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(Τύνης/ Týnēs). [German version] I. Location, Punic to Roman period Libyan city in Africa proconsularis (Africa 3.; Str. 17,3,16; Tab. Peut. 5,5), 15 km south-west of Carthage, the modern Tunis. First mentioned in conjunction with the uprising of allied troops against Carthage in 396 BC (Diod. Sic. 14,77,3). In 310 BC, the city served Agathocles[2] as a base for his attack on Carthage [1. 190-193], and similarly in 256 BC during the First Punic War the Roman consul Atilius [I 21] Regulus [1. 235-237]. In …

[German version] (Ὤγυρις; Ṓgyris). Island in the Arabian Sea. Ancient authors reported a monument to Erythras, the eponym of the Red sea, on O. (Deinias FGrH 306 F 7; Steph. Byz. s.v. Ὤ.). Perhaps the island of Maṣīra. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography F. Jacoby, FGrH, Kommentar zu Nearchos FGrH 133 F 1,37,1-4  R.M. Burrell, s.v. Maṣīra, EI2 6, 729a.

[German version] (Lat. Homeritae: Plin. HN 32,161). Arab tribe, attested epigraphically from about AD 100. The Ḥ. held the political hegemony in southern Arabia between AD 100 and 590. The centre of their kingdom was  Saphar (in Plin. HN 25,104: Sapphar) on the plateau south of modern Yarīm. From there the Ḥ. gradually conquered the ancient Southern Arabic kingdoms of  Qatabān,  Sabaʾ and  Ḫaḍramauṭ. In the mid-4th cent., Judaism and Christianity began to spread while simultaneously the attempts of the Sassanid and Byzantine empires to influence the Ḥ. kingdom increased (cf.   Leges Ho…

[German version] (Ὄμανα/ Ómana, Ὄμμανα/ Ómmana, Ptol. Geog. 6,8,7; Periplus maris Erythraei 27,36). Bay on the south coast of Arabia. Its identification is uncertain, but it could be Chāh Bahār or Tiz, both of which are located in a small bay. Other suggestions have been Ṣuḥār between Masqaṭ and Musandam.  On this bay the eastern Arabian tribe of the Omani (᾿Ομανῖται, Plin. HN 6,149; Ptol. Geog. 6,7,24) is said to have founded the incense port of Omanon (Ὄμανον ἐμπόριον, Ptol. Geog. 6,7,36; 8,22,12), situated at the end of the trade route coming from Sabbatha. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Frei…

[German version] (Ναβαταῖοι/ Nabataȋoi, inscription NBṬW), Arabian people in north-west Arabia, with Petra as their capital, probably originating in the Ḥiǧāẓ. Their relationship with the Aramaic tribe of the Nabaiati (7th cent. BC [1]), attested in cuneiform texts, and the Neḇāyôṯ of the Bible (Gn 25:13; 28:9; 39:3; Is. 20:7) is disputed. According to Diod. Sic. (2.48f.; 19.94-100), Antigonus [1] I undertook two unsuccessful expeditions to the ‘land of the Arabs who are called Nabataeans’ in 312 BC. They appear at this time as tradin…

[German version] One of the cities that according to Plin. HN 6,160 was destroyed by Aelius [II 11] Gallus in 24 BC. M. was then situated in modern Ǧauf (in modern Yemen) and is probably identical with modern Maǧzı̄r south of Yaṯill in Wādī 'l-Farḍa. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Phil.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 84 (map), 140 J. F. Breton, Les fortifications d'Arabie Méridionale du 7e au 1er siècle avant nôtre ère (Arch. Ber. aus dem Yemen 8), 1994, 100 (map).

