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The name given to the three wars between Rome and the Macedonian kings Philippus V (215-205 and 200-197 BC) and Perseus (171-168). [German version] A. The First Macedonian War The origin of the First Macedonian War lies in the competing interests of the two powers on the Adriatic-Illyrian coast. In 229/8, Rome conducted a successful war against the Illyrian kingdom of queen Teuta in order to suppress piracy, and established friendly relations with cities, tribes and dynasts in this region. In 219, a conflict developed betwe…

[German version] Daughter of the Jewish king Agrippa I, born AD 38. As a child she was engaged to Epiphanes, son of king Antiochus IV of Commagene. The marriage did not take place because Epiphanes did not get circumcised as promised. In 53 she married king Azizus of Emesa, who did get circumcised. The Procurator of Judaea  Antonius [II 6] Felix, who was smitten by her beauty, got her to marry him and thus break the law forbidding a Jewess to marry a non-Jew (Jos. ant. Iud. 18,132; 19,354f.; 20,139-143). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main)

[German version] [1] A cavalry commander or bodyguard of Herodes the Gr. According to Jos. BI 1,527, one of the cavalry commanders, according to Jos. Ant. Iud. 16,314, one of the bodyguards, of  Herodes [1] the Great, I. was suspected of conspiring with Herod’s son Alexander against the king, tortured and executed after a forced confession (AD 9). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] Roman officer in Caesarea [2] in the 1st cent. AD Officer of the Roman garrison in  Caesarea [2], attempted without success in AD 66 to put an end to the fighting there …

[German version] Leader of the great Jewish uprising of 132-135. Documentary evidence exists regarding the name form Simon Bar Kosiba. The name forms Bar Kochba (‘son of the star’) and Bar Koziba (‘son of lies’), known from Christian and rabbinical literature, are tendentious interpretations of the original patronymic. They reflect the Messianic expectations ( Messiah), which are linked with his person and the disappointment about the false Messiah, which followed the failure of the uprising. The …

Epithet of Jews, after  Hyrcania on the Caspian Sea, introduced by repatriates from the diaspora there. [German version] [1] Around 200 BC Son of the Ptolemaic general tax leaseholder of Coile Syria and Phoenicia, Josephus, from the Jewish magnate family of the Tobiads. After the conquest of Ptolemaic Syria by  Antiochus [5] III in the year 200 BC he retreated to Trans-Jordan, where his grandfather Tobias had founded the family's position of power as commander of the Jewish military settlers. H. presumably kept a pro…

[German version] (Μάλιχος; Málichos, variant form: Malchus, Μάλχος; Málchos). Confidant and secret rival of Antipater [4], whom he served in 57 BC as a unit commander against the Hasmonaean prince Alexander (Jos. BI 1,162; Jos. Ant. Iud. 14,84), and in 43 during the levy of the tribute demanded by C. Cassius [I 10], murderer of Caesar (Jos. BI 1,220; Jos. Ant. Iud. 14,273-276). In the same year, he had Antipater poisoned (Jos. BI 1,226; Jos. Ant. Iud. 14,281), but fell prey to the vengeance of his victim's son, Herodes [1] the Great (Jos. BI 1,234; Jos. Ant. Iud. 14,288-293). Bringmann, Klaus…

[German version] (Hebr. mattityah), from Modeïn, a member the Jewish Joarib class of priests, clan father of the Hasmoneans. M. resisted the religious edict of Antiochus [6] IV. Joined by the pious ones (Greek Ἀσιδαῖοι/ Asidaîoi, Hebr. Ḥasīdīm), who had also fled into the Judaean desert, he began a guerilla war against the Jewish loyalists. After his death (167/166 BC) his son Judas [1] Maccabaeus became the leader of the Jewish rebellion (1 Macc 2,1-70). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography Schürer, vol. 1.

[German version] 140-67 BC, first married to  Aristoboulus [1] I, then in her second marriage to  Alexander Iannaeus [II 16], succeeded him on the throne in 76 and named her son  Hyrcanus II high priest. She ended the inherited conflict with the  Pharisees and made them participate in the government. Their intent to execute the advisors of Alexander Iannaeus was hindered by the intervention of the Jerusalem aristocracy. She was protected from the expansion plans of  Tigranes I of Armenia through m…

(epigraphically hritt = Haritat, Greek Ἀρέτας; Arétas, also Ἀρέθας; Aréthas). Name of several rulers of the Arabian  Nabataeans. [German version] [1] I. King of the Nabataeans (1st half 2nd cent. BC) A. I, mentioned in the oldest Nabataean inscription as ‘king of the Nabataeans’ [1. 545 f.], is probably identical to the A., ‘tyrant of the Arabs’, mentioned in 2 Macc 5,8, with whom the deposed Jewish High Priest  Jason vainly sought refuge after his failed attempt on Jerusalem in 168 BC. Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] II. (Herotimos) King of the Nabataeans…

Name given to the three wars between Rome and Carthage (264-241, 218-202 and 149-146 BC), which established Rome’s rise as the leading Mediterranean power and were terminated by the destruction of Carthage. [German version] I. The 1st Punic War (264-241) The 1st PW was ignited by a conflict with Messana [1] standing at its centre. After the death of Agathocles, the ruler of Syracuse, [2] in 278 BC, his discharged Oscan mercenaries, the Mamertini (named after the god of war Mars) took over the town, and from there undertook plundering …

