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(Ἡφαιστίων; Hēphaistíōn). [German version] [1] Commander under Alexander the Great, 4th cent. BC H. of Pella, friend and probably lover of  Alexander [4]. Their relationship was soon likened to that of  Patroclus and  Achilles [1] and correspondingly embellished. It is doubtful whether he was a childhood friend of Alexander (Curt. 3,12,16), as he was not banished by  Philippus II in 337 BC. The wreath offered to Patroclus at Troy and the scene described in the vulgate version ( Alexander historians) of the c…

[German version] (Ὑάδες/ Hyádes; Hyas only since Statius, otherwise Suculae, according to Plin. HN 18,247, the popular name is sidus Parilicium). Constellation in the head of Taurus, found - due to the fact that Taurus rises in reverse - at the end of the sign in the neighbourhood of Orion and the  Pleiades (the H. are mentioned along with the latter as early as Hom. Il. 18,486 on the shield of Achilles). Their name is derived from ὗς ( hŷs; ‘pig’; ‘piglet’) or from ὕειν ( hýein; ‘to rain’; ‘rain sign’) or from the shape of the letter Υ as an image of a bull's head. The number of…

I. Astronomy [German version] A. General points Because of their peculiar motions, which differ significantly from the regular motions of the fixed stars (so called because they seem to be attached to the vault of the heavens), the planets were conceived by the Greeks as wandering stars (οἱ πλάνητες/ hoi plánētes and οἱ πλανῆται/ hoi planêtai; lat. planetae) from the earliest periods of planetary observations (traceable from the 5th cent. BC). The Greeks and Romans knew of five planets only: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (cf. fig. 6). The term πλάνητες/ plánētes is first at…

(Τεῦκρος/ Teûkros, Latin Teucer). [German version] [1] Mythical king in the Troad Oldest mythical king in the Troad, son of Scamander and Idaea [2]; he gave both his daughters, Neso and Bat(i)eia (Arisbe), in marriage to Dardanus [1] (Dardanidae). Bat(i)eia bore Dardanus a son, Erichthonius, who fathered Tros, the father of Ilos [1], who in turn was the father of Laomedon [1]. The latter’s daughter, Hesione [4], bore a son T. [2] to Telamon [1] (Apollod. 3,139f.; Diod. Sic. 4,75). He is considered to be an …

[German version] Author of an astronomical teaching manual, who lived between  Poseidonius and  Ptolemy (whom he does not quote). The textbook consisted of two parts designated scholia (‘lectures’, ‘exercises’). The title Κυκλικῆς θεωρίας μετεώρων α'/β' ( Kyklikês theōrías meteṓrōn a'/b' was preserved in the manuscript. Books 1 and 2 probably unite two versions of a theory of the motional of celestial objects; Todd favoured Μετέωρα ( Metéōra). C. does not present any original research, but compiled the thought of philosophers, mostly stoic ( sympátheia; ekpýrōsis, ‘world fire’;…

(ὧραι, hôrai; tempora anni). [German version] I. Asia Minor/ Egypt The definition of seasons and of a year as a unit of time was largely governed by regularly recurring natural events, such as the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia (a short vegetation period and summer drought, the topic of the Sumerian poem about the dispute between summer and winter, see Kindler 19, 604) and of the Nile in Egypt (Nile inundation, vegetation period, summer heat, each lasting for four months). The prevalent…

Epithet of many gentilicia [1]. Famous persons: the jurist Salvius I. [1]; the doctor I. [2]; the emperor I. [11], called ‘Apostata’; the bishops I. [16] of Aeclanum and I. [21] of Toledo. [German version] [1] L. Octavius Cornelius P. Salvius I. Aemilianus Roman jurist, 2nd cent. AD Jurist, born about AD 100 in North Africa, died about AD 170; he was a student of  Iavolenus [2] Priscus (Dig. 40,2,5) and the last head of the Sabinian law school (Dig. 1,2,2,53). I., whose succession of offices is preserved in the inscription from Pupput, provi…

[German version] I. Greek (Μάξιμος; Máximos) [German version] [I 1] Maximus of Tyre Author of lectures mainly on ethics and theology, 2nd cent. AD, [1] Maximus of Tyrus AD 2nd cent.; author of 41 short dialéxeis (lectures), according to the most important MS (Cod. Parisinus graecus 1962) delivered in Rome (the Suda dates a visit to the reign of Commodus, AD 180-191). His concepts are simple yet rhetorically sophisticated (frequent use of comparisons, quotations from poetry, mythological and historical examples); his main topic is…

(ζώνη/ zṓnē, 'belt'). [German version] [1] see Belts II See Belts II. Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) [German version] [2] Astronomic-mathematical term Metaphor in astronomy and mathematical geography, first attested by Autolycus [3] of Pitane c. 310 BC; a Latin translation of the term, despite many attempts ( cingulum, fascia, plaga, etc), did not establish itself. The term can also describe the Zodiac, which crosses the sphere of the heavens diagonally, but it usually designates the bands, delimited by celestial circles ( Kýkloi ) running parallel to the …