[German version] According to Ptol. 6,7,41 (Μαίφα μητρόπολις; Maípha mētrópolis), city in the interior of Arabia Felix. Probably corresponds, with regard to the phonetic form, to epigraphically attested MYFT, once the capital of Ḥaḍramaut, the ruins of which are now called Naqab al-Ḥaǧar. M. owed its importance - the city had solid fortifications - to its strategic position on the trading route from the harbour of Cane to Inner Arabia. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, M. Höfner, Beitr. zur histor. Geogr. des vorislam. Südarabien (AAWM, Geiste…

[German version] According to Ptol. 6,7,6 (Μάμαλα κώμη; Mámala kṓm[e]), settlement of the Cassanitae on the west coast of Arabia. Probably the same as Ṣalīf or Lōḥiyya. Not to be confused with Mamali. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, De mari Erythraeo (Stuttgarter Geogr. Stud. 69), 1957, 300, 42b.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Μόσχα Λιμήν/ Mόscha Limḗn, Ptol. 6,7,10; Peripl. maris Erythraei 32). Port on the south coast of Arabia Felix in the territory of the Adramitai tribe (Hadhramaut). It was probably situated on the present-day Ḫaur Rūri (Yemen), where recent excavations indicate a strongly fortified town. According to inscriptions on some finds, it was founded on the orders of the king of Hadhramaut. M. might have been the port of Zafar but Zafar appears to have been founded later. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliograph…

[German version] Leader of a religious revolutionary movement in Sassanid Iran under King Cavades [1] (AD 488-496, 498/9-531). The fundamental characteristic is a strong social egalitarianism. A basic difficulty in researching Mazdakism is that almost all information originates from sources that are hostile to it. The only contemporary report is found in the Syriac chronicle of Joshua Stylites. Byzantine (Procop. BP 1,5-11; 2,9; Agathias, Historiae 4,27-30; Ioh. Mal. 465, 633 and 653 Migne) and Arabic sources from a late…

[German version] [1] see Mariaba see Mariaba Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) [German version] [2] City in Arabia Felix According to Ptol. 6,7,37 (Μάρα μητρόπολις; Mára mētrópolis), city in the interior of Arabia Felix, mostly identified with the Sabaean capital Mārib ( Mariaba). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography City i H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Philos.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 417 (map).

[German version] (Μαρανῖται; Maranîtai). According to Agatharchides (De Mari Erythraeo 88 GGM 1,177), Arab tribe that settled in the coastal strip of the Red Sea. Sources tell of their conflict with the Garindaneîs (Γαρινδανεῖς), who took advantage of an absence of the M. to seize for themselves, in an underhand manner, their possessions and estates. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)

[German version] ( Qatabān). Pre-Islamic people in south-western Arabia, known predominantly through inscriptions. They appear in the ancient sources as Kattabaneîs (Κατταβανεῖς, ἡ Κατταβανία, Str. 16,4,4), Kottabanoí (Κοτταβανοί, Ptol. Geog. 6,7,24) and Catapani (Plin. HN 6,153). According to Eratosthenes in Str. loc cit., the settlement area of the Q. extended across the entire hinterland from Saba to the straits; the inscriptions, on the other hand, record a limitation to the Wādī Baiḥān: a contradiction which probably results from v…

(Τάρας/ Táras). [German version] [1] Son of Poseidon and a South-Italian nymph Son of Poseidon and a South-Italian nymph (Paus. 10,10,8), or son of Heracles [1] (Serv. Aen. 3,551); hero and eponym of the town of Taranto ( cf. T. [2]) and of its river. He is considered to be the founder (Paus. l.c.), or at least the patron (Serv. l.c.) of Taranto. On a coin from Taranto, he is represented as a boy reaching out for Poseidon; the image of a dolphin rider appearing on other coins from Taranto, represents rather Phalantus [1], in spite o…

