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A. Introduction [German source] Italy, Sicily, Malta and Tunisia form a central chain through the Mediterranean that, rather than dividing it, has served it as a bridge at various phases. The Alpine arc to the north was permeable in many respects, channelling rather than hindering cultural and economic exchange. The narrow Adriatic did not render lasting contact between Italy and the Balkans impossible in the 3rd and 2nd millennia [66181]; [63]; [2], but it must be said that the eastern coast of Italy was less than attractive in terms of harbours and coastal navigation [75173].The main …

A.AllgemeinItalien, Sizilien und Malta bilden mit Tunesien eine zentrale Kette durch das Mittelmeer, die dieses weniger teilt als vielmehr zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten als Brücke diente. Der Alpenbogen im N war vielfach durchlässig und kanalisierte kulturellen und ökonomischen Austausch eher als ihn zu behindern. Die schmale Adria machte länger anhaltende Kontakte zwischen Italien und der Balkanhalbinsel im 3./2. Jt. nicht unmöglich [66181]; [63]; [2]. Gleichzeitig ist festzuhalten, dass sich Italiens Ostküste im Hinblick auf Häfen und Küstenseefahrt als w…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. The Pantheon in Rome I. Religious Studies In classical usage, attested since the Hellenistic period, a pantheon (Gk pántheion) was a shrine dedicated to “all the gods” ( hoi theoí pántes). In modern scholarship, the term has come to be used in describing polytheistic (Monotheism and Polytheism) systems, in particular the 12 Olympian gods of Greece. This example also illustrates the problem presented by pantheons: what modern presentations treat as a closed system appears in the sources as…

[German Version] In 354 ce, the calligrapher Furius Dionysius Philocalus made a codex (extant only in copies) that contained the Roman calendar (Fasti; the only known 4th-cent. example), in addition to chronographical works, lists of consuls, bishops, and martyrs. The codex was a gift for the Roman Christian aristocrat Valentinus. The calendar contains a presumably current compilation of the emperor’s festivals, and dates for the cults of Cybele and Isis, but nothing from the calendar of Christian festivals. Jörg Rüpke Bibliography T. Mommsen, Chronographus Anni CCCLIV, MGH.AA 9…

[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Economic Systems and their Theories – III. Economy and Religion I. The Concept The term economy encompasses the totality of all individual actions and social interactions that serve to produce goods (commodities or services [Service sector]) for the purpose of satisfying human needs (Consumption). As a rule, the “production” of commodities means that human labor and …

[German Version] The interpretation of Rome’s history and present role during the Augustan period found expression in the ludi saeculares. In a mixture of conceptions of time that is no longer perspicuous (including the Etruscan theory of a defined series of saecula; discussed at length by Censorinus, De die natali, 17), the beginning of a new, golden age was celebrated in the year 17 bce, conceived as the fifth recurrence of the centennials of the city of Rome. Whether earlier celebrations of the ludi Tarentini (named for their location on the Campus Martius), for example in 249 bce, had t…

[German Version] (Jun 17, 1859, Breslau [Wrocław] – May 11, 1931, Halle an der Saale), Latinist and historian of religion. Wissowa was an associate professor at Marburg from 1886 to 1890 and a full professor from 1890 to 1895. From 1895 to 1923 he was a professor at Halle. Two strokes in June of 1923 ended his scholarly career and marked the beginning of a long mental and physical decline. Wissowa’s influence rests primarily on his studies of Roman religion. His compendium Religion und Kultus der Römer (1902, 21912) constituted the foundation for the study of Roman religion through…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. History – III. Archaeology I. Terminology The term “city cult” can be understood as a concretization of the veneration of “local gods” (cf. Stolz). There is evidence from the earliest times of municipal settlements with their complex social forms, rites, and feasts concentrated on the local deities' protection and promotion of community (cf. the gods of Sumerian and Babylonian cities described as “king of the city” or “lord/lady of…” or …

[German Version] I. Social Sciences 1. Concept. War is conflict between large groups, peoples, nations, and states conducted by force of arms. The more precise definition of the term and its differentiation from peace are disputed. Behavioral science tends toward a broad definition: war is a specifically human form of intergroup aggression, functional in the context of competition for scarce resources; in it the use of weapons decreases our instinctive inhibition against killing. The theory that war is…

[German Version] (Sep 21, 1868, Emden – Jul 13, 1941, Zürich), Latinist. Norden was professor of classical philology in Greifswald from 1895 to 1899, in Breslau from 1899 to 1906, and in Berlin from 1906 to his retirement in 1935. Because of his Jewish background, he was removed from the board of directors of the German Archaeological Institute, and in 1938 he was forced to resign from the Prussian Academy of Sciences. In 1939 he emigrated to Switzerland. Although all Norden’s extensive oeuvre was…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies Annually recurring (anniversary is derived from annus and verto) feasts play a central role in the chronological organization of a society: they govern the social perception of the time unit “year”; weekly or monthly rhythms can influence the precise scheduling (Calendar; Roman birthday …

