Search

…

[German version] The meagre productivity of ancient agriculture rendered the effective use and cultivation of any suitable land imperative for growing grain, viticulture, and planting olive trees. Hills and mountain slopes in Greece were prepared for cultivation through terracing, and drainage measures were used to gain virgin land or to protect land from flooding after the winter rains. The requirements were different in Greece and Italy: in the Greek interior, there are fairly large plains in which lakes are formed by surface inflow; run-off is often subsurface ( …

[German version] I. General With respect to human history, nutrition, generally defined as the intake of substances for the sustenance, procreation and growth of living organisms, should not in any way be understood or investigated only as a physiological process, but must be seen in the context of a multiplicity of economic, social, cultural and religious factors. The choice of foodstuffs in a society is made not only with regard to their nutritional value, but also based on social and religious va…

[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 …

[German version] I. Ancient Near East In the Ancient Near Eastern oikos or palace economy, the majority or (large) parts of the population were integrated into the institutional households of temples and/or palaces as direct dependents (the extent varied according to region and period). They were provided with the rations of natural produce (grain, oil, wool) guaranteeing them the level of subsistence necessary for their reproduction. In Mesopotamia, these rations of produce were in part supplemented, and in certain periods replaced, by the…

[German version] Metal of low hardness, high specific weight (11.34) and low melting point (327°C); the most important lead-ore to be found in nature is galena (galenite; PbS), due to its silver content of up to 1% of greater economic significance in antiquity, mainly for the extraction of silver. The silver of Laurium, for instance, was extracted by mining and smelting galena. Important deposits outside of Attica were located mainly in Spain, Sardinia and Britain. In antiquity, lead and tin were considered two types of one metal; in Latin, lead was called plumbum nigrum, tin plumbum candidum; due to this inexact terminology, it often remains u…

Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) [German version] A. The Technology of Classical Antiquity as a Research Area (CT) …

[German version] (ὀρνιθευτική/ ornitheutikḗ, ἰξευτικά/ ixeutiká; Latin aucupium). As is shown by the large number of casual references, fowling was probably very widespread in …

Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) [German version] Artes liberales (CT) The Artes Liberales (AL) describe a group of usually seven of study, ‘worthy of a free man’ (Seneca epist. 88; i.e.: grammar, logic/dialectics, rhetoric and arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy). They originate from the Greek educational programme of the enkyklios paideia, which were…

Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) The debate that went on between 1893 and 1902 over the basic features of the economy in Classical Antiquity is referred to in more recent scholarly historical literature, both in Ancient History as well as the history of the discipline, as the Bücher-Meyer Controversy (BMC). The origin of this discussion was the publication in 1893 of a book entitled Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft  (‘Industrial Evolution, 1907) by the economist Karl Bücher promulgating the view that a dominance o…

[German version] …

[German version] (γυναικοκρατία; gynaikokratía). The term gynaecocracy (‘Rule of women’, from Greek γυνή/ gynḗ, ‘woman’ and κρατεῖν/ krateín, ‘to rule’; cf. gynaikokrateísthai, ‘to be ruled by women’) is first attested in philosophical texts from the 4th cent. BC. The use is almost always polemical. In Aristotle the gynaecocracy becomes a theme in the context of criticism of the politeía…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt In the Ancient Orient and Egypt, oil was not only part of human nutrition (e.g. the daily rations for the population dependent on central institutions), but was also used as body oil, for making scent, for embalming (in Egypt), for medicinal purposes, in craft production, as lamp oil and in the cultic and ritual sphere (e.g. unction for rulers in Israel: 1 Sam 10,1; 16,3; not in Mesopotamia). …