[German version] ‘The law of the (rather: for the) Himyarites’ (Latin Homeritae, an Arab tribe ruling Yemen between the 3rd and 6th cent. AD), a collection falsely attributed to bishop Gregentius of Ẓafar. However, it is not a genuine southern Arabian law code but a Byzantine literary work of the 6th cent. AD reflecting the administration and urban life of the empire under consideration of certain peculiarities of Himyar [1. 567-620]. Together with the ‘Martyrium of Arethas’ [2], the Vita of Gregentius [3] and the ‘Dispute with the Jew Herban’ ( Sancti Gregentii disputatio cum Herbano…

[German version] (also Septem Fratres). Term for a chain of seven mountains on the African coast near the Straits of Gibraltar (Ptol. 4,1,5: Ἑπτάδελφοι ὄρος/ Heptádelphoi óros; Mela 1,5; Plin. HN 5,18; It. Ant. 9,3), and later probably for the settlement there, the modern Spanish Ceuta (by way of Arabic  Sabṭa). Archaeological remains bear witness to S. as a significant ancient centre for producing salted fish [1]. From the late Roman period there is a basilica [2]. After a failed attempt at conquest by the Visigoth king Theudis in 534, the emp…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Μούζα ἐμπόριον/ Moúza empórion, Ptol. 6,7,7; 8,22,6; peripl. maris Erythraei 6,10,12f; 16; Plin. HN 6,104). Port city of Mapharitis (Maāfir) on the southern Arabian coast of the Red Sea north of al-Muḫā, at the site of modern Maušiǧ. The modern inland settlement of Mauzaa  bears the old name. M. is mentioned by Pliny alongside Ocelis and Cane as one of the harbours at which incense traders called. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography L. Casson, The Periplus Maris Erythraei, 1989, 147-148  H. von…

(σοφία/ sophía, Latin sapientia). I. Greco-Roman [German version] A. General and philosophical concept The Greek noun σοφία/ sophía (Ionic: σοφίη/ sophíē), derived from the adjective σοφός ( sophós), which has been documented since the 6th cent. BC, generally refers to the superior skill and knowledge that distinguishes the expert and artist from the masses and accounts for the high regard in which he is held. The term sophía is used to describe any practical mastery, such as that of a helmsman, master builder, physician, military commander or statesman (cf. Ho…

[German version] According to Ptol. (6,7,38; 8,22,13, Μενάμβις βασίλειον; Menámbis basíleion) the capital of Arabia Felix, on Ptolemy's map to the north west of the Κλῖμαξ ὄρος ( Klîmax óros) and a day's journey from Magulaba. It may have been a royal frontier fort of the Hadramauts ( Ḥaḍramaut) against the Ḥimyār (Homeritae) and Sabaeans ( Saba). There may be a connexion between the name and that of Banū Munabbih, who according to Arabic sources (Hamdāni, Ǧazı̄ra 167 Müller) settled there in the Islamic period. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H.v. Wissmann, M. Höfner, Be…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General The magic of the ancient Orient and of Egypt is based on a view of the world that runs counter to that of religion. In the world-view of magic, men, gods and demons are tied to each other and to the cosmos by sympathies and antipathies, whereas in the religious world view everything is created by the gods for their own purposes; the relations between men and the cosmos are the result of deliberate actions of the gods. In the practice of religion, however, b…

[German version] (Μαλῖχαι; Malîchai). According to Ptol. 6,7,23, a people of Arabia felix, in the hinterland of the Red Sea. The M. probably correspond to the Banū Malik in ʿAṣīr in modern Saudi Arabia (cf. Baramalacum, Plin. HN 6,157). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)

[German version] According to Ptol. 6,7,37 (Μαγουλάβα/ Magoulába, also Μαγούλαυα/ Magoúlaba), town in Arabia Felix between Silaeum and Menambis. Probably the identical to modern al-Maḥǧar al-Alā. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Phil.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 417 (map) Id., M. Höfner, Beiträge zur historischen Geographie des vorislamischen Arabien (AAWM, Geistesund sozialwiss. Klasse), 1952, no. 4, 37.

