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[German version] [1] Flavius A. Cos. 434 AD Father of Dagalaifus, grandfather of A. [2], in AD 434 consul together with Aspar Ardabur. As magister militum ( comes foederatorum?) he defeated a Persian officer in single combat in 422, in 441 Theodosius II sent him as magister militum against the Vandals to Africa but he missed his opportunity because he stayed too long in Sicily. He was defeated by Attila in 443 (as was Aspar). In 447 patricius; died in 449 (PLRE 2, 145 f., A. 2). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Flavius Areobindus Dagalaifus Areobindus Cos. 506 AD Son of Dagalaifus,…

[German version] Modern term for the year AD 69, in which four emperors – some at the same time, some in swift succession – ruled the Roman Empire (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian), and in the broader sense for the period between Iulius [II 150] Vindex's revolt against Nero (beginning of AD 68) in Gaul and the elevation to emperor of  Vespasian (1 July 69 in Egypt, 3 July 69 in Syria) or its recognition by the Senate in Rome (21/22 December 69). Galba [2], from an ancient patrician family, sided with Iulius Vindex's rebellion, was proclaimed empe…

[German version] Abbreviation of the blanket name A(ulus) A(gerius), which, in Roman juristic writing, serves as the designation for the plaintiff (  actio ). N(umerius) N(egidius) stands for the defendant. In addition, the names Titius, Gaius or Sempronius are used for the designation of a third party. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (τοπάρχης; topárchēs). 'Leader (ἄρχειν/ árchein = rule) of a district ( tópos)'; in the Hellenistic period the highest civil administrative official in a tópos (q.v.). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] Daughter of  Amalafrida and niece of Theoderic the Great, married to the king of the Thuringians Herminafridus (Iord. Get. 299; Procop. 5,12,22; 8,25,11; Cassiod. Var. 4,1) c. AD 510 in order to cement an alliance against the Franks. After the conquest of the Thuringian kingdom and the death of her husband in 534 she fled to her brother Theodahad in Ravenna. Her son Amalafridus and a daughter went to Constantinople after the taking of Ravenna by  Belisarius, where Justinian married the daughter to the Langobard Audoin (PLRE 2, 63). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (ἔπαρχος; éparchos). Head of an   eparchía , a territorial administrative unit in Hellenistic states, especially in the  Seleucid kingdom. It is disputed whether eparchos ever was an official title for the holder of civil and military power in a subdivision of the satrapy ( Satrap) because in this context it is not attested epigraphically. The first appearance of the term eparchos for a governor in Seleucid territory in Polybius [2] (5,46,7) suggests that eparchos was formed as an analogy to the term eparchía (the Greek term for a Roman province) and describes …

[German version] (Ἀμόργης/ Amórgēs). Persian, illegitimate son ( nóthos: Thuc. 8,5,5) of the satrap of Sardis Pissuthnes; from Caria he resumed his father's rebellion against the Persian king Darius [2] II, which had failed before 413 BC. No later than 412 BC Athens made an attempt at cooperation with A. (Thuc. 8,19,2), in breach of a treaty with Darius [2] II (And. Or. 3,29; cf. Epilycys), if payments to an Athenian general in Ephesus in the year 414 [1. no. 77, Z. 79] were for assistance for A. (as in…

[German version] The SD, also referred to as 'The Severans', 'Severan era', or, owing to the origins of the family in Africa and Syria, the 'African/Syrian emperors', lasted c. 40 years from the accession of their founder, Septimius [II 7] Severus (AD 193-211), via his sons by Iulia [12] Domna, Caracalla (198-217) and Geta [2] (209-211), to Iulia Domna's great nephews Elagabalus [2] (218-222) and Severus [2] Alexander (222-235). The sequence of Severan emperors was interrupted for about a year (April 217-mid 218) by the rul…

[German version] (τελῶναι/ telônai, Sg. τελώνης/ telṓnēs; 'tax leaseholders', from τέλη/ télē = 'taxes' and ὠνή/ ōnḗ = 'buying, lease'); private entrepreneurs or businesses in the Greek domain, comparable with the Roman publicani (see Cic. Ad Q. fr. 1,1,33). They either purchased for a lease guaranteed to the state, the right to collect taxes and tolls for a certain period in a defined area as well as the right to exploit mines, or they received a certain sum of money from the state and had to provide an agr…

[German version] Modern term for the league of c. 30 Greek states (31 in Plut. Themistocles 20,3; cf. Snake column) which swore an oath to unite against the Persians in the autumn of 481 BC, immediately prior to the attack of Xerxes [1] I and whose representatives ( próbouloi: Hdt. 7,172,1) met regularly in the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth, beginning no later than the spring of 480. The first meeting took place in 481 in Sparta (Paus. 3,12,6), the leading Greek power of the time (cf. Thuc. 1,18,2), or on the Isthmus (Hdt. …

