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(Ζηνόδοτος/ Zēnódotos). [German version] [1] Of Ephesus, Alexandrian philologist Alexandrian philologist from Ephesus ( c. 325-260 BC; Suda s. v. Ζ. Ἐφέσιος). Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich) [German version] I. Life Alexandrian philologist from Ephesus Z. was employed as tutor to the royal princes at the Ptolemaic court before his appointment in 285/4 BC as the first director [1. 147-148] of the library (II B 2.a) in Alexandria [1]. In addition to a classification of Greek poetry (most notably epic and lyric works), Z. developed in …

(literally 'rule of the fathers'). [German version] A. General comments Patriarchy is a modern term referring to the position of authority of adult men in the family, in establishing relationships between the family and society and in fulfilling political responsibilities. The word patriarchy gained its significance in academic discourse through Bachofen [1], who saw the organization o…

[German version] A. Life Flavius Magnus Aurelius C., a senator, born c. AD 490, came from a family of the senatorial aristocracy -- probably of Syrian origin (the name refers to the Syrian Zeus Kasios), but for generations settled in Scylacium (Squ…

Name of a Roman plebeian family probably deriving from the Italic praenomen Pompo, tracing back, like the Aemilii, Calpurnii and Pinarii, to one of the sons of Numa Pompilius (Plut. Numa 21,2; cf. Nep. Att. 1,1). In the 3rd century BC the Mathones (cf. P. [I 7-9]) achieved consulship, but later the family was insignificant. The most prominent member was a friend of Cicero, T. P. [I 5] Atticus.…

Name of a plebeian gens (cf. Tac. Ann. 6,15,1), the representatives of whom have been known historically since the middle of the 3rd cent. BC. The most important family, especially in the 1st cent. BC, are the Cassii Longini. A patrician C. (around 500 BC, C. I 19) is rare. …

[German version] Abbreviation of the Latin personal name Marcus and (already in antiquity with an apostrophe: M') Manius. As a numerical sign, M stands for the number 1,000, but it was not derived from mille (Latin word for thousand), rather it came about by reforming the Greek letter Φ ( phi), which was not adopted into the Latin alphabet (see D as a numerical sign).…

Hereditary cognomen in the younger line of the Claudii family (Claudius; from the 2nd half of the 3rd cent. BC); according to ancient etymology of Sabine origin, meaning ‘brave’ (Suet. Tib. 1.2; Gell. NA 13.23.7f., etc.). With Livia's children [2] from her first marriage with Ti. Claudius [I 19] Nero - the later …

[German version] P., Lars. Etruscan king of Clusium (present-day Chiusi) at the end of the 6th cent. BC ( Porsena in Hor. Epod. 16,4; Macrob. Sat 2,412; inscription. Porsina, CIL VI 32919; Greek Πορσίνας/ Porsínas: Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5,21,1); probably Etruscan proper name, possibly derived from zilath purthne , the term for the highest office in Etruscan towns. According to Roman tradition (Liv. 2,9,1-14,9; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5,21,1-34,5) P. wanted to reinstate Tarquinius Superbus, who had taken refuge with him, as king of Rome. However he withdrew,…

[German version] Gothic king who, together with other tribes, made forays over the Danube into Moesia and Thrace in AD 250, inflicted a severe defeat on the emperor Decius as he was advancing to relieve Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and, in breach of his agreement with the usurper Priscus, had the city pillaged. In their retreat Decius and his son Herennius took up position near Abrittus, but C. enticed the Roman army into a swamp, encircled and annihilated it. Both emperors fell. Their successor Trebon…

[German version] Elder sister of Theoderic the Great, mother of  Amalaberga and  Theodahad, married in her second marriage around AD 500 the Vandal king Thrasamund in Carthage in order to support the alliance politics of her brother, which until the death of Thrasamund in 523 also succeeded. His successor Hilderic turned away from Theoderic, however, and at the latest in 525 disposed of A. and her followers. …