[German version] (Ὄκηλις/ Ókēlis, Ptol. Geog. 6,7,7; Peripl. m. r. 25; Acila, Ocilia, Plin. HN 6,104; Str. 16,4,5). Small monsoon harbour on the Arabian coast (Bāb al-Mandab). In the 3rd and 2nd century BC, O. belonged to Qatabān, then to the Ḥimyār kingdom. It probably corresponds to the modern harbour of Al-Šaiḫ Saīd. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography L. Casson, The Periplus Maris Erythraei, 1989, 157-158  A. Sprenger, Die alte Geographie Arabiens, 1966, 67, 77  H. von Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Philol.-histor. Kl. 2…

[German version] (Μακοράβα; Makorába). According to Ptol. 6,7,32, city in north-western Arabia Felix, already at an early time equated with Mecca. Based on the southern Semitic root mkrb (‘temple’, ‘sanctuary’ but also ‘altar’). In pre-Islamic Mecca there was a temple to the moon god Hubal, who was worshipped by the tribes in the neighbourhood. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Phil.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 185, n. 380.

[German version] I. Introduction The term P. has found its way as a loanword from the Greek translation of the Bible into numerous languages. The Septuagint regularly uses prophḗtēs to translate the Hebrew substantive nābī, which is etymologically connected with Akkadian nabû(m) = 'one who is called'. Since then a very much wider use has emerged. For a more precise demarcation of the concept, it is useful to adopt Cicero's distinction between inductive and intuitive divination ( genus artificiosum, genus naturale: Cic. Div. 1,11,34; 2,26 f.) and to describe as prophets onl…

[German version] I. Term Ritual refers to an elaborate sequence of individual rites which, following an established ritual syntax, are logically connected within a certain functional context. Rituals are not limited to religious contexts but exist in other cultural contexts, political as well as social. The significance of rituals for those who participate in them can be reduced neither to an integrative function (legitimation ritual) nor to a temporary disabling of the regular structure - the two e…

I. Geography and history [German version] A. Name Since the 1st cent. AD, H. has referred more and more to the entire Iberian Peninsula. Although the name Hispania is only attested since the time of the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BC; Liv. 21,2; Enn. Ann. 503), it is the oldest of all, because it is derived from Phoenician í-shephanním, ‘rabbit coast’ (according to a new interpretation ‘land of metal plates’). A further name was Ophioussa (‘land of the snakes’; Avien. 148; 152; 172; 196), which was probably coined by the Phocaeans when they came into contact with some reg…

[German version] I. Concept The Greek word parádeisos (παράδεισος/ parádeisos, Latin paradisus) or Hebrew pardēs comes from the ancient Iranian pairidaeza, meaning “surrounding walls, round enclosure, something that is enclosed,” and originally referred to an enclosed park. In the ancient Orient, gardens, particularly in conjunction with palace and temple grounds, “epitomized a wholesome living space” as well as representing a “visible domestication of "chaotic" powers” [4. 705] (especially when wild animals were k…

I. Ancient Near East [German version] A. Definition When applying the term wisdom literature (WL) to ancient Mesopotamian literature we need to distinguish between the idea of wisdom (Akkadian nēmequ, Sumerian nam.kù.zu, 'precious knowledge') [10; 11] as 'wealth of general human experience' and the concept of wisdom as expertise in a cult. On the one hand, there are a number of non-homogenous, formally different literary genres in which knowledge, procedures, advice and behavioural guidelines are passed on; on the other han…

[German version] (Fāṭima). Daughter of  Muhammad and his first wife Ḫadı̄ǧa; wife of the future Caliph Alı̄ b. Abı̄ Ṭālib ( Ali), mother of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain; she is the only daughter of the prophet to be universally venerated by Muslims, who ascribe extraordinary powers to her. Especially among the  Shiites and the Ishmaelites she is regarded as a miraculous woman, in whom Christian (equated with the Virgin Mary) and gnostic traits (F. as the incarnation of light) come together. Little is known about the historic F. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. Lammens, Fāṭ…