(Μονόβαζος; Monóbazos). [German version] [1] King of the Parthian vassal state of Adiabene, until ca. 36 AD King of the Parthian vassal state of Adiabene who married his sister Helena with whom he had two sons, Monobazus [2] and Izates [2] (Jos. Ant. Iud. 20,18-27); he reigned until c. AD 36. Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] M. II. King of the Parthian vassal state, since about 59 AD Oldest son of [1] and successor to Izates [2] since about AD 59; like Izates and Helena he had converted to Judaism (Jos. Ant. Iud. 20,75). In AD 64, M. was inv…

[German version] Jewish family of priests from Modeïn, belonging to the Joarib class of priests; the name, which is recorded only in Iosephus and in the Talmud, refers to a not clearly identifiable Ḥašmōn (according to Jos. BI 1,36 father of Mattathias, according to Jos. Ant. Iud. 12,265 his great grandfather). The armed resistance against religious coercion imposed by  Antiochus [6] IV., began with Mattathias in 167 BC. In 165, his son  Iudas Maccabaeus achieved the recapture and reconsecration o…

[German version] [1] Courtesan of the priest-king Archelaus [6] of Comana Courtesan of the priest-king Archelaus [6] of Comana and mother of Archelaus [7], whom  Antonius [I 9] elevated to king of Cappadocia in 36 BC (Cass. Dio 49,32,3; App. B Civ. 5,7). Octavianus criticized the relationship of Antonius with G. (Mart. 11,20). OGIS 361. Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) [German version] [2] Daughter of king Archelaus [7] of Cappadocia Daughter of king Archelaus [7] of Cappadocia, granddaughter of G. [1], in her first marriage G. was married to Alexander, the eldest so…

[German version] [1] J. Maccabaeus Son of Mattathias, leader of rebels in the 2nd cent. BC (The epithet probably from Hebrew maqqaebaet, ‘the hammer’, owing to military success). Third son of the priest Mattathias ( Hasmonean), in 167/166 BC he took over leadership of the Jewish rebels who rose against the desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ban on the Jewish religion and the pressure of taxation under  Antiochus IV [6]. J. proved himself to be a master of guerrilla tactics and politics as well as a charisma…

(Σόαιμος/ Sóaimos, Σόεμος/ Sóemos). [German version] [1] Ituraean, under Herodes [1] the Great, executed in 29 BC Ituraean (Ituraea), in a position of trust under Herodes [1] the Great, who in 30 BC gave him the duty of guarding him and, should he not return from his visit to Octavianus [1], of killing his wife Mariamme [1] and mother-in-law Alexandra. S. revealed the order to them and in 29 was executed by Herod (Jos. Ant. Iud. 15,185; 204-229). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] Tetrarch of the Ituraeans, 1st cent. AD Tetrarch of the Ituraeans (Ituraea) AD 38-49,…

[German version] [1] Friend of king Herod I, entrusted with political and diplomatic commisions Friend of King Herod I. Entrusted with political and diplomatic commissions and with the education of Alexander, the eldest son of the king of Mariamme, he accompanied him in 23 BC to Rome for five years. When in 14 BC Herod began to distrust his son, G. fell from grace (Jos. Ant. Iud. 16,241-243). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] Accompanied his father Anatolius, the governor, AD 361 to Phoenicia Son of Anatolius, Cilician, brother of Apolinarius, with whom he …

Roman family name (in inscriptions also Opeimius), possibly derived from the (undocumented) cognomen Opimus (cf. Quint. Decl. 302). The family gained notoriety through O. [1] in the 2nd cent. BC, but in the 1st cent. BC no longer played a role in politics. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] O., L. Consul in 121 BC, declared opponent of the Gracchi In 125 BC, he was praetor urbanus and destroyed the rebellious town of Fregellae, which had risen up against Rome after M. Fulvius [I 9] Flaccus's initiative to give Roman citizenship to the Italic all…

(τετράρχης/ tetrárchēs, τετραρχία/ tetrarchía). [German version] I. Definition The noun tetrarches (from τετράς/ tetrás = 'entity of four parts' and ἄρχειν/ árchein = 'rule') designates a military rank, but specifically the head of a tribal area within a fourfold alliance ( tetrás or tetrarchía); subsequently a ruler of lesser rank (see below III.). The two meanings were brought together at the time of Diocletian, so that the term now meant rule in four parts of the Roman Empire, but with differentiated competencies for each ruler (see below IV.). Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) …

[German version] I. Historic M. Tullius C., born on 3 January 106 BC in  Arpinum. The Tullii Cicerones maintained manifold relations with the Roman urban aristocracy. They enabled C. to prepare for a public career in close association with the most important speakers of his time, L. Licinius Crassus ( cos. 95) and M. Antony ( cos. 99), as well as the leading authorities in civil and sacred law, Mucius Scaevola Augur and Mucius Scaevola Pontifex. The Social Wars and the subsequent civil war turmoil kept C. away from the forum. He was initiated into co…

(Ἰώσηπ(π)ος; Iṓsēp(p)os, Ιώσηφ(ος); Iṓsēph(os)). From Hebrew yosep yosipyah ‘may God add (further children)’, a prevalent Jewish name in memory of the biblical patriarch Joseph (Gen. 35; 37-50), e.g. in the Herodian family. [German version] [1] Uncle and brother-in-law of Herod [1] the Gr. Uncle and brother-in-law of  Herod [1]  the Great (Jos. Ant. Iud. 15,65; 81). He acted as his deputy for the duration of Herod's journey to M.  Antonius [I 9] in 34 BC. He became involved in the intrigues surrounding Queen  Mariamme, his wife Salome pr…