[German version] [2] Assembly place of the municipal council in Rome C. (pl. curiae) was the name of the assembly place of the municipal council in Rome (  senatus ; Fest. p. 42) and also in many   coloniae and municipia (  municipium ) of Italy and the Roman provinces (cf.   curiales ). As opposed to the comitium (  comitia ), the assembly place of the people in the open air, the curia is always a building on a piece of land belonging to the community or a god and mostly it is at the   forum of the town or close to it. Council chambers of non-Roman towns can also be called curiae (Liv. 24,24,5 and 9: Syrac…

[German version] General Roman term for toll. Originally imposed probably only in ports ( portus; [1. s. v.], however, derives portorium from porta, 'gate, door'), extended with the spread of Roman rule in Italy and the provinces to all land and sea tolls. The collection of p. was leased to companies (Publicani), which used the additional services of an extensive staff of slaves and freed slaves, the portitores ('toll officials'). …

[German version] In Graeco-Roman antiquity terms comparable to the modern term citizenship,   politeía (πολιτεία) and   civitas , originally not only designated individual rights but also the totality of citizens, the political organization of citizens in the sense of a constitution and an autonomous community. Citizenship was usually attained by being born to parents with citizenship (  conubium ) or granted by resolution of the community or an authorized person, in Rome also through private manumission from slavery (  …

(Ἀθῆναι; Athênai; Lat. Athenae). [German version] [1] Capital of Attica This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Hellenistic states | Celts | Limes | Macedonia, Macedones | Marble | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Natural catastrophes | Persian Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Athletes | Attica | Attica | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture | Mineral Resources Goette, Hans Rupprecht (Athens) [German version] I. Geography A. is the primary location of the ancient territory of  Attica and …

[German version] Modern term for two series of Roman emperors in the 1st and 3rd/4th cents. AD, who were descended from the same family: one series of succession was founded in AD 69 by T. Flavius  Vespasianus (69-79) and was continued to AD 96 by his sons  Titus [3] (79-81) and  Domitianus [1] (81-96); the other series, which is occasionally called the ‘Second Flavian Dynasty’, was founded by the house of Flavius Valerius  Constantinus [1] I, which fictively began with (Flavius)  Claudius [III 2] Gothicus (268-…

[German version] [1] King Rex (pl. reges; Indo-Germanic * rḗg̑-s, Old Indo-Aryan rā́j-, Celtic -rīx) in Latin denotes a king; in the Greek world, the Indo-Germanic term probably gave way in the Mycenaean period to the ruler designations anax ( wanax ) and basileús . The Imperial and Byzantine word ῥῆξ ( …

[German version] (φιλάνθρωπα/ philánthrōpa, neuter? pl. 'philanthropic <decrees>'). Specific, publicly announced measures by the Ptolemaic kings on economic and/or political preferential treatment (e.g. tax reduction, amnesty) for the population of the kingdom or certain groups (see Ptolemaeus [9] VI. Philometor; Ptolemaeus [12] VIII. Euergetes II.). As a rule, the philanthropa's aim was to prevent unrest which was threatening or had already arisen, and of also increasing the favourable reception of the respective ruler. On inscriptions in Hellenistic t…

[German version] Alemannic duke in Frankish service. In AD 539, he accompanied king Theudebert I on a campaign to Italy. In 552, B. accepted a request for help by the Goths and, on his own initia…

[German version] An inscription discovered in Troezen in 1959 ([1; 2]; translation in [3. 20 f.]) with the text of a decree of the Athenian People's Assembly proposed by Themistocles (the 'Decree of Themistocles'), which decreed the evacuation of the inhabitants of Attica to Salamis and the repatria…