[German version] ('examiner') can, in general Latin usage, mean any chairman of a jury ( quaestio ) in criminal proceedings; however, the chairman selected for an individual trial is usually meant, in contrast to the permanent chairman appointed for a year ( praetor, iudex quaestionis) [1, vol. 2. 2234; 2. 48-50]. He also did not have a vote [2. 1629] and was bound by the decision of the committee which he led. A juristic connection of the quaesitor to the ancient quaestores parricidii ( parricidium ) is disputed, but accepted by [2. 44 f., 132], who sees i…

[German version] In Latin puer is used: (1) to describe male slaves of any age (like the Greek παῖς/ paîs); (2) to distinguish a free male child from a female one ( puella); and (3) to indicate a stage of life (Dig. 50,16,204). According to Festus (307), 'the ancients' ( antiqui) named their slaves Marcipor, Quintipor, etc., to express the master-slave relationship of Marcus or Quintus to each por = puer. A slave remained a puer until freed because his physical development, unlike that of a free child, would not lead to legal majority (Sen. Ep. 47,7). Latin lacks a ter…

[German version] Son of Alaricus [3] II and a daughter of Theoderic the Great. After Alaricus' death (507), his half-brother Gesalech ruled instead of the c. five-year-old A. (Gesalicus; Procop. Goth. 5,12,43; differently Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,37). After 511 Theoderic took over rulership for A., who had been nominally named king (Procop. Goth. 5,12,46; Iord. Get. 302 names Theudis as regent) until after Theoderic's death in 526 when A. took up full rulership (Procop. Goth. 5,13,4 ff.). He married a daughter of the Frank C…

[German version] [1] Flavius, cos. 427 AD Flavius, of Alan descent, father of Aspar A. Consul in AD 427. As magister utriusque militiae, he led a successful campaign against the Persian commander Narses in AD 421-422. In AD 424, he was, as magister utriusque mil. (praesentalis?), sent to Italy by Theodosius II, together with his son, against the usurper Iohannes who had seized power after the death of Honorius in AD 423; however, he was already captured during the crossing and held in Ravenna as Iohannes' prisoner, but freed by his son in AD 425 (PLRE 2, 137 f., A. 3). Eder, Walter (Berlin) …

[German version] In Greek numerical systems, β (beta) designates the number 2 in the ‘alphabetic’ system. In the same system, it can also designate the number 2,000 when prepositioned with a diacritical symbol ('β, ,β). In the ‘acrophonic’ system, β' is the symbol for the fraction 2/3.  Arithmetics;  Numerical systems Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] The ancient census had its origins in the effort to establish the military potential of a community, and was thus at first restricted to the part of the population that was capable of and qualified for military service, i.e. adult male citizens. Because the prevailing principle of self-provision of equipment made military service as cavalryman, heavy infantryman ( hoplitai ), light infantryman or military auxiliary dependent on the citizen's economic standing, a classification according to wealth was made by estimation ( census ; cf. time ), int…

[German version] (also zilat, zilach, zilac). Name of an office in Etruscan cities, known from inscriptional evidence from the 4th cent. BC onwards; most of the evidence is from the territory of Tarquinii, more from Vulci, Volsinii, Volaterra and Clusium [1. 246 f.]. The zilath seems (to some extent with other officials also described as zilath but charged with other duties) to have been at the apex of the city administration which evolved after the dissolution of the kingdom and the decline of aristocratic power in Etruria (Etrusci). Zilath also appears in connection with mechl rasnal…

[German version] Son of Mundzuk, from AD 434 together with his brother Bleda king of the Huns as successor to his uncle Rua. After the murder of Bleda in 445, A. is until 453 sole ruler of a Hun empire reaching from the Rhine to the Caucasus, which also includes Iranian and Germanic tribes. The strict central organization of the Hunnish tribes, begun already by Rua, increasingly replaces the earlier, looser federation. Probably after the model of the Roman Empire but not with the goal of its destr…

(Already in Hdt. Greek ἔμφυλος στάσις/ émphylos stásis; πόλεμος/ pólemos; Latin bellum civile). Fight between armed citizens of the same state on its territory, which could be particularly fierce in Graeco-Roman antiquity given that ‘citizens’ and ‘soldiers’ were identical and therefore battle-experienced troops encountered each other. The causes lay in social conflicts, political differences or the power aspirations of individuals. Because the boundaries of civil wars are undefined, differentiation from ‘revolts’ and ‘uprisings’ is difficult. [German version] I. Greece Th…

[German version] (ἀκρόπολις/ akrópolis, 'upper city'), the highest part ( ákros = 'located at the top') of a Greek settlement, in Greece and in the Aegean area often with fortification walls, rarely so in the colonies of Sicily and Lower Italy (Fortifications). The original reference to these elevated settlements as pólis (on the Mycenaean roots of the word s. Polis I) was preserved in the designation of the Acropolis of Athens as pólis up into the 5th cent. BC (Thuc. 2,15,6; cf. Aristoph. Nub. 69; Paus. 1,26,6). When settlements began to extend down the slopes begi…