably fictitious. P.'s career prior to his elevation to emperor in the East in the summer of 276 (Zos. 1,64) (in SHA Probus he is confused with a dux Tenagino P.) is unknown. During his six-year reign ( cos. I-III 277-279, cos. IV 281, cos. V 282) he fought first on the Rhine against the Alamanni, then against the Franci, Burgundiones an…

Roman family name, maybe originally Samnitic (cf. Schulze, 187f.), epigraphically also attested from central Italy. Name bearers in Rome are known from the 2nd cent. BC onwards. Egnat(i)us is uniquely also transmitted as a praenomen (Val. Max. 6,3,9. Plin. HN 14,89; [1]). I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] E., Gellius Leader of the Samnites in the 3rd Samnite War from 296 BC on Leader of the Samnites in the 3rd Samnite War, who brought about a coalition between the Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians and Celts against Rome in 296. Their united army was de…

Probably originally the vulgar Latin form of the Roman proper name Plautius, an independent nomen gentile at the latest from the 1st cent. BC onwards. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P. Gallus, L. Lat. rhetoric teacher, 1st cent. BC The first teacher of Latin rhetoric attested for Rome at the beginning of the 1st cent. BC who held his classes in Latin and on Roman matters and was very popular (cf. Cic. in Suet. Gram. 26). An edict of the censors of 92 BC, especially Cicero's teacher Licinius [I 10]…

Plebeian family name, documented in Rome since the 1st cent. BC (on the derivation of asinus [1], on Etruscan parallels [2]). The family, whose most famous name-bearer was Asinus Pollio, originally came from Teate Marrucinorum (modern Chieti), was a member of the patrician class since the Augustan period and was particularly prominent in the 1st cent. AD. I. Republic [German version] [I 1] A. Senator (mid-1st cent. BC) Senator, supporter of Antony at Mutina in 43 BC (Cic. Phil. 13, 28). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography 1 A. Hug, s.v. Spitznamen, RE 3 A, 1829 2 Schulze, 129. …

Latin nomen gentile. [German version] [1] R., C. Took part in the murder of the tribune of the people Appuleius [I 11] in 100 BC, accused of this crime in 63 and defended by Cicero Wealthy Roman equestrian with estates in Apulia and Campania. In 100 BC, he took part in the murder of the tribune of the people L. Appuleius [I 11] Saturninus, for which he was probably later rewarded with a seat in the Senate; in 89, he was on the staff of Cn. Pompeius [I 8] Strabo (ILLRP 515). Attacked on numerous occasions by the populares as a supporter of the Senate, in 63 he was accused of the murder of A…

[German version] [1] see Marcius Festus see  Marcius Festus Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [2] Iulius F. Hymetius Rom. official, proconsul Africae AD 366-368 served around AD 350 as corrector Tusciae et Umbriae, later as praetor urbanus and consularis Campaniae cum Samnio (before 355). In 362, he became vicarius urbis Romae (Cod. Theod. 11,30,29), and from 366 to 368 proconsul Africae (Cod. Theod. 9,19,3; his entire career: ILS 1256). As proconsul, he helped to alleviate a famine in Carthage, and in this context was sentenced to a fine as a result of b…

[German version] [1] I. I Eastern Roman general AD 518-527 (AD 518-527), emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, born a farmer's son around 450 in Bederiana (like  Iustinianus [1] I.), he came to Constantinople with  Leo I and was soon a member of the palace guard; under  Anastasius I he was comes rei militaris and from 515 comes excubitorum. In the dispute over the succession to Anastasius, who died without an heir, a majority in the Senate supported his candidacy and eventually he was also acclaimed by the army and the people, and was crowned on 10 Jul…

(Μαικήνας; Maikḗnas). Etruscan family name (cf. mehnate, mehnati and similar); the family is recorded in inscriptions for Perusia (modern Perugia) and was probably originally settled there. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Friend and counsellor of Octavian (Augustus), 1st cent. BC Father of M. [2], mentioned as early as 44 BC among the friends and counsellors of Octavian ( Augustus) (Nicolaus of Damascus, Vita Caesaris 31,133). Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) [German version] [2] Patron of literature, 1st cent. BC M., less often - with the family name of the…

Roman cognomen (‘wide-browed’), first attested in the Imperial period. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Rich patron of Martial A rich patron of Martial (1,55,2). He could be identical with Ti. Catius Caesius F., cos. suff. in AD 96. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [2] Praetorian governor of Galatia under Tiberius Praetorian governor of Galatia under Tiberius, perhaps AD 27-31. Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography S. Mitchell, in: Chiron 16, 1986, 23ff. PIR2 F 485). [German version] [3] [...]us F. Cos. suff. AD 165 Cos. suff. in AD 165, (Vidman, FO2 52; there a…

Oscan praenomen, shortened to No., attested for N. Calavius [2], the maker of the Ficoronian cista Novios Plautios (ILS 8562), and in other inscriptions. Probably a particularly frequent gentilicium from the 3rd cent. BC onwards in Campania and spreading from there into the eastern Mediterranean. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] Representative of the literary Atellana, early 1st cent. BC As a representative of the literary atellana, N. appears to have been at work ahead of Pomponius (leading representative of the genr…