(Ζῆνις/ Zênis). [German version] [1] Sub-satrap of Pharnabazus [2], 5th cent. BC Z. from Dardanus [4], sub-satrap of Pharnabazus [2] in the Troad (in Xen. Hell. 3,1,10: Aeolis); after his death, his wife Mania [3], with the assent of Pharnabazus, took over power and ruled successfully until her assassination shortly before the arrival of Dercylidas in 411 BC (Xen. Hell. 3,1,14; 3,1,16). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] From Chios, author of a work on his homeland, 4th cent. BC? (also Ζηνεύς/ Zēneús). Writer from Chios, possibly 4th cent. BC; he wrote 'about his homeland' (περὶ τῆς πατρίδος/ perì tês patrídos; FGrH 393 with comm.). Gärtner, Hans Armin (Heidelberg) Bibliography K. Ziegler, s. v. Z. (2), RE 9 A, 2502.

[German version] (Greek ἄγγελοι/ ángeloi, πρέσβεις/ présbeis, ἀπόστολοι/ apóstoloi; Lat. missi, nuntii). Despite a lively inter-state exchange, antiquity had no fixed institution for maintaining contact with foreign states through envoys in the sense of constant representation. Envoys were mostly appointed for a certain period, for certain duties and with set competencies. The importance of the work is shown from the fact that they were never appointed by  l…

[German version] is the term for the military conflicts between Rome and the Latin League ( Latini D.) - of which Rome was not a member - and between Rome and individual Latin towns that sporadically occurred from the beginning of the Republic (about 510 BC) to the dissolution of the League by Rome in 338 BC. The first Latin War can be considered as an attempt of the Latins to end Rome's dominant position. Rome had become the dominant power among the Latins under its kings Servius Tullius [I 4] and Tarquinius [12] Superbus (cf. Liv. 1,52) and made it …

[German version] I. The historical period In modern historical research, Late Antiquity (LA) is the period following the crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd cent. AD from the reigns of Diocletian (284-305) and Constantine [1] (307-337) to the end of the Empire in the West (deposition of Romulus [2] Augustulus 476) or the dissolution of the Western Empire into several Germanic successor states during the 5th cent. or even to Justinian…

[German version] Votive gift of the Greek states that were taking part in the Persian Wars against Xerxes to Apollo of Delphi in the form of a bronze column of three snake bodies intertwined like a rope, with their heads bearing a gold tripod-type cauldron. On their coils are inscribed in the Doric dialect the names of 31 Greek states, beginning with the Spartans ( Laked[ aimónioi…

[German version] A. Historical development Hellenistic states (HS) evolved from the collapse of  Alexander [4] the Great's empire in the eastern Mediterranean and Near Asia, and from the imitation by individual rulers in Sicily and southern Italy ( Agathocles [2],  Hieron [2] II) of Hellenistic government and administrative institutions. Afte…

[German version] Modern term for the confrontation between the patricians ( patricii ) and plebeians ( plebs ) at Rome, which began in 494 BC with the foundation of the people's tribunate and ended in 287 BC with the recognition of the decisions of the plebs ( plebiscitum ) as generally binding laws ( lex, leges ) (but s. [1], who puts the end only as late as 217/6). Only the relatively homogenous patriciate should here be understood as an 'order'. The plebs was highly fragmented both socially and economically, and moreover the plebeian clientes …

I. General information [German version] A. Definition The term colonization is used to refer to several waves of settlement movements in the area around the Mediterranean in the per…

[German version] Prophetic oracle, fragments transmitted in three Greek papyri of the 2nd and 3rd cents. AD (texts in [1. 195-209]; partly translated in [4. 412-415]; on Imperial Period interest in the PO see [3. 194-199]). On the 'Island of the Sun' a potter sent by Thot unfolds, in the presence of a (fictional) king Amenophis (as spokesman of Chmun the god of pottery? [1. 184 f.]), a terrible portrayal of the physical and moral decline of Egypt and its inhabitants [2. 168-170] in a period of foreign rule and foretells the arrival of a king who bring…