[German version] ( al-Kūfa). Like Basra, founded in the early period of Islamic conquests (AD 639). Garrison city south of what was later Baghdad, on the right bank of the Euphrates, near the capital city of the Lakhmids, al-Hira. K. soon became the new capital city of Iraq and superseded Sassanid Ctesiphon, that from then on slowly declined. During the Caliphate ( Caliph) of Ali, K. rose for a short time to the status of overall capital city, and remained after Ali's murder (AD 661) a centre of Shiite agitation ( Shiites). However, it lost in importance after the founding of Baghdad. Toral-Nieh…

[German version] [1] W. I Sixth Umayyad caliph (born AD 668, reigned 705-715; Umayyads A.), continued his father Abd-al-Malik's policy of Islamization. He had the church of Saint John standing on the site of the Temple of Hadad/Jupiter in Damascus (C.) converted into a mosque (Umayyad mosque; see Arabic-Islamic cultural sphere I. A.) and had the al-Aqṣā Mosque built in Jerusalem and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina (Yaṯrib). Under his rule the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (in 711) and of Cho…

[German version] [1] City in southern Arabia (Νάγαρα μητρόπολις/ Nágara mētrópolis, Ptol.6,7,37; Nagara, Amm. Marc. 23,47; πόλις Νεγράνων/ pólis Negránōn, Str. 16,4,24). Urban centre in ancient southern Arabia, modern Naǧrān, located in the wadi of the same name. N.'s importance was due to its geographical location at the crossing of two caravan routes from the Hadramaut to the Mediterranean over the Ḥiǧāẓ and into Iraq over the Yamama. It was conquered by Aelius Gallus in 24 BC (Plin. HN 6,160), but retained its …

[German version] According to Ptol. 6,7,25 (Μασονῖται; Masonîtai) a tribe southwest of the K lîmax óros (Κλῖμαξ ὄρος, today Ǧabal Išbīl) in Arabia Felix. Probably connected to maṣanī (‘fortresses’). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Philos.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 415.

(Συράκουσαι/ Syrákousai, Lat. Syracusae). Syracuse, town on Sicily's southeast coast, modern Siracusa. [German version] I. Topography Colony of Corinth (Colonization), founded in 734/3 BC. The place name is said to have derived from the swamp area of Lysimeleia, also called Συράκω/ Syrákō (cf. Scymn. 280-282), which existed until the 20th cent. and was located west of the slim promontory, which, together with the island Ortygia facing it, constituted the original bridgehead settlement (inhabited from the early Paleolithic). The factor …

[German version] (Ζααβράμ, also Ζαβάμ/ Zabám, Ζααράμ/ Zaarám, Ζάμβρα/ Zámbra). City on the western coastal strip of the Arabian Peninsula. According to Ptol. 6,7,5 domain (βασίλειον/ basíleion) of the Kinaidokolpites (cf. also Steph. Byz. 293,16, where it is Ζαδράμη/ Zadrámē). Z. was probably the seat of power of a dependent prince (elsewhere in Ptol. μητρόπολις/ mētrópolis) and according to [1. 65] was in Marsā Ibrāhīm (Portuguese: Massabraim), the port of the Al-Līṯ oasis to the south of Jeddah (see [5]); others [2; 3; 4] locate Z. nearer to Mecca in the Wā…

[German version] Abū Ǧaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ǧarīr al-Ṭabarī (AD 839-923). Significant Persian-Arab historian, lawyer and Koranic commentator. His 'Universal History' ( Taʾrīḫ) begins with a creation story; histories follow of Israel, ancient Persia and pre-Islamic Arabia. After an account of the life of Muhammad, T.'s chronicle is constructed annalistically and contains a detailed presentation of the Islamic campaigns of conquest and the periods of the Umayyads and the Abbasids up to AD 915. The significance of T.'s hi…