[German version] I. General Literary communication is communication by means of texts - stabilized, coherent and substantial statements. These may be written or eventually put down in writing, but they may also remain oral ( Literacy). Since for earlier societies as a rule only written texts can be studied, the term ‘literature’ focusses on such sedimented media of literary communication. Nevertheless, particularly for ancient societies the mainly oral character of literary communication must be emp…

[German version] Rhetor in the Augustan period; came from Asia (Sen. Controv. 9,6,16). In the twenties BC, at the latest, he probably taught in Rome, more often in Greek than in Latin (Sen. Suas. 4,5). Amongst his outstanding students were  Papirius Fabianus (who later turned away again from F.'s style) and Ovid; close contact with the imperial house is shown by F.'s homage to Maecenas (through the frequent quoting of Vergil's verses, Sen. Suas. 3,5) and probably also by the fact that Seneca menti…

[German version] (ἡμερολόγιον; hēmerológion) is a text arranged according to the days of the year. The ancient spectrum of meaning ranges from  calendar (Plut. Caesar 59) to diary (Cosmas Indicopleustes, Topographia christiana PG 88,276A, 6th cent. AD) and is still used in the specialized Latin of the 19th cent. in this way. In modern scientific language hemerologion is used to describe two quite different objects. In Egyptology and the study of the Ancient Orient, hemerologion refers to lists with a divinatory (and as a corresponding frame of reference - cosmologic…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In the Ancient Orient, Akkadian scribes acted as grammarians, adding Sumerian translations to Akkadian flective forms, or who provided abstract grammatical explanations for Sumerian syllables. Grammatical texts took the form of a two-columned list; there were no grammatical rules expressed in sentence form. In order to achieve congruence between the non-isomorphic languages of Sumeria and Akkadia, grammarians made up artificial Sumerian forms, neglected morpho-synta…

[German version] (ἐπίδειξις; epídeixis). One of the three   genera causarum . Aristotle determined the epideixis as the type of a speech that does not elicit the listener's judgement or decision, but simply places him into the role of spectator ( theōrós): the speech itself is what is being tested (Rh. 1358b). It is not a necessary, but a plausible consequence that the function of directing the attention towards the speech itself is supported by certain topics, that is, topics of praise or reprimand, thus giving preference to mimetic t…

[German version] Female critic of sexual moral hypocrisy in Juv. 2,36-65; if this is meant to be a historical person (thus [2]), she could be identical with the L. characterized as a rich widow in Mart. 2,32,5f. (also not definitely historical). Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt) Bibliography 1 PIR2 L 113 2 S. Morton Braund, Juvenal. Satires Book 1, 1996, 129.

[German version] (παράπηγμα; parápēgma) in ancient usage describes a peg calendar, which permitted the tracking of calendar dates (e.g. the 'Fasti Guidizzolenses' for the whole year, InscrIt 13,2,234, but probably also weekday calendars) by the (usually daily) movement of pegs. This form of calendrical orientation by means of individual pegging was particularly interesting where it permitted keeping track of calendar systems which deviated from 'civil' calendars of the time, i.e. for phases of the …

Name of an old patrician family, which was said to have immigrated to Rome under King T. Tatius with V. [I 10] (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,46). The name, derived from the old personal name Valesus/ Valerus, was originally Valesios (cf. V. [I 7]; CIL XII p. 298g: Valesies; Fest. 22; Varro, Rerum divinarum fr. 66 Cardauns [4; 5]); the censor App. Claudius [I 2] introduced the new spelling in 312 BC (cf. Dig. 1,2, 2,36). Because in Antiquity the name was derived (etymologically correctly) from valere, 'to be strong', it was considered to be a good omen ( boni ominis nomen, Cic. Div. 1,102; Cic. Sca…

Roman nomen gentile, recorded from the 2nd cent. BC onwards (AE 1997,283; Schulze, 160). [German version] [1] Recitator, 2nd cent. BC Roman recitator of the 2nd cent. BC, who recited the Annales of Ennius [1] to large crowds on particular days (Suet. Gramm. 2) and who was understood in later times as a grammarian. Obtaining a textual edition from the Anecdoton Parisinum (GL 7,534) by conjecture on the name is problematic. Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt) Bibliography HLL 1, § 38. [German version] [2] Legate, fell in 53 BC Died in the Parthian War in 53 BC, when, as a legate of M. Licinius …