(Λέων; Léōn). …

[German version] Ramnes, Titi(ens)es and Luceres (as in Liv. 1,36,2, but in 1,13,8 and Cic. Rep. 2,20,36: R(h)amnenses) are the  Etruscan (Varro Ling. 5,55; see also [1. 218, 581]) names of the three tribus established by Romulus [1] (according to Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,14,2 and Gell. NA 15,27: organised by families) which were each divided into 10 curiae and thus formed the primary structuring of the Roman people and army (30×10 equestrians, 30×100 infantry: Varro Ling. 5,89; Liv. 1,13,8). Ennius's derivation of the term R. from Romulus (and Tities/Titienses from Titus Tatius, his Sabine co-king) (in Varro Ling. 5,55,  cf. Liv. 1,13,8) is a fiction. Equally speculative is the identification of the R. with the Latin, the Tities with the Sabine and the Luceres with the Etruscan populations of Rome (cf. [2. 39-45…

[German version] (κτίστης; ktístēs). Ktistes (from Greek κτίζειν/ ktízein, ‘to make habitable, to settle’ or ‘to found, set up’) is (next to archēgétēs and oikistḗs; Latin conditor) the term used in the Greek language area in pre-Christian times to describe founders of cities. In inscriptions from the Hellenistic period ktistes also often means founder of games or other public institutions (cf. e.g. CIG 2851). Christian authors use ktistes in the sense of Creator (God) (of the earth, flora, fauna etc.). Ktistes in the sense of city founder could be a god (particularly Apoll…

[German version] I. Republic In Rome the permanent or temporary union between people who were mostly of high rank so as to preserve or assert similar interests. Initially used in the sense of a kinship connection (Plaut. Trin. 452; 466; 490), factiones gain a pejora…

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[German version] Goth of Thracian origin (born around AD 480), whose family did not accompany Theoderic to Italy in AD 488. He served as an officer in Justinian's army against the Persians, under  Belisarius in the reconquest of Italy, as also against the Goths and in his old age in Syrian territory. He achieved high rank ( dux Mesopotamiae 531; mag. mil. va…

[German version] Ruling dynasty in the Regnum Bosporanum, named after its founder Spartocus [1] I, who took over the power from the Archaeanactids of Panticapaeum in 438/7 BC. The dynasty, which distinguished itself in the Classical and early Hellenistic periods with a brisk trade in corn in the Aegaean (primarily with Athens), came to an end in 109 BC with the handing over of power by its last ruler, Paerisades [6] V, to Mithridates [6] VI of Pontus. …

[German version] (Προθύτης; Prothýtēs). Theban, leading anti-Macedonian politician who, relying on Athenian help, in 335 BC advocated the secession of Thebes from Macedonia. Swiftly advancing on Thebes, Alexander [4]  the Great (Diod. 17,8,2) demanded in vain his surrender (Plut. Alexandros 11,7). He was probably killed in the defence of the city, which involved heavy losses (Arr. Anab. 1,8,1-8; Diod.  Sic. 17,14,1; Plut. Alexandros 11,12).…

[German version] I. General Rulership is here understood as political rulership, i.e. a reciprocal social relationship serving to create and permanently preserve the social order through political organization. Rulership is based on fixed rules applying both to the ruler(s) and the ruled; thus those ruled generally assent blindly to the authority of the ruler(s), or are at least so minded as to tolerate it. As a system of order, rulership appears in different forms: in the ancient Near East and Egyp…

[German version] [1] Flavius A. Cos. 434 AD Father of Dagalaifus, grandfather of A. [2], in AD 434 consul tog…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. Terminology Designations for rulers include: (1) descriptive terms like the Sumerian LUGAL (literally…

[German version] Modern term for the year AD 69, in which four emperors – some at the same time, some in swift succession – ruled the Roman Empire (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian), and in the broader sense for the period between Iulius [II 150] Vindex's revolt against Nero (beginning of AD 68) in Gaul and the elevation to emperor of  Vespasian (1 July 69 in Egypt, 3 July 69 in Syria) or its recognition by the Senate in Rome (21/22 December 69).…