[German version] The screw appears among the five simple mechanical instruments listed in the Mechanics of Hero I of Alexandria (1st cent. AD), next to the rotating axle, lever, pulley and wedge (Hero, Mēchaniká 2,5). It is not mentioned either in the description of surgical instruments in Hippocrates (Hippoc. Perì agmôn 31) or in Aristotelian mechanics. Since there is no indication of the use of the screw before Archimedes [1], it can be considered one of the most significant technical inventions of the Hellenistic period. It appears that the principle of the screw was first used for raising water; to this end, Archimedes constructed an apparatus consisting of a long round tree trunk around which willow rods were helically wound and fixed. By covering these with thin wooden panels and waterproofing them, chambers were created in which water could be raised by turning the screw, which would be installed at a low angle. Archimedean screws were initially employed in Egypt for irrigation, but their use soon spread; in…

[German version] Ever since large temples were built of stone in Greece (early 6th cent. BC), architects have been faced with the problem of lifting heavy blocks of stone, for the walls or the architrave, and column drums as far as the building plan demanded. In doing so, loads of significant weight often had to be dealt with, because stone, after all, weighs approximately 2.25 t/m3, and marble c. 2.75 t/m3. In the Archaic age, blocks for the architrave weighed between 10 and 40 t. At first, the sto…

[English version] A. Etymologie und Entwicklung der Wortbedeutung Der Begriff liberalitas (=  li.) bezeichnet auf der abstrakten Ebene eine Eigenschaft (vgl. Sen. dial. 7,24,3: ... quia a libero animo proficiscitur, ita nominata est), im bes. Fall einen Akt der Freigebigkeit. Der Terminus largitio (=  la.) gehört ebenso wie li. zum Bereich der Gabe; abgeleitet von dem Adj. largus (urspr. Bed. von einer Quelle, die reichlich fließt, Cic. off. 2,52) bedeutet la. gewöhnlich die Austeilung von Geschenken. Im polit. Vokabular der …

[English version] Angesichts der geringen Produktivität der ant. Landwirtschaft war es notwendig, das für den Getreideanbau, Weinbau und die Anpflanzung von Ölbäumen geeignete Land tatsächlich zu nutzen und zu kultivieren. Durch Terrassierung wurden Hügel und Gebirgshänge in Griechenland für den Anbau erschlossen, und Maßnahmen zur E. hatten die Funktion, Neuland zu gewinnen oder Land nach den winterlichen Regenfällen vor Überschwemmungen zu schützen. Die Voraussetzungen sind dabei in Griechenland und It. unterschiedlich: In Griechenland existieren größere Ebenen im Binnenland, in denen sich durch oberirdische Zuflüsse Seen bildeten; die Abflüsse sind oft unterirdisch (Katavothren) und reichen zeitweise nicht aus, um ein Ansteigen des Wasserspiegels und damit eine Überschwemmung weiter Gebiete im Binnenland zu verhinde…

[English version] Abgeleitet von pigmentum (“Farbstoff”; vgl. Plin. nat. 33,111; 33,115; 33,158; 35,29; 37,81), bezeichnet das lat. Wort p. den Hersteller und Händler von Farben, Salben und Parfums ( unguenta). Vertreter dieser Berufsgruppe sind bei Cicero und auf Inschr. erwähnt (Cic. fam. 15,17,2; ILS 7604; 7605; CIL VI 9795). Werkstatt und Laden eines p. sind vielleicht im Haus der Vettii in Pompeii abgebildet [2. Taf. XV 1]. Der Verkauf von Giften oder Liebeszauber durch die p. stand unter Strafe (Dig. 48,8,3,3; vgl. pharmakeía ). Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel) Bibliography 1 E. Müller-Graupa, s.v. Pigmentarii, RE 20, 1233-1234 2 Rostovtzeff, Roman Empire.

[English version] In der Zeit der späten Republik bezeichnete das Wort f. einerseits ein Behältnis für die Aufbewahrung von Geld, andererseits bereits öffentliche Gelder, die einem Promagistrat in der Prov. zur Verfügung gestellt wurden (Cic. Verr. 2,3,197). Ferner verstand man unter …

[English version] …