Search

[German Version] (Gk Σέραπις, also Σάραπις, Sárapis). By ancient tradition, the image of the god Serapis was brought to Alexandria in response to a command given in a dream. The date of the transfer (under Ptolemy I, II, ¶ or III; Ptolemaic dynasty) and the image’s original location (Sinope, Seleucia, or Memphis) were already debated in ancient religious historiography (e.g. Tacitus Historiae IV 83f.). The name Serapis comes from Memphite local religion: it is derived from the Egyptian name for the Osirified form of the Memphite Apis bull ( wsyr-ḥp; attested since Ramses II), to whi…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History of Religions – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Art History I. Religious Studies All cultures have concepts of a hereafter or beyond (“the next world”), although they are extremely diverse. They involve a realm of existence different from the visible earthly world but nevertheless thought of as real. Concepts of the hereafter are part of cosmology and therefore are related to the real world: the hereafter may be localized above or below the earth, in inaccessib…

[German Version] Heracles, Lat. Hercules, a demigod (divine-human; son-god), the son of a mortal mother (Alcmene) and of two fathers, the god Zeus and the mortal man Amphitryon. Heracles emerges victorious from a series of struggles for the purification of the earth and the salvation of the human race (canonically known as the “Twelve Labors,” Gk ἄθλοι/ áthloi, Lat. labores). His apotheosis is interpreted as the reward for his exploits. The threshold between human and divine existence is marked by suffering (madness, immolation). The ambivalence of divi…

[German Version] – Greek κατάβασις (εἰς ῾Αιδου)/ katábasis ( eís Háidou), Lat. descensus/descensio ( ad inferos), descent (to the underworld; cf. also Descent into hell) – is the classical term for elements of certain myths, especially involving Odysseus (not explained in Hom Od. 11, ¶ but cf. 23.252: κατέβην/ katébēn) and Aeneas (Verg. Aen. 6; Hereafter, Concepts of the), as well as Orpheus, Heracles, and Theseus. It is also an element of some divination rituals (oracle of Trophonius: Pausanias 9.39). The reference to pictorial repr…

[German Version] I. Etruscan Religions – II. “Italic Religions” I. Etruscan Religions 1. The culture of the Etruscans (self-designation: rasna, “populus”; Gr Tyrrhenoí, Tyrsenoí; Ital. Tursko-; Lat. Tusci, Etrusci) can be identified archaeologically c. 900–100 bce in central Italy between the Arno, the Tiber and the Tyrrhenian Sea (Tuscany), but from the perspective of the history of religions local differentiations are possible only with caution. 2. Sources on cultic institutions – archeological evidence: constitutive components…

[German version] Divination technique, a form of symbolic communication with the dead outside the cult of the dead proper. Greek νέκυια/ nékyia, νεκυομαντεία/ nekyomanteía (borrowed into Latin) described the necromancy ritual and is the title of literary and visual representations (Plin. HN 35,132; Gell. NA 16,7,12; 20,6,6; Plut. Mor. 740e-f; Lucian. Menippus). There are hints of necromancy rituals in the so-called Magical Papyri (PGM VII 285; III 278; IV 222; 3rd or 4th cents. AD). The most detailed sources from anci…

( limitatio). [German version] I. Etruscan prerequisites To the Etruscans, the definition of real and symbolic space by drawing boundaries ( limites; Varro in Frontin. De agri mensura p. 27 L.) was a prerequisite for the correct interpretation ( Divination) and placement (foundation of cities) of signs: the interpretation of heavenly signs was based on their arrangement in sections of the co-ordinate axes which divide the heavens; the axes are spatially fixed by alignment to the co-ordinates (orientation). Ritual fo…

[German version] (Νομᾶς/ Nomâs, Νόμας/ Nómas, Νουμᾶς/ Noumâs). In the ancient tradition the second king of Rome after Romulus, founder of Roman sacred law and Roman state cult ( sacra publica: Liv. 1,32,2). The patronymic ‘Numas’ in an Etruscan inscription on an urn from Perugia from the Hellenistic period (ET Nr. Pe 1.11; [3. 350]) constitutes no proof of an Etruscan origin for the name (different e.g. [1. 88]). According to tradition N. hailed from the city of Cures in the land of the Sabines. His birthday coincides with the …

[German version] C. U. Melior. Haruspex Caesarum, patronus municipii (AE 1930, no. 52; the dolphin as a word separator in the inscription probably locates its patronate in Tarentum; Haruspices with ill.; Patronus D.). On 15 January 69 U. predicted to Galba [2] from liver signs the latter's imminent overthrow by Otho (Tac. Hist. 1,27; Plut. Galba 24). His technical work De Etrusca Disciplina was Pliny's most recent source for (bird) portents (Plin. HN. 10; 11 index auct.; 10,19; [1]). Divination VII.; Etrusci III. D. Haase, Mareile (Toronto) Bibliography 1 D. Briquel, Sur un frag…

[German version] Author, probably in the 1st cent. BC, who wrote 'Etruscan tragedies' ( tragoediae Tuscae). V. was Varro's [2] (Ling. 5,55; written in c. 45 BC) informant for the Etruscan origin of the names of the first Roman tribus : tribus Titiensium, tribus Ramnium, tribus Lucerum. Haase, Mareile (Toronto) Bibliography C. O. Thulin, Die etruskische Disciplin III, 1909 (repr. 1968), 48  W. Strzelecki, s. v. V., RE 9 A, 766 f.