[German version] Abbreviation of the blanket name A(ulus) A(gerius), which, in Roman juristic writing, serves as the designation for the plaintiff (  actio ). N(umerius) N(egidius) stands for the defendant. In addition, the names Titius, Gaius or Sempronius are used for the designation of a third party. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

[German version] (τοπάρχης; topárchēs). 'Leader (ἄρχειν/ árchein = rule) of a district ( tópos)'; in the Hellenistic period the highest civil administrative official in a …

[German version] I. Ancient Near East There was at various periods and in various regions of the ancient Near East a spectrum of manifestations of collective bodies with diverse powers of decision-making  and capacities for implementation. Crucial to the role of such collective bodies was on the one hand the nature of their historical genesis, and on the other hand the nature of their integration into the prevailing system of rulership. There were no popular assemblies as in the Classical Mediterranea…

[German version] Daughter of  Amalafrida and niece of Theoderic the Great, married to the king of the Thuringians Herminafridus (Iord. Get. 299; Procop. 5,12,22; 8,25,11; Cassiod. Var. 4,1) c. AD 510 in order to cement an alliance against the Franks. After the conquest of the Thuringian kingdom and the death of her husband in 534 she fled to her brother Theodahad in Ravenna. Her son Amalafridus and a daughter went to Constantinople after the taking of Ravenna by  Belisarius, where Justinian married the daughter to the Langobard Audoin (PLRE 2, 63).…

[German version] (ἔπαρχος; éparchos). Head of an   eparchía , a territorial administrative unit in Hellenistic states, especially in the  Seleucid kingdom. It is disputed whether eparchos ever was an official title for the holder of civil and military power in a subdivision of the satrapy ( Satrap) because in this context it is not attested epigraphically. The first appearance of the term eparchos for a governor in Seleucid territory in Polybius [2] (5,46,7) suggests that eparchos was formed as an analogy to the term eparchía (the Greek term for a Roman province) and describes …

(ἐπίγονοι; epígonoi, ‘future generations’, ‘descendants’). [German version] [1] Second generation of successors of Alexander [4] the Great Second generation of successors of Alexander [4] the Great in regions of the former Alexandrian Empire. Regarding the term …

[German version] (Ἀμόργης/ Amórgēs). Persian, illegitimate son ( nóthos: Thuc. 8,5,5) of the satrap of Sardis Pissuthnes; from Caria he resumed his father's rebellion against the Persian king Darius [2] II, which had failed before 413 BC. No later than 412 BC Athens made an attempt at cooperation with A. (Thuc. 8,19,2), in breach of a treaty with Darius [2] II (And. Or. 3,29; cf. Epilycys), if payments to an Athenian general in Ephesus in the year 414 [1. no. 77, Z. 79] were for assistance for A. (as in…

[German version] The SD, also referred to as 'The Severans', 'Severan era', or, owing to the origins of the family in Africa and Syria, the 'African/Syrian emperors', lasted c. 40 years from the accession of their founder, Septimius [II 7] Severus (AD 193-211), via his sons by Iulia [12] Domna, Caracalla (198-217) and Geta [2] (209-211), to Iulia Domna's great nephews Elagabalus [2] (218-222) and Severus [2] Alexander (222-235). The sequence of Severan emperors was interrupted for about a year (April 217-mid 218) by the rule of Macrinus w…

[German version] (τελῶναι/ telônai, Sg. τελώνης/ telṓnēs; 'tax leaseholders', from τέλη/ télē …

[German version] Modern term for the league of c. 30 Greek states (31 in Plut. Themistocles 20,3; cf. Snake column) which swore an oath to unite against the Persians in the autumn of 481 BC, immediately prior to the attack of Xerxes [1] I and whose representatives ( próbouloi: Hdt. 7,172,1) met regularly in the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth, beginning no later than the spring of 480. The first meeting took place in 481 in Sparta (Paus. 3,12,6), the leading Greek power of the time (cf. Thuc. 1,18,2), or on the Isthmus (Hdt. …