[German version] (παρανατέλλοντα; paranatéllonta), stars 'rising alongside' (or συνανατέλλοντα/ synanatéllonta, 'rising simultaneously') are constellations, parts thereof (also of the signs of the zodiac) or especially bright individual stars, which become visible or invisible at the same time as certain degrees or decanal sections (segments of 10 degrees) of the ecliptic. They were first described by Aratus [4] who was criticized by Hipparchus [6]. In antiquity, they were used for determining the season…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient The expression for the MW in ancient Mesopotamia has not yet been discovered. However, it is possible that it referred to milk; in hymnal texts, the stars were described as the ‘cattle herds of the Moon deities’. In Egypt, too, the MW was perceived as a phenomenon; its designation is still discussed in modern scholarship [2]. Hunger, Hermann (Vienna) Bibliography 1 W. Heimpel, The Babylonian Background of the Term ‘Milky Way’, in: H. Behrens (Ed.), FS A.Sjöberg, 1989, 249-252 2 O. Neugebauer, R. A. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts I, 1960, 50. …

[German version] (Τιμόχαρις; Timócharis). Greek astronomer from the time of Ptolemaeus [1] I (around 300 BC), whose observations were used by Ptolemaeus [65] in his Sýntaxis (7,2 p. 12,24); cited six times by Proclus [2] in his Hypotýpōsis. Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) Bibliography W. Kroll, s. v. T., RE 6 A, 1258 f.

[German version] from Athens. Astronomer, meteorologist and geographer, is named together with  Meton as the discoverer of the 19-year lunisolar cycle. Together they observed, in the last third of the 5th cent. BC, solstices and equinoxes, the anomaly of solar movements and the length of the solar year, also the rising and setting of the planets ‘in Athens, on the Cyclades, in Macedonia and in Thrace’ (Ptol. Phaseis p. 67,6 Heiberg, cf. Anon. a. 379 CCAG V 1 [1904] p. 205,6 ἐν Ἀθήναις ( en Athḗnais) and Avienus Ora maritima 350 Atheniensis or 337 Amphipolis urbis incola). In Athens E. obse…

[German version] (Νεχεψῶ; Nechepsȏ). N. and Petosiris (Πετόσιρις; Petósiris),are often referred to together as ‘the ancient Egyptians’ with N. on his own as ‘the king; ’they are the pseudonyms of the authors of a reference book on astrology written around 150-120 BC. Entitled Ἀστρολογούμενα ( Astrologoúmena) and couched in a veil of mystical terminology supposedly in iambic senarii, it contained all the important teachings on Hellenistic astrology at that early date. It is possible that there was only one single author, that is to say, the…

Roman gens name, probably taken from the forename Manius, which in mss is frequently confused with Mallius, Manilius, Manlius. The family was significant in the 2nd cent. BC through M. [I 3] and [I 4]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] M. (or Manlius?), L. Writer, senator AD 97, [I 1] M. (or Manlius?), L. Senator in 97 BC, wrote about the Phoenix (as first in Lat.: Plin. HN 10,4f.), about natural wonders and sacred law. Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) Bibliography Schanz/Hosius 1, 605f. [German version] [I 2] M., C. People's tribune in 66 AD People's tribune in …

(Zodiakos: ζῳδιακὸς κύκλος/ zōidiakós kýklos, Lat. zodiacus or signifer, literally: 'circle of animals'). Name     Name     Name     Melothesia     Twelve Gods     English     Greek     Latin     Ram     Kriós     Aries     Head     Minerva     Bull     Taûros     Taurus     Neck     Venus     Twins     Dídymoi     Gemini     Shoulders, arms     Apollo     Crab     Karkínos     Cancer     Chest     Mercurius     Lion     Léōn     Leo     Flanks     Iuppiter     Maiden     Parthénos     Virgo     Abdomen     Ceres     Scales     Zygós (Chēlaí)     Lib…

(Μέτων; Métōn). [German version] [1] Son of Empedokles, who won a victory at Olympia in 496BC Meton came from Acragas, he was the son of one Empedocles who won a victory at Olympia in 496BC, and father of the famous philosopher Empedocles [1]. After the overthrow of the tyrant Thrasydaeus in 472/1 Meton was a highly regarded figure in Akragas (Diog. Laert. 8,51-53; 8,72 = Diels/Kranz 31 A 1; Suda s.v. Empedokles = Diels/Kranz 31 A 2). Meister, Klaus (Berlin) [German version] [2] From Athens, Astronomer und Geometrist end of. 4th cent.BC Astronomer and geometrist from Athens, son of Pau…

[German version] (Πρόκλος; Próklos) is said, according to Cass. Dio 67,16,2, to have foretold the death of Domitian in Germania; he was condemned in Rome but saved after Domitian had actually been murdered on the predicted day, and was richly rewarded by Nerva. Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) Bibliography W. and H. G. Gundel, Astrologumena, 1966, 177 A. Stein, s.v. L., RE 12, 834f.

(ἀστρολογία; astrología). [German version] A. Term Astrology is the original and more natural name for the study of the heavens in general; until well into late antiquity it was not strictly demarcated from its rival word astronomía, which is closely linked to the Platonic school [24]. According to current understanding astrology is concerned with forecasts according to a specific position of the stars and, according to the mythical way of thinking, has available for this a comprehensive categorization system of space and time [10]. Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) [German version] B. Anc…

Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) [German version] I. History (CT) Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) The term Horoskópos, 'hour observer', originally referred to the ascendant (zodiacal sign rising on the eastern horizon), later to the first 30° segment of the dodecatropus (twelve hour circle), and finally to the position of all the stars at a particular point in time. The ca. nine Egyptian and over 180 extant Greek horoscopes have been transmitted mostly on papyrus but also on ostracon or…