[German version] (θεοὶ πάτριοι/πατρῷοι; theoì pátrioi/ patrôioi; πατρικοί/ patrikoí: P CZ 3, 59421,2; 3rd cent. BC; [8.883]), 'fatherly' (inherited, native, traditional) deities; in multilingual inscriptions Lat. patrii di (e.g. inscriptions by Cornelius Gallus in: OGIS II 654,9; 29 BC; Philae). The word patrôios in particular appears in connection with theonyms, above all for Apollo [2; 9] and Zeus. In many cases, the semantic differentiations made between pátrios, patrôios, patrikós by ancient lexicographers (supporting evidence: ThGL VI 612) do not correspon…

[German version] Form of symbolic interaction in a religious context, consisting of a vow (Gr. εὐχή/ euchḗ, εὐχωλή/ euchōlḗ; Lat. votum), which involved a request (prayer), and the fulfilment of the vow as a sign of gratitude for having had the request granted. Vow and gratitude could each be expressed by setting up (Gr. ἀνατιθέναι/ anatithénai, also ἱστάναι/ histánai) or giving (Lat. ponere, (donum) dare; cf. also Etruscan mul(u)vanice, tur(u)ce: [2; 12]) a votive offering (Gr. ἀνάθημα/ anáthēma , δῶρον/ dôron; Lat. votum). These were objects of various size and economic val…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Since sacrifices were primarily intended to ensure that the daily needs of the gods were met, not only victuals but also beverages (generally water, beer, wine) were an essential component of regular sacrifices to the gods, as well as of sacrifices offered to the dead. Both in Egypt and in Mesopotamia, libation and terms used for libation stand as pars pro toto for sacrifice. This may have stemmed originally from the fact that for people living at a subsistence level the libation of water constituted their only opport…

Roman deity; Cic. Nat. D. 2,66 explains she is the goddess the Greeks called Persephone. [German version] A. Theology The derivation of the name P. from Latin (pro-)serpere, 'creep (forward)', in Varro is connected with the allegorical interpretation of P. as 'grain's germ' ( frumenta germinantia) and as 'the lower part of the earth' ( terrae inferior pars) and its associated deities (e.g. Luna, Diana, Tellus, Vesta: Varro Ling. 5,68; Varro Antiquitates fr. 28, 167, 268 Cardauns). This is not 'folk etymology' (contra: [4. 229; 11. 265]), but Stoic lin…

Roman nomen gentile of Etruscan origin (in Antiquity probably seen as a variant of Tarquinius , cf. Fest. 496). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] T. Priscus Technical author, 1st cent. BC? Latin writer perhaps of the 1st cent. BC (cf. Verg. Catal. 5,3); mentioned in Macrobius [1] (Sat. 3,20,3; 5. cent. BC) as the author of an ostentarium arborarium (Etrusci, Etruria III with ill. on Etrusca disciplina), probably an ordered and annotated list of trees and shrubs ( arbores) of significance in divination. T. may also be meant in Plin. HN 2; …

[German version] Term of modern scholarship for a group of ancient religious texts. The term (following [10]) is based on the Greek ἀρεταλογία/ aretalogía, 'celebration (of the deeds and qualities of a deity)' (from aretḗ, here '(deed of) wonder, miracle, sphere of power', and légein, 'to speak'). Sources: LXX Sirach 36,19, c. 180 BC; cf. Str. 17,1,17 (possibly corrupted); pejorative in Manetho [2], Apotelesmatiká 4,447; cf. Latin virtutes narrare: Ter. Ad. 535f. There is no record of the term 'aretalogy' as the name of a genre of texts in Antiquity. None of the…

[German version] (-us; Greek σποντίτης/ spontítēs etc.; small libum: libacunculus). (Honey) pastry, a kind of placenta (sacrificial cake; Serv. Aen. 7,109). Types: [1]; strues (Fest. 407 L.) among others; cf. Umbr. strusla ( Tabulae Iguvinae: [2]). Recipe: Cato Agr. 75. Introduced by Numa according to Enn. Ann. fr. 121 V. Production and sale by bakers of cakes, libarii: Sen. Ep. 56,2; CIL IV 1768, fictores : Varro, Ling. 7,44. Pictorial representations are not classifiable with certainty [3]. The libum is a cult element: combination with liquid ( merum, lac: wine, milk; libum from libar…

[German version] I. General comments The purpose of ancient wedding customs and rituals was to achieve the cultic purification of the wedding couple, seal their union by offering sacrifices, enhance fertility and strengthen the couple, as well as to protect the bride from calamity and evil spirits on her way to the bridegroom's house and guide her in assuming her new position as wife and mother. The rituals lasted for several days, beginning in the bride's house, where they signaled her departure fro…

[German version] I. Egypt The origin, meaning of the name and original role of the Egyptian goddess I. are not entirely certain. There is much evidence to indicate a home in the 12th Egyptian district with its capital at Per-Hebit ( pr-ḥbjt), Latin Iseum, modern Bahbīt al-Ḥiǧāra. The long-standing opinion that I. personifies the royal throne is based on the fact that her name was written with the image of a throne. However, the likely root of the name ( st) describes I. as ‘one who has power to rule’. It is significant that she is included in the Osiris myth, in which seve…

Geus, Klaus (Bamberg) [German version] I. Genre (CT) Geus, Klaus (Bamberg) [German version] A. Definition (CT) Comics are a special kind of picture story, originating in the United States at the end of the 19th cent. They can be described as a form of story in which text and pictures are organised in a narrative sequence, and arranged ,for the most part, chronologically. Comics developed from the political and satirical caricatures of the 18th and 19th cents.[1]. Long dismissed as trivial and juvenile literatur…